Download Greek and Roman Mythology

Greek and Roman Mythology
Dionysus
Dionysus (Bacchus)
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the son of Zeus and Semele
the God of Wine
Thebes was his own city, where he was born.
Dionysus (Bacchus)
The birth of Dionysus
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Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in
fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was a
mortal woman, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of
Thebes, and his father was Zeus, the king of the gods.
Zeus' wife, Hera, discovered the affair while Semele was
pregnant. Appearing as an old crone (in other stories a
nurse), Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that
Zeus was the actual father of the baby in her womb. Hera
pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt
in Semele's mind. Curious, Semele demanded of Zeus
that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his
godhood.
The birth of Dionysus
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Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she
persisted and he agreed. Therefore he came to her
wreathed in bolts of lightning; mortals, however,
could not look upon an undisguised god without
dying, and she perished in the ensuing blaze. Zeus
rescued the fetal Dionysus by sewing him into his
thigh. A few months later, Dionysus was born on
Mount Pramnos in the island of Ikaria, where Zeus
went to release the now-fully-grown baby from his
thigh.
The birth of Dionysus
Ariadne
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the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë
the bride of the God of Wine, Dionysus
associated with mazes and labyrinths, due to her
involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and
Theseus
in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were
made as part of reparations; however, she would
later help Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur
and saving the would-be sacrificial victims
Ariadne
Midas
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The most famous King Midas is popularly
remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to
turn everything he touched into gold. This came to
be called the Golden touch, or the Midas touch.
Midas