Stimula redirects here. For the genus of grass skipper butterflies, see Stimula (butterfly).

In Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mortal mother^[1] of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. (In another version of his mythic origin, he had two mothers, Persephone and Semele.) The name "Semele", like other elements of Dionysiac cult (e.g., thyrsus and dithyramb), is manifestly not Greek^[2] but apparently Thraco-Phrygian;^[3] the myth of Semele's father Cadmus gives him a Phoenician origin. For other uses, see Genus (disambiguation). ... Tribes Ampittiini Ancistroidini Astictopterini Gegenini Hesperiini Taractrocerini Thymelini and see text Grass Skippers is the English name for butterflies of the subfamily Hesperiinae, part of the Skipper family. ... For other uses of the term butterfly, see butterfly (disambiguation). ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. ... Cadmus Sowing the Dragons teeth, by Maxfield Parrish, 1908 Caddmus, or Kadmos (Greek: Κάδμος), in Greek mythology, was the son of the king of Phoenicia (Modern day Lebanon) and brother of Europa. ... In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the goddess of harmony and concord. ... This article is about the ancient deity. ... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is... Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874) (Tate Gallery, London In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Persephónē) was the Queen of the Underworld of epic literature. ... Maened The Dionysian Mysteries probably began as an ancient initiation society, or family of similar societies, centred on a primeval nature god (and his consort), apparently associated with horned animals, serpents and solitary predators (primarily big cats), later known to the Greeks in the eclectic figure of Dionysus. ... In Greek mythology, a thyrsus or thyrsos was a giant fennel staff covered with ivy vines and leaves and topped with a pine cone. ... The dithyramb was originally an ancient Greek hymn sung to the god Dionysus. ... Thracian peltast, fifth to fourth century BC. Thracian Roman era heros (Sabazius) stele. ... In antiquity, Phrygia (Greek: ) was a kingdom in the west central part of the Anatolia. ... Cadmus Sowing the Dragons teeth, by Maxfield Parrish, 1908 Caddmus, or Kadmos (Greek: Κάδμος), in Greek mythology, was the son of the king of Phoenicia (Modern day Lebanon) and brother of Europa. ... Phoenicia (or Phenicia ,[1] from Biblical Phenice [1]) was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coast of modern day Lebanon and Syria. ...

Seduction by Zeus and birth of Dionysus

In one version of the myth, Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and afterwards repeatedly visited her secretly.^[4] Asopus or Asôpos is the name of five different rivers in Greece and also in Greek mythology the name of the gods of those rivers. ...

Zeus' consort, Hera, a goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair with Semele when the latter became pregnant. Appearing as an old crone,^[5] Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her lover was actually Zeus. 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. Though Zeus begged her not to ask this, she persisted and he agreed. Mortals, however, cannot look upon Zeus without dying, and she perished, consumed in lightning-ignited flame.^[6] For other uses, see Hera (disambiguation). ...

Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus, however, by sewing him into his thigh (whence the epithet Eiraphiotes, "insewn", of the Homeric Hymn). A few months later, Dionysus was born. This leads to his being called "the twice-born". ^[7] An epithet (Greek - επιθετον and Latin - epitheton; literally meaning imposed) is a descriptive word or phrase. ...

When he grew up, Dionysus rescued his mother from Hades,^[8] and she became a goddess on Mount Olympus, with the new name Thyone, presiding over the frenzy inspired by her son Dionysus.^[9] Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ... Mount Olympus (Greek: ; also transliterated as Mount Ólympos, and on modern maps, Óros Ólimbos) is the highest mountain in Greece at 2,919 meters high (9,576 feet)[1]. Since its base is located at sea level, it is one of the highest mountains in Europe, in real absolute altitude...

"Virgin" impregnation by Zeus

In another version of the same story, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Persephone, the queen of the underworld. Zagreus, son of Zeus and Persephone, was dismembered by the Titans, at the instigation of Hera. Zeus swallowed Zagreus' heart, and visited the mortal woman Semele, whom he seduced and made pregnant. One writer, Gaius Julius Hyginus, or a later author whose work has been attributed to Hyginus,^[10] said Zeus created mead out of Zagreus's heart, which he gave to Semele to drink, and that this was how she became pregnant.^[11] Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874) (Tate Gallery, London In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Persephónē) was the Queen of the Underworld of epic literature. ... In Greek mythology, Zagreus was sometimes used as a name for Dionysus. ... This article is about the race of Titans in Greek mythology. ... Gaius Julius Hyginus, (c. ...

Dionysus, who was called "the twice-born" because of being sewn, when still a foetus, into his father's thigh (see above), "was also called Dimetor [of two mothers] ... because the two Dionysoi were born of one father, but of two mothers" ^[12] According to Ellie Crystal, the rebirth in both versions of the story is the primary reason he was worshipped in mystery religions, as his death and rebirth were events of mystical reverence, and this narrative was apparently used in certain Greek and Roman mystery religions. Variants of the narrative are found in Callimachus^{[citation needed]} and Nonnus.^[13] In the passage in question Nonnus does not present the conception as virginal, and in Dionysiaca 7.110 he classifies Zeus's affair with Semele as one in a set of twelve, the other eleven women on whom he begot children being Io, Europa, the nymph Pluto, Danaë, Aigina, Antiope, Leda, Dia, Alcmene, Laodameia, mother of Sarpedon, and Olympias. Mystery religions, or simply Mysteries, were belief systems of the Graeco-Roman world full admission to which was restricted to those who had gone through certain secret initiation rites. ... Callimachus (Greek: ; ca. ... The Greek epic poet Nonnus (Greek Nonnos), a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid, probably lived at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century AD. He produced the Dionysiaca, an epic tale of the god Dionysus, a paraphrase of the Gospel of John... Hermes, Io (as cow) and Argus, black-figure amphora, 540–530 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. ... Europa and Zeus, on the Greek €2 coin A commemorative Italian euro coin depicts Europa holding a pen over the text of the Constitution of Europe. ... In Greek mythology, Plouto was a nymph and the mother of Tantalus by Zeus. ... Titians Danaë, inspired by Ovids Metamorphoses, represents the girl at the moment of her impregnation by a golden rain. ... In Greek mythology, Antiope was the name of the daughter of the Boeotian river-god Asopus, according to Homer (Od. ... Leda and the Swan, 16th-century copy after the lost painting by Michelangelo Leda with the Swan, by Correggio In Greek mythology, Leda (Λήδα) was daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius, and wife of the king Tyndareus, of Sparta. ... Dia (bright sky) in Greek mythology was the mother of the Lapith Pirithous, whose marriage to Hippodameia was the occasion of the Lapiths battle with the Centaurs. ... In Greek mythology Alcmene, or Alkmênê (might of the moon) was the mother of Heracles. ... In Greek mythology, Sarpedon referred to several different people. ... This article is about the Macedonian princess. ...

Supposed influence on Christianity

It is thought^{[citation needed]} that Dionysian mythology was incorporated into Christianity. There are correspondences among the legends of Semele, Dionysus, Mary and Jesus; both Dionysus and Jesus were supposed to have been born from a mortal woman but fathered by a god or other supernatural means, to have returned from death, and to have made water into wine. Many modern scholars argue that Christian Eucharist was influenced by the cult of Dionysus and other Hellenistic inflences. "It is also possible these similarities between Christianity and Dionysiac religion are all only representations of the same common religious archetypes."^[14] For other uses, see Eucharist (disambiguation). ...

Locations

The most usual setting for the story of Semele is the palace that occupied the acropolis of Thebes, called the Cadmeia.^[15] When Pausanias visited Thebes in the second century AD, he was shown the very bridal chamber where Zeus visited her and begat Dionysus. Since an Oriental inscribed cylindrical seal found at the palace can be dated 14th-13th centuries BC,^[16] the myth of Semele must be Mycenaean or earlier in origin. At the Alcyonian Lake near the prehistoric site of Lerna, Dionysus, guided by Prosymnus or Polymnus, descended to Tartarus to free his once-mortal mother. Annual rites took place there in classical times; Pausanias refuses to describe them.^[17] Thebes (Demotic Greek: Θήβα — Thíva; Katharevousa: — Thêbai or Thívai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. ... The Cadmea, or Cadmeia, was the citadel of ancient Thebes, named after the legendary Phoenician founder of Thebes, Cadmus. ... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... Mycenaean Greece, the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, is the historical setting of the epics of Homer and much other Greek mythology. ... In classical Greece, Lerna[1] was a region of springs and a former lake near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, south of Argos. ... For the municipality, see Myloi (Argolida), Greece, the seat of the municipality of Lerna In classical Greece, Lerna was a region of springs and a former lake near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, south of Argos. ... Prosymnus or Polymnus, in Greek mythology, was a shepherd living near the reputedly bottomless Alcyonian Lake, which lay in the Argolid, on the coast of the Gulf of Argos, near the prehistoric site of Lerna. ... In classic Greek mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros (Greek Τάρταρος, deep place). ...

Though the Greek myth of Semele was localized in Thebes, the fragmentary Homeric Hymn to Dionysus makes the place where Zeus gave a second birth to the god a distant one, and mythically vague: Thebes (Demotic Greek: Θήβα — Thíva; Katharevousa: — Thêbai or Thívai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. ... The anonymous Homeric Hymns are a collection of ancient Greek hymns. ...

"For some say, at Dracanum; and some, on windy Icarus; and some, in Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn; and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare you to Zeus the thunder-lover. And others yet, lord, say you were born in Thebes; but all these lie. The Father of men and gods gave you birth remote from men and secretly from white-armed Hera. There is a certain Nysa, a mountain most high and richly grown with woods, far off in Phoenice, near the streams of Aegyptus..."

Semele was worshipped at Athens at the Lenaia, when a yearling bull, emblematic of Dionysus, was sacrificed to her. One-ninth was burnt on the altar in the Hellenic way; the rest was torn and eaten raw by the votaries.^[18] Dracanum in the island of Ikaria by Samos was one of the sites that disputed with Thebes in mainland Greece the site of the birth of Dionysus, according to the fragmentary Homeric Hymn. ... For the utopian place see the entry for Étienne Cabet Icaria, also spelled Ikaria (Greek: Ικαρία), locally Nikaria or Nicaria (Νικαριά), previous name: Doliche (Δολίχη), is a Greek island 10 nautical miles (19 km) south-west of Samos. ... Naxos is the largest island (428 km² ) in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea, which separates Greece and Turkey. ... An engraving by Bernard Picart depicting a scene from Ovids Metamorphoses in which Alpheus attempts to capture the nymph Arethusa. ... In Greek mythology, the mountainous district of Nysa, variously associated with Ethiopia, Libya, Tribalia or Arabia by Greek mythographers, was the traditional place where the rain nymphs, the Hyades, raised the infant Dionysus, the god of Nysa. ... The Lenaia was a dramatic but one of the lesser festivals in Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. ...

Semele was a tragedy by Aeschylus; it has been lost, save a few lines quoted by other writers, and a papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus, P. Oxy. 2164.^[19] This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... Oxyrhynchus (Greek: Οξύρυγχος; sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian Per-Medjed; modern Egyptian Arabic el-Bahnasa) is an archaeological site in Egypt, considered one of the most important ever discovered. ...

Semele in Roman culture

When the initiatory cult of Dionysus was imported to Rome, shortly before 186 BCE, to great public scandal,^[20] Semele's name was rendered Stimula. The groves in which the initiation rites took place were deemed sacred to Semele/Stimula. Ovid's Fasti shifts the origin of the Bacchanalian rites in Rome to a mythic rather than a historic past: For other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation) Publius Ovidius Naso (March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD) was a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid who wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

"There was a grove: known either as Semele’s or Stimula’s:

Inhabited, they say, by Italian Maenads.

Ino, asking them their nation, learned they were Arcadians,

And that Evander was the king of the place.

Hiding her divinity, Saturn’s daughter cleverly

Incited the Latian Bacchae with deceiving words:"^[21]

Maenad carrying a hind, fragment of an Attic red-figure cup, ca. ... Ino was a mortal queen in Greek mythology. ... Arcadia or Arkadía (Greek Αρκαδία; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. ... Latium (Lazio in Italian) is a region of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany, Umbria, Abruzzo, Marche, Molise, Campania and the Tyrrhenian Sea. ... In Greek mythology, Maenads [MEE-nads] were female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine and intoxication. ...

Semele in later art

In the 18th Century, the story of Semele formed the basis for three operas of the same name, the first by John Eccles (1707, to a libretto by William Congreve), another by Marin Marais (1709), and a third by George Frideric Handel (1742). Handel's work, (based on Congreve's libretto but with additions), while an opera to its marrow, was originally given as an oratorio so that it could be performed in a Lenten concert series; it premièred on February 10, 1744. This article is about Opera, the art form. ... Semele is an opera by John Eccles. ... John Eccles or Eagles (1668 - January 12, 1735) was an English composer. ... William Congreve (January 24, 1670 – January 19, 1729) was an English playwright and poet. ... Marin Marais Marin Marais (31 May 1656, Paris – 15 August 1728, Paris) was a pupil of Jean-Baptiste Lully and of the viol player Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. ... Semele is a secular oratorio by George Frideric Handel. ... “Handel” redirects here. ... An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus. ...

Notes

The Greek epic poet Nonnus (Greek Nonnos), a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid, probably lived at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century AD. He produced the Dionysiaca, an epic tale of the god Dionysus, a paraphrase of the Gospel of John... Nonnus, Greek epic poet, a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid, probably lived at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century AD. His principal work is the Dionysiaca, an epic in forty-eight books, the main subject of which is the expedition of... For other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation) Publius Ovidius Naso (March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD) was a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid who wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... // Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of Ovids Metamorphosis Englished The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms according to Greek and Roman points of view. ... Gaius Julius Hyginus, (c. ... Gaius Julius Hyginus, (c. ... For other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation) Publius Ovidius Naso (March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD) was a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid who wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... // Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of Ovids Metamorphosis Englished The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms according to Greek and Roman points of view. ... Gaius Julius Hyginus, (c. ... The Bibliotheca (in English Library), in three books, provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. ... Apollonius of Rhodes (Apollonius Rhodius), librarian at Alexandria, was a poet, the author of Argonautica, a literary epic retelling of ancient material concerning Jason and the Argonauts quest for the Golden Fleece in the mythic land of Colchis. ... The Argonautica (Greek: ) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the Argonautica tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the mythical land of Colchis. ... Lucian. ... Asclepius (Greek also rendered Aesculapius in Latin and transliterated Asklepios) was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology, according to which he was born a mortal but was given immortality as the constellation Ophiuchus after his death. ... In Greek mythology: Coronis (crow or raven), daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, was one of Apollos lovers. ... Hyginus can refer to: Gaius Julius Hyginus (c. ... Arnobius of Sicca (died c. ... Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, scholar, and novelist. ... This article is about the lunar spacecraft. ... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Semele

• Homeric Hymns
• On Thyone

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ...

References

• Burkert, Walter (1985), Greek Religion, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-36280-2
• Dalby, Andrew (2005), The Story of Bacchus, London: British Museum Press, ISBN 0714122556 (US ISBN 0-89236-742-3)
• Graves, Robert, 1960. The Greek Myths
• Kerenyi, Carl, 1976. Dionysus: Archetypal Image of the Indestructible Life, (Bollingen, Princeton)
• Kerenyi, Carl, 1951. The Gods of the Greeks pp 256ff.
• Seltman, Charles, 1956. The Twelve Olympians and their Guests. Shenval Press Ltd.