Dionysus the Liberator Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bacchus

The names Dionysus and Liber were also used by the Romans for this deity. Dionysus is known as "the god who comes". Because he had the power to free people from their normal selves, either by inspiring madness, ecstasy, or wine, he is sometimes known as Eleutherios, which means "the liberator", as in the title of this quiz.

Answer: Semele

Zeus impregnated Semele, despite being married to Hera, queen of the gods. When Hera found out, she was understandably jealous and angry, and befriended Semele while disguised as an old crone. When Semele told the disguised Hera that Zeus was the father of her baby, Hera pretended not to believe it, and doubt was planted in Semele's mind. Semele then asked Zeus to show himself to her - he appeared to her as lightning bolts and, as a mortal, Semele could not survive seeing a god and she died. Dionysus was still a fetus, and Zeus rescued him by stitching him into his thigh!

Answer: True

When Dionysus was an infant, Zeus put him in the charge of Hermes. Hermes took the boy to his aunt, Ino, and her husband, King Athamas. He requested that the couple raise Dionysus as a girl to hide him from the angry Hera.

Answer: Dragonfly

Thinking he was a mortal, the crewmen bound him with ropes, but of course this didn't hold him. The god turned himself into a lion and it was a bear he unleashed aboard the ship. Those who jumped into the ocean were turned into dolphins. The only survivor is said to be the helmsman named Acoetes, who had tried to warn the sailors after recognizing Dionysus as the god he was. I assume this is not including the dolphins who lived!

Answer: Prosymnus (or Polymnus)

It was Dionysus's mother Semele whom he rescued from the underworld, Hades, and then placed her among the stars. Prosymnus was a shepherd who was living close to Alcyonian Lake, which was apparently bottomless. He guided the god to the underworld by rowing him to the middle of the lake.

In return for his action, the agreement was that the men would make love. However, when Dionysus returned, Prosymnus had died, and thus Dionysus fulfilled his promise symbolically with the olive branch phallus (it was made from fig wood in some versions).

Answer: Hephaestus

Poor Hephaestus. His mother Hera was so horrified by him as a baby, that she threw him from Mount Olympus! He was made lame as he hit the sea, after falling for a day and a night. I can certainly understand why he was angry! In some accounts, Dionysus brought Hephaestus as well as Hera back to Olympus.

Answer: Lycurgus was murdered by his own people

Yup, Lycurgus's own people had him drawn and quartered! Dionysus lifted the curse as the king was now dead. This story was told by Homer in "Iliad".

Dionysus's personality is portrayed as relaxing and merry, and also as angry and destructive. This is apparently to reflect the two sides of the effects that drinking wine can have on people!

Answer: Naxos

With Dionysus, she bore many children, including Thoas, Latramys, and Oenopion, who is the personification of wine. It is said that her wedding diadem was set in the constellation of Corona. Ariadne was faithful to Dionysus. Her death is told differently by different sources - some say she was killed by Perseus at Argos, others that she committing suicide by hanging herself from a tree.

In some accounts, Dionysus demanded that Theseus leave her there as he had chosen her as his wife.

Answer: It moved into the waters and turned the river banks gold

Midas's power moved into the river, and turned the river banks gold - this myth was used to explain why the banks of the Pactolus were so rich in gold. Dionysus had been dismayed that Midas had not chosen a better thing to ask for, but granted it anyway, and took it away when Midas didn't want it. This is an example of Dionysus's compassionate side.

Answer: Leopards

His chariot is also seen pulled by panthers. Other symbols of Dionysus include the bull, ivy, serpents, and of course, wine. He is strongly associated with centaurs, satyrs and sileni, which are ipotanes: half-horse and half-human. Also important was Dionysus's thyrsus, or thyrsos, which was a giant staff of fennel plant topped with a pine cone.