Dionysus is depicted as an older man on a sixth-century B.C. plate from the British Museum. Photograph by ACI The son of an immortal god and a mortal princess, Dionysus’ role forged a crucial ...

"Young satyrs with pointed ears play the double flute ... the frieze "is about to be initiated into the mysteries of Dionysus, the god who dies and is reborn and who promises the same destiny ...

The frescoes depict a procession of bacchantes, female followers of the wine god ... from the ancient Greek play The Bacchae, written by Euripides in 405 BCE, wherein Dionysus descends on Thebes ...

In it are bacchantes— female followers of the god of hedonism—depicted as hunters and dancers; playful satyrs playing flutes and imbibing wine; as well as a woman, flanked by Dionysus’s ...

who translated the play by Euripides from the Greek. "But in essence, it's a revenge tragedy, where Dionysus returns to his birthplace of the city of Thebes and he takes vengeance upon the city ...

He was channeling Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and festivity, with a song about "the absurdity of violence between human beings." Not everyone, however, enjoyed the ceremony, which prompted a ...

So, was the brief scene a mockery of Christianity, as some are suggesting? Or was it a homage to the Greek god Dionysus, as organizers proclaim? Here's what to know about the controversial moment ...