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dionysos' holy places in greece |
Naxos Naxos has always been known as
Dionysos' sacred island. It was on the shores of Naxos that the god
found the abandoned Ariadne and made her his bride. Local history still
tells that Dionysos made their land fertile and produced the famous
vineyards. Some myth versions even have Dionysos' birth on Naxos. And
it was on his way to Naxos once that the god was kidnapped by pirates
and turned his captors into dolphins to escape. Delphi Dionysos shares Delphi with his
brother Apollon, ruling the area during the winter months when Apollon
leaves for the land of the Hyperboreans. Although Apollon's oracle with
its Pythia is more famous, Plutarch - a priest at Delphi - said that
the religion of Dionysos was no less important there. His maenads were
known to hold wild revels on the slopes of Mt. Parnassos. And in
ancient times one could see the grave of Dionysos here, where his
previous incarnation was buried after being torn apart by the Titans. Thrace It was often said in ancient times
that Dionysos was a foreign god, whose cult came to Greece from the
east (Asia Minor) by way of Thrace, or originated in Thrace entirely.
Whether or not that is true historically, Thrace became a particularly
holy area for Dionysian worship, and to this day the remnants of such
practices can be found there, and have been brought to other areas of
Greece by Thracians (like those who perform the Anastenaria ritual). It
was in Thrace that Dionysos encountered the antagonistic king
Lykourgos. And in that same area, now modern Bulgaria, there was in
ancient times an oracle of Dionysos, which archaeologists may have just
recently uncovered. Tinos
Island Pergamum
(Asia Minor) Athens (Temple
and Theatre at the base of the Acropolis) Delos Ikaria
(where Dionysos first introduced men to wine) Vatera (Lesbos) Teos
(where the Technitai Dionusou originated) Villa
of Mysteries (Pompeii) |