Of the Dionysus stories, his fleeing in fear from Lycurgus was one I didn't get so much. It seemed such a departure from other stories of how he would respond to being attacked and shunned. He'll act up being afraid in The Frogs, but the vibe with that was more Hysterical Shrieking Queen who is acting up for the drama and humor (love to see it, we must of course stan a Useless Shrieking Gay).
But running away from a mortal attacking his Maenads? It didn't fit with his other stuff. Everyone else who denied and fought against him got their shit fucked up pretty quick (or toyed with for entertainment before the shit was fucked), without Dionysus needing a comforting pep talk first.
Until I really took in the detail that one of the Maenads was Ambrosia, his foster mother in some stories. That the other women are described as his nurses. And it hits you.
He was a child.
Suddenly it's a story about a little kid who is attacked by a king. His caretakers are whipped and captured, he's running from this yelling man towards the sea where he throws himself to the waves in terror.
Did he know he was divine at this point? Some scholars posit that in the Thracian worship, this was how Dionysus discovered his divinity when he didn't drown. Or perhaps he did, and this was one of his deaths that he needed to happen so that, like Heracles, the demigod could become divine. Did the child know he would survive? Was this the story of a small boy being pursued by violent men who would rather face the cold harsh sea than whatever fate they had for him?
And then instead of an end, he's taken in by Thetis. Besides being the future mother of Achilles, Thetis comes across in her stories as a pretty fearsome sea nymph. And it's this terrifying, wild nymph who cradles the child and comforts him in her caves with the tides ripping around them. It isn't a calm, peaceful sea that comforts the child.
It's the caves and ripcurrents, the dark and unknown caverns, and the nymph who shifts into wild and deadly animals, who is called Dread. And she holds him to her bosom and tells him he is more than those men, that he is also dangerous, that he can save the other women who care for him and follow him.
How long is he down there? Does the child come back changed? When he returns Dionysus able to take his vengeance easily. He drives Lycurgus mad and, in a very Greek punishment, makes the man who had driven off a young boy kill his own son. He flings himself terrified into the ocean, then
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Hello. I'm a researcher on theoretical communism. I've been studying the theoretical history of communism for some time now.
Lycurgus, of Sparta, appears to be the earliest known figure to advocate the holding of all property in common. There are many other figures who've advocated communism very early on (Laozi, Jesus Christ, Diogenes, Mazdak, Plato, Pythagoras, Zeno of Citium, and to some extent Confucius, all existed before Lycurgus)?
