GREEK MYTHOLOGY: The Birth of Dionysus: The Twice Born God

I am Dionysus. I am known as a god of Olympus, but it was not always so. Yes. My father be Zeus. The Zeus. Ruler of the heavens, the skies, and all of the gods. But my mother was a mortal woman. No ordinary woman. She was royalty. A princess in fact. Her name was Semele of Cadmus, and she was one of the most beautiful mortals of her time. But what else could turn the head of Zeus himself? He saw her first as an eagle flying above the earth, but began to visit her in mortal form. And of course, she swooned at the sight of him. He wooed her with ease, and they fell into a passionate affair. Deep in love with one another, it was evident to all around. He visited her often, and the queen of the gods was no fool. But my poor mother was. For Hera, the wife of Zeus, followed her husband one night to find him in the arms of my mother. If she had killed my mother at that moment, then I would not have lived to tell this tale. But obviously, she did not. No, for Hera knows of my father's temper. Zeus thought himself to have hidden his love well, and so she used her love against them. Hera, clever as she is, waited until her husband left, back to their home of Olympus. But she stayed on earth and disguised herself, transforming her body to become Beroa, an elderly nurse to my mother. Hera asked her of her mood that morning, beginning a slow coaxing. But my mother, blinded by her love, immediately bragged of the night she had spent with Zeus. But Hera's disguise-wrinkled brow furrowed. My mother asked why, and Hera asked her, How do you know? How do you know it is Zeus himself, and not a mortal man? And my mother could not answer. Hera planted the seed and told my mother, with her kindly disguised voice, that if she had not seen anything divine, then he was just a man. If he really loved her, why not ask this pretender to swear and prove himself true? For then you will know what it is to behold a god. If he is not, then she would know he was a liar. My mother's bright mood stifled and then stopped altogether. Hera left her to ponder the doubt she had planted so expertly. Hera kept Zeus close for a week after that, ensuring the nagging doubts would grow quickly. My mother turned to her sisters and confidants at her royal court. Surely they believed that her lover be the almighty Zeus. But they did not. I suspect jealousy of my mother's beauty, her charm and wit that caught the eye of a god. They laughed at her naivety to believe such a bold and blatant lie. And so my mother spiraled further. When Zeus finally slipped from Hera's vigilant eyes and returned to the princess, she cried in his arms. He held her as she asked him if he truly even loved her. The wait had been too long for such heavy thoughts. She cried and cried and would not stop until he swore. My mother made Zeus swear on the river Styx itself, the river in Hades that the gods had sworn unbreakable vows on before. Zeus was hesitant, but as she cried further, he agreed. He swore upon the river that he would do anything she asked to prove himself to her. Simile dried her eyes and looked sweetly upon Zeus. She told him to show himself his true self in all of his glory. She wanted to look upon the god with her own eyes. Then Zeus grasped at her hands. He told me he begged her. He pleaded with her to take the wish back. He promised to grant her anything in return, gold, jewels, riches beyond compare. She refused, for she did not know. Zeus sighed as she would not relent, but when she turned to call him a liar, he stood and transformed himself. He stripped away the skins of protection and the glamors that made him appear mortal. In golden shimmers and crackles of light, his very essence was revealed. My mortal mother beheld the soul of Zeus. Bright light burning hot, it threw out lightning bolts across the room. She saw the realms and realities, the matter the divine beings are made of. But mortal eyes are not meant for the divine. It is beyond comprehension and the sheer power of the soul. It was all too much. My mother was engulfed in the flames of my father's soul. Both her mind and body burnt, expanded and collapsed, all within the same moment. Zeus tried to transform back, but it was too late. By the time he had fully transformed, there was nothing but fire in the room. Except Zeus felt something else. With my mother's soul on its journey to Hades, there should have been no sign of life left. But Zeus felt alive. He felt me. In the womb of my mother, the fires woke me. I had been a secret to all, even to her. The first thing I recall in life is heat. But I remember his hands, warm, gentle through the layers of tissue between us. He plucked the organ that held me from my mother, born from flames that day. But I went from a painful heat to a comfortable one. My father, in his panic to save my life, had torn his own thigh open and placed me there. He healed his own wound with a flash of golden light. Safely, he hid me within himself. There I waited and grew. In the wake of my mother's death, rumors spread in her court that she had lain with a mortal man out of wedlock. Her false claims of Zeus as her lover led him to punish her, smiting her down with fire and lightning. I suspect he had adorned the disguise of the old woman, Boreo, one last time, to aid these insidious lies and protect her own image. Her cruelty knows no bounds. After months in the warmth, I burst from my father's thigh in the middle of the night. Luckily, he was alone and hid the event from Hera. Zeus was clever. He had planned and prepared for this moment. Having birthed Athena from his head before, he was experienced with a strange process. The hours of pain to the final push that released me from his body. Born from fire and now flesh, the twice-born, I was given the name Dionysus. I was given in a bundle of blankets to my swift half-brother Hermes. From there, we fled Mount Olympus. Through the night, we flew over mountains, valleys, rivers, and forests. Hermes took me first to my mother's family, Ino and Athamas. Ino, my aunt and queen of her own kingdom, was the kindest of my mother's sisters. She convinced her husband to keep me, and under Zeus's orders given by Hermes, they began to raise me in a disguise as a girl. It was peaceful and comfortable, but the happiness I found with them in my early youth was shattered. For Hera had not forgot of the young princess, and when she had learnt of my birth, she cursed the court of Ino and Athamas. They fell into a frenzy. A madness took hold of them and the things that they did. I cannot speak. I will not. Hera's revenge on them is a tale for another time. Hermes transformed me into a goat and stole away with me in the night, and on we flew again. When the skies began to brighten, we arrived at a distant mountain, far from both Olympus and the courts of my mother's family, Mount Nyssa. There Hermes left me to the care of the nymphs of Nyssa and an old satyr known as Selinus. The nymphs doted on me. I learned much from them, including the great value of the grape vine I had cultivated. Selinus protected me. He taught and guided me in my early years of life. It was difficult at times to be a half-mortal and half-divine soul trapped in a mortal body and confined to the earth. I spent many years traveling this expansive world, my great-grandmother Gaia. I saw forests, plains, mountains, and seas, met with oceanids like Thetis, goddesses like my grandmother Rhaea, more nymphs like the Hyades. I gained and spread the knowledge of wine and grape vine. I learned of the great joy of letting go, becoming wild and free, experiencing indulgent pleasures and festivities. Oh, my time on earth was well spent. But the tale of my return to Olympus, of how I rose from my mortal life to become the god I was born to be, is a tale for another time. Living Mythology is our attempt to bring the stories of our ancestors back to life. They explained their universe through the medium of their religions. Their gods were not distant beings of academic study. They were living, breathing entities that reflected the wants, needs, good and evil in the very heart of humanity. We only wish to encourage others to study the deep and rich cultures of our forebears. We hope you have enjoyed our labors. If so, then do consider liking and subscribing. If you wish to support improvement in our endeavor, then we do have a Patreon as well. Until next time, be good to all, but most especially yourself.