Dionysus, God of Wine: In the legend of Dionysus, the god came from Lydia, as did the skill of the winemaker.
The Dionysian tradition recognizes Macedonia as one of the most important places of worship of the god. The swan-song of Euripides was written in the Macedonian court:
" ... Two spirits there be,
Young Prince,, that in man's world are first of worth.
Demeter one is named; she is the Earth -
Call her which name thou will! - who feeds man's frame
With sustenance of things dry. And that which came
her work to perfect, second, is the Power
from Semele born. He found the liquid shower
Hid in the grape. He rests man's spirit dim
From grieving, when the vine exalted him.
He giveth sleep to sink the fretful day
In cool forgetting. Is there any way
With man's sore heart, save only to forget?
Yea, being God, the blood of him is set
Before the Gods in sacrifice, that we
For his sake may be blest...."
In the legend of Dionysus, the god came from Lydia, as did the skill of the winemaker. This is, in fact, historically accurate. But it happened thousands of years before Eurypides. Was there an oral tradition that lasted 3,000 years that kept alive the story of how wine came to Greece? This would be astonishing.
“Dionysus' parallels to Christ are fascinating.”
Dionysus was a god—and his cult was one of free expression and indulgence. Dionysus was the son of the Earth Mother—born of a virgin birth, he became the symbol for spring and re-birth. Zeus, in disguise, made love to the mortal virgin Semeli, who became pregnant with Dionysus. When Zeus’ jealous wife Hera learned of this, she tricked her rival Semeli into demanding that Zeus show himself to her. When Semeli perceived Zeus in all his glory, she was immediately incinerated by the power of the vision. But Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus from her womb, and sliced open his thigh to provide a new womb for Dionysus. Thus Dionysus is born of a virgin mortal mother and the son of a god. And he is the symbol for re-birth. The similarities between the story of Dionysus and Christ are striking.
Dionysus, in addition to being the god of wine, was the god of fertility and theater. Dionysus was always accompanied by the Satyrs (creatures half-man, half-goats) and the Silini (half-man and half-horses) which were frequently depicted in divine company. Even today, Dionysus continues to be a symbol for wine, and his Roman equivalent, Bacchus, is often depicted in art and literature throughout history.
The ancient Greeks honored Dionysus by means of feasts on the occasion of significant events, including the grape harvest. One of the most important festivals in honor of Dionysus was the "Anthesteria," which was celebrated in February. Anthesteria was a festival of ritual insight and included processions and wine drinking contests. Some of the participants must have over indulged, because the name is the root for our own term anesthesia. The primary Dionysian celebrations were for women only, and were savage parties in the wilderness. These may well have served as an escape from a society that was oppressive to women.
Women in ancient Greece had no rights, and were generally confined to the home, not allowed out unless they wore a veil, and hidden even within the home from any visitors.
Wine in Ancient Greece
Greek Wine--a History
"...First she drew forth a table fairly wrought,
Of polished surface, and with steel-blue feet,
And on it placed a brazen tray which bore
A thirst-provoking onion, honeycomb,
and sacred meal of wheat. Near these she set
A noble beaker which the ancient chief
Had brought from home, embossed with studs of gold.
Four were its handles, and each handle showed
Two golden turtles feeding, while below
Two others formed the base. Another hand
Could scarce have raised that beaker from its place,
But Nestor lifted it with ease. The maid,
Fair as a goddess, mingled Pramnian wine,
And grated o'er it, with a rasp of brass,
A goat's-milk cheese, and, sprinkling the white flour
Upon it, bade them drink. ..."
Homer's " The Iliad"
Book XI, 628-641
In fact, wine in ancient Greece was hugely important. In the Illiad, Homer described the Shield of Achilles as showing the grape harvest and how it was protected. How's that for a nice graphic design concept? Meanwhile the father of Odysseus was said to had a vineyard with more than fifty grape varieties in it. In Greece, viticulture may have started as early as 4000 BC. The oldest winery discovered anywhere in the world is at Archanes in Crete, and it dates to about 2,000 BC. Homer (ca 1500 BC) describes many cities or regions in Greece with adjectives that testify to their tradition in the production of wine such as "the vine-covered Epidaurus".
There are also many cities and places in Greece with wine related names: Oenofyta, Oenoe, Oenotria. ("Oenos" in Greek means wine). Ancient Greeks raised viticulture and wine production to an artform, and used wine both as a beverage and a medicine. They considered wine an integral part of their life. It was the subject of myths, legends, and rituals. The gods themselves came to symbolize wine and vice-versa. Just as a mortal can squeeze wine from the grapes, thus can a mortal squeeze good fortune from the gods.
A great deal of artistic evidence suggests the use of wine in religious rituals. The early influence may well have come from Crete, which would have influenced contemporary Thira (the modern island of Santorini), where vines and grapes are depicted on painted pottery.The wines of Santorini were legendary in the ancient world--it's nice to see them making a name for themselves in the modern world today, only 3,000 years later.
Once "Linear B" script was deciphered, we learned that wine was also important in Mycenaean culture (c.1600 -1150 BC). The written records contain many references to it, including words for wine, vineyard, and, apparently, wine merchant, not to mention allusions to the god Dionysus. And finds of Mycenaean pottery abroad show that Greeks exported wine to Middle East, Egypt, Sicily, and Southern Italy.
During the classical period (5th century BC) Athens dominated the trade of the region, and we see evidence of their wine the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea and the even Danube. Northern Greece's producers (including all the northern Aegean islands) monopolized the wine commerce throughout this part of the world. But as their colonies spread to other regions around the Mediterranean, those colonies began to export their own wine. Amphorae from Marseilles are found throughout the southern coast of France.
Ancient Greek literature tells us that the best wines during Classical period were produced in the northern and eastern Aegean islands, (Thasos, Lesvos, Chios, Samos), in Macedonia (especially in Chalkidiki), and in almost everywhere in Thrace. Other competing areas included the islands of Naxos, Skopelos, and Kos. Ancient Greek wine was classified into in four taste characteristics; sweet, honeyed, ripe, and soft. Each had its purpose, its complementary foods, and its fans.
The descriptions given to the various wines are a true revelation. We have the "ariousios" (austere, autocratic), "glixi" (must), "prodromos" (premature, early), "protropos" (made from grapes which have not been trodden-on), "aftitis" (home-made and pure), "amphios" (spoilt, of questionable character). In modern wines, we see these same techniques and characteristics in St, Estephe (asutere), Verjus and Bouzy (premature, early) Beaujolais Nouveau (made from grapes not trodden on), Vin de Garage (home-made and pure), and Vin de Paille and Flor Sherry (spoiled?).
In ancient Greece, three types of wine were produced. The white wine was described as being natural, diuretic, warming, and digestive. The yellowish wine brought smoke to the head, because of the evaporation of its elements. I believe that this wine have been made from sweeter, riper white grapes, perhaps with some oxidation. The black wine, obviously made from red grapes, was more nutritious and constipating. Doesn't that sound tasty?
These wines were shipped in ceramic vessels. The use of resin or pitch to seal the amphorae or goatskins is the historical precursor to modern day Retsina—a living relic of an ancient past. Just as the classic bota bag of Spain is easily traced to the ancient goatskin wine bag.
The flower-scented wine of Ancient Greece was made up of fifty parts of must to which one part of sea-water was added. For stronger-scented wines, the Greeks chose new vineyards with young vines—the antithesis of today’s approach to the issue, where old vines are considered to give the most concentrated wines. To give scent to the wine, unfermented grapes are sometimes added, much the way the Germans might add Sussreserve to their wines. The Thasians flavored their wine with dough, mixed with honey, and stored it in clay amphora. The wine reputedly absorbed “the scent of the honey and the sweetness of the dough.” Today many vintners try to make wines with a yeasty or toasty character by aging the wine on the yeast, while the Maya of today flavor their Xtabentun with a combination of anise and honey.
The Greeks almost always drank their wine diluted with water, and it was considered quite crude and/or barbaric to drink wine straight.The wine was usually accompanied by an array of fine foods:honey-pies, meat with oregano or meat with thyme, depending on the season and the purpose of the meal.A meal with wine was almost always a special occasion, a celebration of the finer things in life.
THE SYMPOSIUM
The Symposium was the center of Greek appreciation of wine. Following dinner, a group of men gathered to drink wine and discuss everything from politics and literature to sex and sports. It has many parallels with the Victorian dinner party—minus the cigars. The word itself comes from a combination of Sym (together or shared, as in Symphathy) and pos, as in potable water. It quite literally means to drink together.
The guests were greeted at the door, and servants washed their hands and feet, to prepare them for the relaxed time to follow. Three couches formed the dining room, with the wine krater in the center. The men were in their best clothes, with wreaths and perfume. The guest of honor sat ( or lay down, in many cases) to the immediate right of the entrance, while others scattered themselves about. All food was finger food.
The evening began with a libation to thank the gods. The host poured a small amount of wine on the floor, and then the guests took turns blessing each other in ritual order. As each was served, a toast was made. The first krater of wine was dedicated to the gods, the second to heroes, and the third to Zeus himself.
There were specialized wine service vessels to decant, strain, and serve the wine. The krater was the largest vessel, elaborately decorated, and placed in the center of the symposium. In the krater, the wine was mixed with water to dilute its strength. Psykters were used to chill the wine, by placing it in a bath of cool water. Strainers were used to eliminate sediment and grape seeds, while small jugs were used to pour the wine into the kylixes—large flat drinking cups with handles. And finally, to cleanse the palate and mix with the wine, there were hydria, serving dishes for water.
The symposium was more than just a dinner party. It also featured entertainment. Musicians, dancers, poets, magicians and artists of all kinds were invited to set the mood and amuse the guests. This included heterae--a sort of Greek Geisha trained in all of the feminine arts, including, sometimes, sex. Think of the heterae as an kind of ancient Greek geisha.
The legendary lyric poetry of Greece, including the great epics of Homer, was passed down through the ages via performances at these symposia. The young men in attendance often served as pages and waiters—they were from highly placed families, and this was their entrée into the realms of power and culture. Like all pages, they often faced a number of advances, both wanted and unwanted, from the participants of the Symposium.
The guests also entertained each other. Contests between the guests included everything from battles of wits and progressive poems, to drinking contests. Following enormous quantities of wines, the guests might be asked to perform feats of dexterity to the great amusement of their colleagues.
Members also displayed their "rhetorical and physical skills on frivolous subjects and in grotesque and erotic dances". These performances often led into parodies of the more conservative sides of Greek life such as the assembly or the gymnasium. One of the most popular games at the Greek symposium was a game named kottabos where a person drinking would attempt to knock a target off balance, or sink a ship floating in liquid. This was done by throwing the last few drops of their wine in the kylix at a target with a flick of the wrist.
This game was often a way of naming the lover that you wanted for the night; if the target was knocked off or the boat sank, it was taken as a good omen for your wishes. Sometimes the winners were given their choice of partners for the night. Losers might be forced to drink a large cup of wine. This game was so popular that many of the Greek vases we possess today that contain symposium scenes show someone in the act of playing kottabos.
But drinking wasn't the point of the symposium, just part of the event. Drinking was important because it broke down inhibitions and allowed open discourse to follow. Water was mixed into the wine in a ration of two or three parts water for every part wine. The resulting alcohol would have been about 3 to 5 % by volume. Those who became too drunk were met with clear disapproval.
Those who did not respect the authority of the host were reprimanded as well as being forced to dance for the others, or to go without wine for the rest of the evening. The similarities between these activities and our modern day social interactions are quite revealing. From the Symposium to the Rotary Club, our society seems to carry on with an identifiable spirit!
The symposia were critical elements in Greek culture. Older men held court, younger men courted power and favor, and social status and political power were all made and destroyed in these get-togethers. Quick wits, clear debating skills, and political savvy were all critical for success—much like today's power lunches.
In my classes at Napa Valley College, we orchestrate a Symposium as part of the class. It is quite refreshing to have your feet washed, then to sit down in luxury and decorum and contemplate an evening of entertainment. While we have a hard time finding qualified heterae, volunteers wait on the guests hand and foot, and the challenge of making great conversation with ones peers is often met with great success.
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