The mythical Dionysiac invasion of Greece : a study of the "resistance" myths and their relevance to the question of Dionysiac origins

Abstract

The generally accepted history of Dionysiac cult within Greece was once as follows: Dionysiac cult entered Greece at a date as late as the eighth century B.C. from a foreign land (Thrace, and/or Phrygia and Lydia). After an initial period of to this barbaric cult, the Greeks accepted and hellenized it, eliminating the wilder elements such as omophagy and sparagmos. Nevertheless, owing to his late entry and foreign background, Dionysos always remained different from the other Olympian deities, and his cult retained an ecstatic element uncharacteristic of Olympian religion. A series of myths which have come to be known as the resistance myths allegedly describe such an invasion of Greece by Dionysos. Indeed, modern scholarship has relied heavily upon these myths of Dionysos in the formulation of the above history of his cult. In recent years, two Linear B tablets bearing the name di-wo-no-su-jo have led certain scholars to question that Dionysos was a foreign latecomer, and to trace the origins of his cult back to the Mycenaean world. This thesis examines the evidence presented by both sides of this debate, and analyses the myths which have played such a major role in that debate.