![]() Zeus took a liking to his newborn son and intended that Zagreus should eventually be the one to succeed him as king of the gods and the universe. From their intercourse, the child Zagreus was born, and he was taken to the sacred Mount Ida by Zeus. However, it was not enough to keep out Zeus, who appeared to Persephone in the form of a dragon. Persephone's mother, Demeter, had previously been warned about uninvited suitors in a prophecy, and, taking precaution, she hid Persephone away from in a cave. Because of the tendency of Dionysus Zagreus' followers to devour the animals alive, the god later retained such epithets as "Omestes" and "Omadios," which meant "eater of raw flesh."Īs told by Nonnus, and elsewhere, the story of Zagreus begins when Persephone, wife of Hades, is seduced by Zeus, who has taken the form of a dragon. It is here that Zagreus' dual associations with capturing animals alive and with the realm of the dead may be reconciled. It is also worth noting that Zagreus himself was said to have been dismembered and eaten alive by the Titans. It is often associated with Dionysus, particularly with his mythical group of female followers known as the Maenads, or "raving ones," who often went into such murderous frenzies fueled by Dionysus' intoxication. ![]() This act of dismembering and eating a living creature in an intoxicated frenzy is known in a Dionysian context as sparagmos. He notes the ritual observed by followers of Dionysus' religion, in which certain animals were "torn to pieces alive by the teeth of the participants and devoured raw" (Kerényi, 84). Yet Kerényi, acknowledging Zagreus' place as a god of the underworld who was also named for the act of capturing animals alive, wonders how these two traits fit together since it would seem contradictory for a god of the underworld to leave creatures alive. Kerényi goes on to describe evidence of the Dionysus religion being prominent in Crete, where hunting was held in high regard, suggesting that it could have been there where the name Zagreus was bestowed upon the god of wine. He mentions how in Greek the word zagreus is used to refer to a hunter who catches animals alive, whilst the Ionian word zagre signifies a "pit for the capture of live animals" (Kerényi, 82). Aspects of Orphism, including the suffering, death, and resurrection of Dionysus Zagreus, and the idea of redemption for an original sin call to mind aspects of later religions, such as Christianity. It was the central focus of Orphism for one to achieve salvation through acts of atonement during their lifetime or else be cursed with endless reincarnation. Zeus punished the Titans for their treachery by destroying them with a thunderbolt, and it was from their ashes that humanity was born.įollowers of Orphism, therefore, believed that humanity had a dual nature, one of the body, inherited from the Titans, and one of the soul, or the divine spark inherited from the parts of Zagreus ingested by the Titans. ![]() Because his heart was saved, Zagreus was able to be reincarnated as the god Dionysus. ![]() In the story, Zagreus, a child of Zeus and Persephone, was killed and eaten by the Titans, except for his heart which was found by Athena and brought to Zeus. Zagreus is also the name often given to Orphic Dionysus, whose story was central to the beliefs of the followers of Orphism.
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