Thiasus
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
and religion, the thiasus (Greek thiasos), was the ecstatic retinue
of Dionysus
, often pictured as inebriated revelers. Many of the myths of Dionysus are connected with his arrival in the form of a procession. The grandest such version was his triumphant return from "India
", which influenced symbolic conceptions of the Roman triumph
and was narrated in rapturous detail in Nonnus
' Dionysiaca
. In this procession, Dionysus rides a chariot
, often drawn by the big cat
s such as lions or tigers.
The most significant members of the thiasus were the human female devotees, the maenads, who gradually replaced immortal nymph
s. In Greek vase-paintings
or bas-reliefs, lone female figures can be recognized as belonging to the thiasus by their brandishing the thyrsos, the distinctive staff or rod of the devotee.
Other regulars of the retinue were various nature spirits, including the sileni
(or human dancers costumed as such), phallus
es much in evidence, satyr
s, and Pan
. The ithyphallic sileni are often shown dancing on vase paintings. The tutor of Dionysus is represented by a single aged Silenus. The retinue is sometimes shown being brought before a seated recipient: the tragic human welcomer of the gift of wine
, Ikarios or Semachos
, and his daughter, Erigone
. In the triumphal form of procession, Ariadne
sometimes rides with Dionysus as his consort. Heracles
followed the thiasus for a short while following his loss of a drinking contest to Dionysus.
On the sixth-century BC François Vase
, Dionysus is accompanied in procession by the three Horae
. Other notable depictions in art include the silver "Great Dish" from the Mildenhall Treasure
, the Lycurgus Cup
, and in the Renaissance
Titian
's Bacchus and Ariadne
. The Dionysian retinue was a popular subject for Roman art, especially bas-reliefs
and sarcophagus
panels.
and his retinue. An original work of Skopas on this theme was taken to Rome and lost, but the scene is well represented in Roman art, from tiny decorative reliefs and large sarcophagus
panels to extensive mosaics.
More generally, thiasoi were any of the numerous religious cults of ancient Greece whose existence were protected by law.
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and religion, the thiasus (Greek thiasos), was the ecstatic retinue
Retinue
A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble or royal personage, a suite of "retainers".-Etymology:...
of Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, often pictured as inebriated revelers. Many of the myths of Dionysus are connected with his arrival in the form of a procession. The grandest such version was his triumphant return from "India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
", which influenced symbolic conceptions of the Roman triumph
Roman triumph
The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...
and was narrated in rapturous detail in Nonnus
Nonnus
Nonnus of Panopolis , was a Greek epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, and probably lived at the end of the 4th or early 5th century....
' Dionysiaca
Dionysiaca
The Dionysiaca is an ancient epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hexameters, the main subject of which is the life of Dionysus, his expedition to India, and his...
. In this procession, Dionysus rides a chariot
Chariot
The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...
, often drawn by the big cat
Big cat
The term big cat – which is not a biological classification – is used informally to distinguish the larger felid species from smaller ones. One definition of "big cat" includes the four members of the genus Panthera: the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard. Members of this genus are the only cats able...
s such as lions or tigers.
The most significant members of the thiasus were the human female devotees, the maenads, who gradually replaced immortal nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
s. In Greek vase-paintings
Pottery of Ancient Greece
As the result of its relative durability, pottery is a large part of the archaeological record of Ancient Greece, and because there is so much of it it has exerted a disproportionately large influence on our understanding of Greek society...
or bas-reliefs, lone female figures can be recognized as belonging to the thiasus by their brandishing the thyrsos, the distinctive staff or rod of the devotee.
Other regulars of the retinue were various nature spirits, including the sileni
Silenus
In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.-Evolution of the character:The original Silenus resembled a folklore man of the forest with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse...
(or human dancers costumed as such), phallus
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
es much in evidence, satyr
Satyr
In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....
s, and Pan
Pan (mythology)
Pan , in Greek religion and mythology, is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein , meaning "to pasture." He has the hindquarters, legs,...
. The ithyphallic sileni are often shown dancing on vase paintings. The tutor of Dionysus is represented by a single aged Silenus. The retinue is sometimes shown being brought before a seated recipient: the tragic human welcomer of the gift of wine
Ancient Greece and wine
The influence of ancient Greece on wine is significant not only to the Greek wine industry but to the development of almost all European wine regions and to the history of wine itself...
, Ikarios or Semachos
Semachos
In Greek mythology Semachos was a doublet of Ikarios, the recipient of Dionysus' gift of wine, who welcomed Dionysus to Attica, with a tragic outcome. Semachos was the founder-hero of the Athenian priestesses of Dionysus, the Semachidai....
, and his daughter, Erigone
Erigone (daughter of Icarius)
In Greek mythology, Erigone was the daughter of Icarius of Athens. Icarius was from Athens. He was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Maera, found his body. Erigone...
. In the triumphal form of procession, Ariadne
Ariadne
Ariadne , in Greek mythology, was the daughter of King Minos of Crete, and his queen Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios, the Sun-titan. She aided Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur and was the bride of the god Dionysus.-Minos and Theseus:...
sometimes rides with Dionysus as his consort. Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
followed the thiasus for a short while following his loss of a drinking contest to Dionysus.
On the sixth-century BC François Vase
François Vase
The François Vase, a milestone in the development of Greek pottery, is a large volute krater decorated in the black-figure style which stands at 66cm in height. Dated at circa 570/560 BCE it was found in 1844 in an Etruscan tomb in the necropolis of Fonte Rotella near Chiusi and named after its...
, Dionysus is accompanied in procession by the three Horae
Horae
In Greek mythology the Horae or Hours were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time. They were originally the personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, but in later times they were regarded as goddessess of order in general and natural justice...
. Other notable depictions in art include the silver "Great Dish" from the Mildenhall Treasure
Mildenhall Treasure
The West Row Treasure is a major hoard of highly decorated Roman silver tableware from the fourth-century AD, found at West Row, near Mildenhall in the English county of Suffolk...
, the Lycurgus Cup
Lycurgus cup
The Lycurgus Cup is a Roman glass cage cup now in the British Museum, made of a dichroic glass, which shows a different colour depending on whether or not light is passing through it; red when lit from behind and green when lit from in front...
, and in the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
's Bacchus and Ariadne
Bacchus and Ariadne
Bacchus and Ariadne is an oil painting by Titian. It is one of a cycle of paintings on mythological subjects produced for Alfonso d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara, for the Camerino d'Alabastro – a private room in his palazzo in Ferrara decorated with paintings based on classical texts...
. The Dionysian retinue was a popular subject for Roman art, especially bas-reliefs
Roman sculpture
The study of ancient Roman sculpture is complicated by its relation to Greek sculpture. Many examples of even the most famous Greek sculptures, such as the Apollo Belvedere and Barberini Faun, are known only from Roman Imperial or Hellenistic "copies." At one time, this imitation was taken by art...
and sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
panels.
Other thiasoi
The "marine" or "sea thiasos" depicted PoseidonPoseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
and his retinue. An original work of Skopas on this theme was taken to Rome and lost, but the scene is well represented in Roman art, from tiny decorative reliefs and large sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
panels to extensive mosaics.
More generally, thiasoi were any of the numerous religious cults of ancient Greece whose existence were protected by law.