The God of Wine

[frogmarch]

Lately I've been reading up on the Greek god of wine and other things, Dionysus (Bacchus in Roman mythology), and I've found that in many paintings and other art forms, he is portrayed as drunk - not that there's anything wrong with being drunk, of course. Sometimes he's even wrongly portrayed as a satyr or a faun. I was happy to finally see a picture online of a statue of the god without hooves or a tail, and, just for kicks, apparently sober.

Then I took a good look at the picture and realized from his squinty eyes and his fixation on the cluster of grapes he's holding up with one hand - while the pitcher of wine he's holding onto with the other is spilling - that he may not be sober after all. Oh, well, if he's not, I guess wine gods gotta do what they gotta do.

What do you think? Is he drunk, or is he sober?

The painting of Bacchus partying with friends is by Dutch artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). In case anyone is interested, frameable prints are sold online.

[cilla4progress]

1. We were planning a trip to Greece in June which

weve now postponed to 2023.

In the course of preparing, I did some reading and found interesting historians' observations about the evolution and meaning of Greek sculpture. I.e., nakedness, perfect hominids, size of genitals, etc.

[frogmarch]

2. Sorry you had to postpone, but

2023 is just around the corner, and hopefully by then, everything will be good.

Your research sounds interesting! I have noticed that it's mostly satyrs that have hilariously oversized genitals. I read it's because of their association with wine and women and Dionysus. But when he's shown nude, his appear to look to be of normal size.