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Ancient Greek Gods Vs. Dionysus

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Back in the days, there were numerous Greek and Roman gods who are worshiped accordingly over the long periods of time. Of course, there were different sufficient methods to properly worship the gods. Among the many gods, there were two gods whose requirement to worship were quite distinctive. The worship of the god Dionysus and the god Apollo both incorporated the divine madness. Though both were associated with the divine madness, the types of it differed and the grade of madness were notably different. The prophetic madness of Apollo's Pythian priestess and the ritual madness of the maenads may seem similar but are ultimately very contrastive. The Pythian priestess' worship of the god Apollo is quite simple. When one is selected to become a priestess, one is honored by the gift granted from the god himself (Dodds, 71). With the gift received, the priestess on behalf of the god, conveys the words of the god to the questioner. The special aspect about this conveying …show more content…

Both gods are generally gentle and kind in most cases. However, when something happens which is very offensive and unpleasant, Dionysus can be very cruel and vicious. This characteristic can be seen from the god setting out a schemed layout to succeed his stratagem by possession of the maenads. It may be rebutted that Apollo's confusing, riddle-like prophecies is an example of his cruelty, but the fundamental purpose of the prophecy is to assist the mortals so it is a bit different from the Dionysus' brutality. When Dionysus convinced Pentheus to go to the Mt. Cithaeron, he purposely made Pentheus to dress like a maenad. By dressing like a maenad, Pentheus makes an 'agreement' to become sacrificed, and therefore, the murder of Pentheus is turned to be an ritual activity. This multifaceted and calculated nature of Dionysus' divine madness is incomparably detrimental to one of

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