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Διόνυσος {Dionysos)
(“Dionysus”)

Discussion Meineke III (1840) 504; Kock II (1884) 454; Coppola 1927, 457;
Bevilacqua 1939, 44-5; Edmonds II (1959) 606-7; Webster 1970, 47; PCG VII
(1989) 707.
Title Dionysus is the god who appears in comedy titles more often than any
other. Comedies with the same title were written by Magnes (Διόνυσος a' and
β') and Alexander, with unknown content. We are also ignorant of the con-
tent of Epicharmus’ and Cratinus’ Διόνυσοι, Aristophanes’ Διόνυσος Ναυαγός
and Aristomenes’ Διόνυσος Ασκητής. Eubulus’ Σεμέλη ή Διόνυσος probably
concerned Dionysus’ birth and early career, and may have associated the god
with symposia (cf. Hunter 1983, 183). Polyzelus and Anaxandrides also wrote
Διονύσου Γοναί. Comedies entitled Βάκχαι were written by Diodes, Lysippus and
Antiphanes. Relevant titles are Cratinus’ Διονυσαλέξανδρος, Phrynichus Comicus’
and Ameipsias’ Κωμασταί, and Lysippus’ Θυρσοκόμος. It is noteworthy that, apart
from Timocles, in Middle Comedy only Eubulus’ and Anaxandrides’ titles contain
the name of the god. It is also interesting that in Timocles, where the proportion
of mythological titles is rather small,75 four titles seem to have an association with
Dionysus (Διόνυσος, Διονυσιάζουσαι, Ίκάριοι Σάτυροι and Δημοσάτυροι).76 It
also seems that with Timocles satyrs reappear on the comic stage; cf. on the plays
Δημοσάτυροι, and’Ixdpioi Σάτυροι, under “Title”.
Διόνυσος was the title of a tragedy by Chaeremon (4th c. BC) treating the same
myth as Euripides’ Βάκχαι; see B. Snell in TrGF I, 218. Other titles associated
with Dionysus in tragedy are Βάκχαι (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, lophon,
Xenocles, Cleophon), Πενθεύς (Aeschylus; perhaps another [alternative?] title for
Βάκχαι) and Σεμέλη (Aeschylus, Carcinus, Diogenes). Aeschylus’ Διονύσου Τροφοί
(or, more probably, Τροφοί: cf. St. Radt, TrGF III, 349) and Sophocles’ Διονυσίσκος
Σατυρικός were satyr plays. Aeschylus’ Λυκούργεια is also a Dionysian trilogy
(Ηδωνοί, Βασσαρίδες, Νεανίσκοι). For the myth of Dionysus, see Dodds 1960,
xi-xx; Dover 1993, 37-43; Seaford 2006, 98-103.
Dionysus, the god in whose honor the dramatic festivals were held, is also asso-
ciated with theatre, tragedy in particular. In Aristophanes’ Frogs (405 BC), one year
after Euripides’ death, he appears disguised as Heracles and sets out on a journey to
the underworld to bring the tragic poet back. The play includes the famous contest
between Aeschylus and Euripides, where Dionysus finally chooses Aeschylus. The
god of theatre also appears as a deus ex machina in Strattis’ Φοίνισσαι (ca 410 BC)
fr. 46.3 ήκω κρεμάμενος ώσπερ ίσχάς έπι κράδης “I have come here hanging like a

75 Cf. Introduction, “Themes and Motifs”.
76 Cf. also Xenarch. fr. 9 from Porphyra, a play which is also doubtfully attributed to
Timocles (see below, under this title). In the surviving fragment Dionysus is mentioned
as a metonym for wine.