Religion in the Bacchae

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  • Religious concepts, beliefs and practices in the Bacchae
    • Fate ad Free Will
      • Cadmus and his remaining family members are given sad destinies of exile
      • Pentheus CHOSE to not believe in Dionysus being a god (Hamartia)
        • this angered Dio and led him to want revenge
      • Pentheus loses all free will and self control once under the control of the go (Towards the end of the 3rd Episode onwards)
    • Prophecy and Prophets
      • Pentheus is totally dismissive of Tiresias' authority as a prophet when confronting him and Cadmus about dressing about Bacchants
    • Religious rituals and acts
      • Prologue: Cadmus and Tiresias are dressed as Bacchants and are going to head to Cithaeron to worship Dionysus
        • continuity of Bacchic worship
      • the women of Thebes perform Bacchic rites in the mountains
        • as described in the first Messenger speech
    • The role of the gods
      • Dionysus exerts the horrors onto Cadmus's family
        • Despite being the god of wine and joy etc Dionysus can be utterly ruthless to prove how powerful he is
      • has immense power over mortals
        • takes control of Pentheus' mind and forces him to dress up and sends him to Cithaeron
        • sends the women of Thebes into a Bacchic frenzy and gives them superhuman strength
      • can perform miracles
        • the bull hallucination, earthquake, causing the women to have superhuman strength etc
  • Goggin: Dionysus is a god who beats down barriers (gender, class, norms etc)

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