![]() ![]() When his true identity was later discovered, officials exiled the women from Thebes. They pulled Pentheus down and tore him limb from limb (as part of a ritual known as the sparagmos). The daughters of Cadmus saw him in a tree and thought him to be a wild animal. Pentheus torn apart by Ino and Agave, lekanis lid, ca. 450–450 BC, Louvre.ĭionysus lured Pentheus, disguised as a woman, out to spy on the Bacchic rites, where Pentheus expected to see sexual activities. Accordingly, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, thinking the man simply a follower, but his chains fell off and the jail doors opened for him. Pentheus soon banned the worship of the god Dionysus, who was the son of his aunt Semele, and forbade the women of Cadmeia to partake in his rites.Īn angered Dionysus caused Pentheus' mother Agave and his aunts Ino and Autonoë, along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush to Mount Cithaeron in a Bacchic frenzy. ![]() ![]() The story of Pentheus' resistance to Dionysus and his subsequent punishment is presented by Euripides as follows.Ĭadmus, the king of Thebes, abdicated due to his old age in favour of his grandson Pentheus. Much of what is known about the character comes from the interpretation of the myth in Euripides' tragic play, The Bacchae. His mother was Agave, the daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and the goddess Harmonia. His father was Echion, the wisest of the Spartoi. In Greek mythology, Pentheus ( / ˈ p ɛ n θj uː s/ Ancient Greek: Πενθεύς, romanized: Pentheús) was a king of Thebes. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |