Bacchae by Euripides — Read

Composed during Euripides' final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon, this play was first performed posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigenia at Aulis and Alcmaeon in Corinth. Bacchae was most likely first directed by Euripides' son and the drama won first prize in the City Dionysia festival competition. The play concerns the mythological story of King Pentheus of Thebes and his mother Agauë, who refuse to worship the god Dionysus and are therefore duly punished.

The Dionysus in Euripides' play is portrayed as a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of Cadmus, has denied him a place of honour as a deity. As the play opens, Dionysus appears on stage to tell the audience who he is and his reasons for coming to Thebes. He explains the story of his birth and how the god Zeus had come down from Mount Olympus to lie with his mother. When she became pregnant, however, none of her family believed her story regarding her child's father. Zeus' wife, Hera, angry by his betrayal, disguised herself as an old nurse and convinced Semele to ask Zeus to appear to her in his true form. Zeus appeared to Semele as a lightning bolt and therefore killed her instantly. At the moment of her death however, Hermes saved the unborn Dionysus. To hide the baby from Hera, Zeus had the fetus sewn into his thigh until the child was ready to be born. However, Semele's family - her sisters Agave, Autonoe, and Ino, and her father, Cadmus - still doubted her story regarding the identity of the baby's father. Dionysus now explains that he has come to Thebes to vindicate his mother and establish his cult, though at first he meets grave resistance from the disbelieving King Pentheus.