The ancient Roman god, also known as Dionysus, does not have a good image today. His name is linked to drunkeness, excess, madness. But the ancients did not see him as one-sided. He was the god of losing one’s inhibitions. But he was also the god of getting together. Ancient nicknames included Bacchus the Liberator, Bacchus the Saviour, and Bacchus the God Who Gives Men’s Minds Wings. Those do not sound all bad, right?
Bacchic cults were banned in Roman times, because their members held allegiance to “a parallel state.” But at the same time, we have quotes from Tacitus and Julius Caesar, saying how great it was that conquered populations enjoy Roman wine so much – it made them easier for Rome to control. To the ancients Bacchus was an ambiguous god, both beneficial and harmful.
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