Dionysus and Politics This volume presents an essential but underestimated role that Dionysus played in Greek and Roman political thought. Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, the volume covers the period from archaic Greece to the late Roman Empire. The reader can observe how ideas and political themes rooted in Greek classical thought were continued, adapted and developed over the course of history. The authors (including four leading experts in the field: Cornelia Isler-Kerényi, Jean-Marie Pailler, Richard Seaford and Richard Stoneman) reconstruct the political significance of Dionysus by examining different types of evidence: historiography, poetry, coins, epigraphy, art and philosophy. They discuss the place of the god in Greek city-state politics, explore the long tradition of imitating Dionysus that ancient leaders, from Alexander the Great to the Roman emperors, manifested in various ways and show how the political role of Dionysus was reflected in Orphism and Neoplatonist philosophy. Dionysus and Politics provides an excellent introduction to a fundamental feature of ancient political thought which until now has been largely neglected by mainstream academia. The book will be an invaluable resource to students and scholars interested in ancient politics and religion. Filip Doroszewski is Assistant Professor at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland. His recent publications include a co-edited volume Nonnus of Panopolis in Context III (2021) and a monograph Orgies of Words. Mystery Terminology in the Paraphrase of St. John’s Gospel by Nonnus of Panopolis (forthcoming). Dariusz Karłowicz is a Polish philosopher and a lecturer at Warsaw University, Poland. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the philosophical magazine ‘Political Theology’. His books in English include The Archparadox of Death: Martyrdom as a Philosophical Category (2016) and Socrates and Other Saints (2017). Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies Recent titles include: Illiterate Geography in Classical Athens and Rome Daniela Dueck Religious Discourse in Attic Oratory and Politics Andreas Serafim Roman Masculinity and Politics from Republic to Empire Charles Goldberg Latin Poetry and Its Reception Essays for Susanna Braund Edited by C.W. Marshall Exploring the Mid-Republican Origins of Roman Military Administration With Stylus and Spear Elizabeth H. Pearson Xenophon’s Socratic Works David M. Johnson Dionysus and Politics Constructing Authority in the Graeco-Roman World Edited by Filip Doroszewski and Dariusz Karłowicz Monsters in Greek Literature Aberrant Bodies in Ancient Greek Cosmogony, Ethnography, and Biology Fiona Mitchell Antonio Gramsci and the Ancient World Edited by Emilio Zucchetti and Anna Maria Cimino For more information on this series, visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge- Monographs-in-Classical-Studies/book-series/RMCS Dionysus and Politics Constructing Authority in the Graeco-Roman World Edited by Filip Doroszewski and Dariusz Karłowicz First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Filip Doroszewski and Dariusz Karłowicz; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Filip Doroszewski and Dariusz Karłowicz to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Doroszewski, Filip, 1980- editor. | Karłowicz, Dariusz, 1964- editor. Title: Dionysus and politics : constructing authority in the Graeco- Roman world / edited by Filip Doroszewski and Dariusz Karłowicz. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge monographs in classical studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020054568 (print) | LCCN 2020054569 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367480363 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367507282 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003050995 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Greece‐‐Politics and government‐‐To 146 B.C. | Rome‐‐Politics and government‐‐30 B.C.-476 A.D. | Religion and politics‐‐Greece‐‐History‐‐To 1500. | Religion and politics‐‐Rome‐‐History. | Political science‐‐Greece‐‐Philosophy. | Political science‐‐Rome‐‐Philosophy. | Dionysus (Greek deity) Classification: LCC JC73 .D56 2021 (print) | LCC JC73 (ebook) | DDC 320.0938‐‐dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054568 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054569 ISBN: 978-0-367-48036-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-50728-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-05099-5 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by MPS Limited, Dehradun The Editors wish to dedicate the volume to Professor Juliusz Domański, whose guidance and inspiration were essential in enabling them to work together on this and other projects. *** This volume was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the National Programme for the Development of Humanities (2bH 15 0163 83) in the years 2016‒2019. Contents Figures ix List of contributors xi List of abbreviations xiv Introduction 1 FILIP DOROSZEWSKI, DARIUSZ KARŁOWICZ Part I Dionysus and the polis 7 1 Dionysos, the polis and power 9 CORNELIA ISLER-KERÉNYI 2 The politics of Euripides’ Bacchae and the preconception of irresolvable contradiction 18 RICHARD SEAFORD 3 On the necessity of Dionysus: the return of Hephaestus as a tale of the god that alone can solve unresolvable conflicts and restore an inconsistent whole 32 DARIUSZ KARŁOWICZ 4 Alexander and Dionysus 46 RICHARD STONEMAN viii Contents Part II Dionysus in Rome 61 5 Dionysos against Rome? The Bacchanalian affair: a matter of power(s) 63 JEAN-MARIE PAILLER 6 Augustus and the Neoi Dionysoi 89 FIACHRA MAC GÓRÁIN 7 The state as crater: Dionysus and politics in Plutarch’s Lives of Crassus, Antony and Caesar 103 FILIP DOROSZEWSKI 8 Dionysus and legitimisation of Imperial Authority by myth in first and second century Rome: Caligula, Domitian and Hadrian 124 SŁAWOMIR POLOCZEK 9 The role of Bacchus/Liber Pater in the Severan religious policy: the numismatic and epigraphic evidence 142 MAŁGORZATA KRAWCZYK Part III Late-antique reflection on Dionysus 159 10 The rule of Dionysus in the light of the Orphic theogony (Hieroi Logoi in 24 Rhapsodies) 161 MAREK JOB 11 Dionysus in the mirror of Late Antiquity: religion, philosophy and politics 177 DAVID HERNÁNDEZ DE LA FUENTE Index 210 Figures 1.1 Dionysos Gigantomachos and Themis. Detail of the gigantomachy frieze, Siphnian Treasury, Delphi (after LIMC IV.2, 374 Dionysos 651) 11 1.2 Detail of the gigantomachy by Lydos. Fragments of a black-figure dinos, Athens, Acropolis inv. 607 (after Moore 1979, 99) 11 1.3 Gigantomachy of Dionysos. Red-figure attic Stamnos, London, British Museum inv. E 443 (after Carpenter 1997, pl. 2A) 12 1.4a Dionysos Gigantomachos. Eastern metope 2, Athens, Parthenon (after Berger 1986, pl. 40) 13 1.4b Dionysos Gigantomachos. Eastern metope 2, reconstruction (after Praschniker 1928, 192, Fig. 119) 14 1.5 Dionysos Gigantomachos. Pergamon Altar, Berlin, Pergamonmuseum (after LIMC IV.2, 375 Dionysos 657) 15 1.6 Dionysos provokes the wounding of Telephus. Pergamon Altar, Berlin, Pergamonmuseum (PRISMA ARCHIVO/ Alamy Stock Photo) 16 5.1 Map of the ‘Dionysiac countries’ in Italy at the beginning of the second century BCE. © Michał Strachowski 64 5.2 Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus on a bronze tablet from Tiriolo di Calabria. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (after Pailler 1988) 69 5.3 Pompeii, Villa dei Misteri, Bacchic Frescoe: the domina contemplating her images (The Picture Art Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo) 75 5.4 Cumaean bebakcheumenoi on a funerary inscription (Ca 500 BCE): ‘It is not permitted to be buried here one who has not been made bakchos’. Metropolitan Museum, New York (after Cumont 1927) 76 5.5 Female bacchant on the lid of a Tarquinian sarcophagus. British Museum, London (after Pfiffig 1975) 77