Dionysus had a beautiful young man in his following named Abellos.
One day Abellos as he was riding a wild bull he fell and got killed.
Then Dionysus begged Zeus to turn him into a plant a vineyard!
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Zeus loved a mortal princess Semele. Semele was pregnant. Hera persuaded the princess to ask Zeus to reveal himself but she was burnt to death by the lighting wreathed around his body. Zeus rescued the fetal Dionysus by sewing him into his thigh. A few months later, Dionysus was born .
Again, the vengeful Hera sent Titans to kill the baby. The Titans ripped the infant to pieces and started to eat it up. Zeus turned the Titans into dust with his thunderbolts, but only the heart of the infant was saved. Zeus used the heart to recreate his baby in his thigh, hence , Dionysus was “the twice – born”. The god took his reborned child far away to be raised by a nymph
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When Dionysus grew up, he discovered how to culture grapes and how to extract its precious juice but Hera struck him with madness. She drove him to become a wandered around world. For years, Dionysus travelled to many lands. He taught people how to cultivate the vine.
DIONYSSUS AND OINEAS
Once upon a time, the god Dionysus was hosted by the king of Aetolia, Οιneas. He really enjoyed the hospitality and that’s why he wanted to give him a gift
He got a small and tender climate vine and wrapped its roots in the mud not to dry. He found a small bone of nightingale and put it in and started his way
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the road was long and vines were growing. Dionysus then found a bigger bone, of a lion and put it inside. While he was keeping walking and saw how much the vine grew again so much that it jumped out of the bone He found then a bone pig and put the vine in. Once he arrived in Aetolia. The Oineas with joy took the gift and planted it. This plant gave off nice and juicy wine grapes.
The Oineas ate some and others sqeezered and made them muse. He saw with curiosity that the must was fermented and made wine. ď‚ž But the wine took the graces and the defects of the animals into their bones it grew. So whoever drinks some wine he feels like a bird chirping. ď‚ž
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anyone who drinks more, becomes like a lion and quarrels. And if someone drinks even more, he becomes like a‌pig
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THE
FOX AND THE GRAPES
ONE hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. “Just the things to quench my thirst,” quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.” “IT IS EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT GET.
It is believed that wine was introduced in Greece around 4000 BC.
Ancient Greeks considered that wine was a gift from the gods and worshiped Dionysus, a creature with the mind of man and the instincts of a beast, as god of wine. Festivals honoring Dionysus were held during winter months and were celebrated by performing arts and wine drinking.
During Homer times, wine cultivation was part of Greece's agriculture. It is evident that wine was a drink for old and young Greeks. Tradition says that infant Achilles was given wine with his meals
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During the early Roman times Greeks introduced grape viticulture to Sicily in south Italy. As time went by and the tradition was handed down from father to son, the methods of wine cultivation improved. They used herbs and spices to preserve and flavor their wines and made them well known to the ancient world. It is not an exaggeration to say that Greece was back then, what France is today, in wines.
The great ancient Greek poet Omiros mentioned wine many times in his poems “iliada “ and “odyssea”. Wine isn’t just included in the nutrition of the soldiers who are presented by the poet. It existed in many moments of their daily life.
In the poet of odyssea it is mentioned that there were huge rooms where big bottles in which sweet wine was kept in Odyssea’s castle . In addition Odysseas used wine so that he could make the gigantic human being with the one eye who had kidnapped him(his name was Polyhemus) sleep and then make him loose his vision so that he was able to escape.
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In the poet of iliada we can also see the importance of wine. Soldiers are presented to drink wine so that they could be stronger to fight with the enemies. They used to put water in their wine so that they could drink as much as they wanted. Moreover in the poem we see that dead people were washed with wine. Finally, they used wine to pray to the 12 gods they had faith
But also the ancient Greeks, people and rulers, philosophers and almost all the streams from the Presocratics and the Idealists (Plato, Socrates, etc.) to assist them, loved wine, while the poets have not failed to praise.
The Alcaeus, a great lyric poet urges us not to plant more tree than any other single vineyard, 'Mid' in other formerly dendreon planting vines... " The value of wine mentioned by Plato and Xenophon in their symposium. « Chalepas to men getting drunk » ,ie. « Awesome flaws for people getting drunk (Plat." Symposium "c, 176) and in Athenaeus' at Dipnosofistis», which calls the wine « Wine, the benevolent demon». In the same work, in a passage, Eyboulos (comic poet of the 4th century BC) depicts Dionysus says that wine is essential in humans, but in moderation, because if you drink more then huff.
According to Greek mythology was the son of Zeus and Semele daughter of Kadmou. During a fire in the palace of her father, with the intervention of Gaia and rescued the infant Zeus puts him on his thigh. On the one hand, the fire of the palace, on the other the lightning of Zeus gave Dionyssos the name igneous, and the fact that pregnancy continued in the thigh of his father, gave him the names mirorrafis, dyssotokos, dimitor. At the appropriate moment arises and is delivered in twelve nymphs, or water spirits, the Hyades, which become food for Divine Child. At the beginning, due to hate that Hera had to Dionysus leads him to madness and wanders in Egypt and Syria. But is treated by Rhea, in Phrygia, he teaches the ritual worship, including the setting of the same outfit but also of his followers.
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Servants and companions were the Maenads, the Silen, the Vissarides The Klodones The Bacchae, the Mimallones and all had favorite pastime as playing flute and guitar, the drunkenness and harvest. The ancient ancestors loved and served with passion in Dionyssos, a god whose name was connected with the celebrations of vegetation, fertility and crop protection, especially the vine. In honor of the grand celebrations were held, including: In the fields or Small Dionysia (in December), those we are Dionysian or Large (March), the Linea (January), the Flower Festival (February-March). Common element in religious practices is the point of ecstasy, sometimes the orgiastic frenzy, caused by drinking the wine and release the cares of everyday life.
More generally, Dionysus was a god of wild nature, of the forces “outside” of the civilized city
The word tragedy is connected with the Greek word tragoi, meaning goats, and Dionysus and his followers are sometimes pictured with a goat. The name of Dionysus was associated with even one of the evener forms of Greek speech, drama. From the Dionysian Dithyramb born yet tragedy and comedy, while during the holidays were magnificent and theatrical events, theater of Dionysos under the Acropolis
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The ancient ancestors had remarkable varieties of special vessels, which are used both for mixing wine, maintaining, and to cool before consumption. So we have:
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Vessels for storage and transportation
Aphora, ancient vessel form used as a storage jar and one of the principal vessel shapes in Greekk pottery, a two-handled pot with a neck narrower than the body.
A stamnos is a type ofGreek pottery used to store liquids. It is much squatter than an amphora and has two stubby handles relatively high on its sides. It is a relatively unusual container form. Generally, it was used for mixing and storing.
A hydria is a type of Greek pottery used for carrying water. The hydria has three handles. Two horizontal handles on either side of the body of the pot were used for lifting and carrying the pot. The third handle, a vertical one, located in the center of the other two handles, was used when pouring water.
krater, also spelled crater, ancient Greek vessel used for diluting wine with water. It usually stood on a tripod in the dining room, where wine was mixed
Levi, a deep and open vessel, usually without handles, with low neck and protruding lips. It was based on an independent basis or on a tripod. It served as the crater of the blending of wine.
Kyathos , was a spoon in the cup-shaped with a foot tall and upward curved handle. It served as a container for pumping the wine from the crater, or as a a measure for mixing wine with water. Jug, The name comes from the words wine and cheo. It is circular and trefoil mouth and body sometimes has a bulb-shaped or petite. Used for pumping or pouring and we find the graves as offerings. Beaker, a Hellenistic type of wine jug with flat base, with acute shoulder and circular orifice
Kylix, glass, which was used mainly in the symposia. The hosts ordered it to the potters and painters to specific performances. He was one of the products exported to other nations particularly in the Etruscans. Beetle, a type of beaker with main characteristics minute foot, wide body and two handles that start at the bottom around the body, beyond the height of the lips and curved back around to them. Of the many notable variations are the beetles with a person. Mastos, drinking vessel in the shape of the female breast, with one, two or no grip. It seems customary to hang on the wall. Skifos or Kotili, deep vase with low or no strain, and two handles. Riton or running or bust, a drinking vessel in the form of single or dual Horn, head of animal (usually ram and other animals) or even a human head attached to the bottom of the cup.
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Condenser, a vase with a narrow cylindrical body widens and went and took the shape of the bulb to reach a narrow rim. They fullfill cold water and placed in the crater, to keep the wine cool.
These symposia, had become an institution, acquired rules and etiquette. Were in the room of the house called "men" and their guests by relying on their left hand lying in couches. At first the servants bring water for washing hands and the banquet began with a libation to the god Dionysus, the god of wine.
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A symposium consisted of two parts, the first was "dinner or syndeipnon" in which the symposium took a short and simple dinner, followed by second part" o Potos'', who gave his name into symposium.
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"Sumposiarxhis", oversaw both the watering of wine, and the amount to be drunk each person in the symposium, depending on the situation. It seems, how important the case was to avoid drunkenness and maintaining a civilized atmosphere
Hippocrates (Kos 460 BC- Larissa 377 BC) was an ancient greek doctor and is considered as one of the most important personalities of the history of medicine. Hippocrates described wine as a powerful filter which is a source of calories. He classified wine and he gave it different qualities according to the type of wine: white or red, diluted or concentrated, with aroma or not, sweet or sour. Wine works as a laxative to our organism, helps us to urinate, increases our blood pressure. He believed that wine is a food as it can “feed” us. It also helps to keep ourselves warm and it is a painkiller too. Hippocrates also mentioned that wine is a medicine. He himself used it in surgeries or to disinfect wounds. He also used it to relieve earaches and eyeaches. Finally he used it as a secondary ingredient to make other medicines or filters