PLAY: Euripides, Bacchae (5th century B.C.E.)

This was quite something; I already want to reread it. Seems there's a warning for modern-day social conservatives in the character of Pentheus, whose fixation on sex as both outrageously sinful and forbidden-fruit fascinating leads him to misunderstanding and ultimately to his demise. He is unable to begin to comprehend what the Bacchants are all about, as in his fevered imagination they only "creep off to lonely places to serve the lusts of men"; but in his eagerness to peep in on these alleged orgies ("Oh, yes! I'd give a treasury of gold for that!") he is lured into Dionysus' fatal trap. The lesson is the same one that keeps cropping up in headlines about our politicians: that an outspokenly judgmental attitude toward sex will be your undoing--not to mention that it makes you miss the point.

What, however, is the point? The odd moral universe of this Athenian tragedy is as follows: since the blindered king Pentheus is undeniably in the wrong, you are forced to side with his even more arrogant opponent Dionysus, god of wine, who spends his time amassing worshipers for himself and who punishes his unbelievers with gory violence. The openly stated moral of the story: religious piety is a virtuous Theban's best bet. What's most fascinating, however, is that the Theban women aren't allowed the free will to choose piety: they are involuntarily induced into worship. I've read mythology where the gods intervene with metamorphoses and with lightning-bolts, but this is the first time I remember seeing a Greek god employ mind-control.

Asides: I hadn't realized that my childhood heroine Semele was no commoner, but a princess. That's gratifying. Also, why do you suppose Dionysus focused on women?