Dionysus in India - III
The Myth
The most famous part of his wanderings in Asia is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted three, or, according to some, even 52 years. In those distant regions he did not meet with a kindly reception everywhere and had to fight against many peoples. But Dionysus and the host of Pans, Satyrs, and maenads, by whom he was accompanied, conquered his enemies, taught the Indians the cultivation of the vine and of various fruits, and the worship of the god; he also founded towns among them, gave them laws, and left behind him pillars and monuments in the happy land which he had thus conquered and civilized, and the inhabitants worshipped him as a god.
The Sarcophagus
This magnificent sarcophagus reports the Indian triumph of Dionysus. Dionysus appears at the far left end of the composition in his elephant-drawn chariot. The mythological composition owes a debt to imperial ceremony: the god receives from a winged Victory flying before him a laurel crown, identical to the headdress worn by Roman emperors during triumphal processions.
Several singing and dancing characters march in front of his chariot. The enthusiastic atmosphere of the procession of his worshippers is the favorite theme of Dionysus' iconography. The canonical repertoire includes centaurs, satyrs, maenads, Papposilenus, Pan. The main task of satyrs and maenads was to create the sounds and the rhythms of the exciting Dionysiac atmosphere by using the typical instruments of the thiasos: the maenads strike cymbals and tympana while satyrs and Pan are playing double flutes or syringes. Both are dancing unbridled. The not dancing characters, Sileni and centaurs, play stringed instruments. Several wild animals - lions, panthers, giraffes etc. – were admitted inside the parade during his Indian campaign.
This is a popular theme in late second-century AD sarcophagi, but here the carved relief is of especially high quality — complex but highly legible at the same time.
The-bas relief indicates that the family who commissioned the sarcophagus adhered to a mystery cult of Dionysus that focused on themes of decay and renewal, death and rebirth. The triumph of the deceased over death is the central message overcoming this particular episode in the life of Dionysus himself.
Marble sarcophagus
200 AD
Vatican City State, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano
Dionysus in India - III
The Myth
The most famous part of his wanderings in Asia is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted three, or, according to some, even 52 years. In those distant regions he did not meet with a kindly reception everywhere and had to fight against many peoples. But Dionysus and the host of Pans, Satyrs, and maenads, by whom he was accompanied, conquered his enemies, taught the Indians the cultivation of the vine and of various fruits, and the worship of the god; he also founded towns among them, gave them laws, and left behind him pillars and monuments in the happy land which he had thus conquered and civilized, and the inhabitants worshipped him as a god.
The Sarcophagus
This magnificent sarcophagus reports the Indian triumph of Dionysus. Dionysus appears at the far left end of the composition in his elephant-drawn chariot. The mythological composition owes a debt to imperial ceremony: the god receives from a winged Victory flying before him a laurel crown, identical to the headdress worn by Roman emperors during triumphal processions.
Several singing and dancing characters march in front of his chariot. The enthusiastic atmosphere of the procession of his worshippers is the favorite theme of Dionysus' iconography. The canonical repertoire includes centaurs, satyrs, maenads, Papposilenus, Pan. The main task of satyrs and maenads was to create the sounds and the rhythms of the exciting Dionysiac atmosphere by using the typical instruments of the thiasos: the maenads strike cymbals and tympana while satyrs and Pan are playing double flutes or syringes. Both are dancing unbridled. The not dancing characters, Sileni and centaurs, play stringed instruments. Several wild animals - lions, panthers, giraffes etc. – were admitted inside the parade during his Indian campaign.
This is a popular theme in late second-century AD sarcophagi, but here the carved relief is of especially high quality — complex but highly legible at the same time.
The-bas relief indicates that the family who commissioned the sarcophagus adhered to a mystery cult of Dionysus that focused on themes of decay and renewal, death and rebirth. The triumph of the deceased over death is the central message overcoming this particular episode in the life of Dionysus himself.
Marble sarcophagus
200 AD
Vatican City State, Vatican Museums, Museo Gregoriano Profano