Deities - IX: Dionysos as a Child
Hermes entrusting Dionysus child to a nymph. The "petasos", traveler hat, behind the shoulders, the winged sandals and the caduceus identify the male figure painted on the right side as Hermes. The god, with chlamys covering the upper part of his body, moves to the left. He holds in his arms a young boy wrapped in his cloak: this child, portrayed in profile, is the god Dionysus.
On the left, the nymph is standing cloaked in her mantle. She wears a himation over a chiton. Her left hand is stretched forward, while the right arm is lying along her body.
The Myth
Dionysus was the twice-born son of Zeus and Semele, snatched prematurely from his mother's womb when she was burnt to death by Zeus' thunderbolt, then stitched into his father's thigh until he could be born full-term, Hermes carried the infant to be brought up by Ino and Athamas, who dressed him as a girl to hide him from the ever jealous Hera. But eventually she learnt the truth and punished Ino and Athamas by driving them mad. They killed their own two sons: Athamas shot Learchus, and Ino flung Melicertes into a cauldron of boiling water, then leapt into the sea with him in her arms and drowned. Mother and son were transformed by Dionysus into the sea-deities Leucothea and Palaemon.
While Dionysus was still a child, Zeus turned him into a kid to elude Hera and took him to the nymphs of Mount Nysa (variously located) for safety. They brought him up in a cave and later became part of his revelling entourage. They were sometimes said to be the HYADES, and were later rewarded with immortality among the stars. (Source: J. March, “Cassell’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology”
Attic red-figured pelike
Dimensions: H. 24 cm.; max diam. 18,6 cm.
Attributed to Barclay Painter by Beazley
Approx. middle V century BC
From Banditaccia Necropoli, Cerveteri, Rome
Rome, Villa Giulia, Museo Nazionale Etrusco
Deities - IX: Dionysos as a Child
Hermes entrusting Dionysus child to a nymph. The "petasos", traveler hat, behind the shoulders, the winged sandals and the caduceus identify the male figure painted on the right side as Hermes. The god, with chlamys covering the upper part of his body, moves to the left. He holds in his arms a young boy wrapped in his cloak: this child, portrayed in profile, is the god Dionysus.
On the left, the nymph is standing cloaked in her mantle. She wears a himation over a chiton. Her left hand is stretched forward, while the right arm is lying along her body.
The Myth
Dionysus was the twice-born son of Zeus and Semele, snatched prematurely from his mother's womb when she was burnt to death by Zeus' thunderbolt, then stitched into his father's thigh until he could be born full-term, Hermes carried the infant to be brought up by Ino and Athamas, who dressed him as a girl to hide him from the ever jealous Hera. But eventually she learnt the truth and punished Ino and Athamas by driving them mad. They killed their own two sons: Athamas shot Learchus, and Ino flung Melicertes into a cauldron of boiling water, then leapt into the sea with him in her arms and drowned. Mother and son were transformed by Dionysus into the sea-deities Leucothea and Palaemon.
While Dionysus was still a child, Zeus turned him into a kid to elude Hera and took him to the nymphs of Mount Nysa (variously located) for safety. They brought him up in a cave and later became part of his revelling entourage. They were sometimes said to be the HYADES, and were later rewarded with immortality among the stars. (Source: J. March, “Cassell’s Dictionary of Classical Mythology”
Attic red-figured pelike
Dimensions: H. 24 cm.; max diam. 18,6 cm.
Attributed to Barclay Painter by Beazley
Approx. middle V century BC
From Banditaccia Necropoli, Cerveteri, Rome
Rome, Villa Giulia, Museo Nazionale Etrusco