Zagreus
[8] The tenth-century Etymologicum Gudianum interpreted the name as "great hunter", deriving the word from za- ("very") and agreuein ("hunt"), an etymology rejected by both West and Kerényi.[17] A fragment from Euripides' lost play Cretan Men (Kretes) has the chorus of Cretan men describe the "pure life" they have led since they became initiates (mystai) of Idaean Zeus and celebrants of: night-ranging Zagreus, performing his feasts of raw flesh; and raising torches high to the mountain Mother among the Curetes,[18]and were consecrated and received the title of "bacchus".Although the extant Orphic sources do not mention the name "Zagreus" in connection with this dismembered Dionysus (or anywhere else), the (c. 3rd century BC) poet Callimachus perhaps did.[40] The 1st century BC historian Diodorus Siculus says that according to "some writers of myths" there were two gods named Dionysus, an older one, who was the son of Zeus and Persephone,[41] but that the "younger one [born to Zeus and Semele] also inherited the deeds of the older, and so the men of later times, being unaware of the truth and being deceived because of the identity of their names thought there had been but one Dionysus.[53] In the version of the story apparently told by Callimachus and Euphorion, the cauldron containing the boiled pieces of Dionysus, is given to Apollo for burial, who placed it beside his tripod at Delphi.According to the Fabulae of Hyginus, Jupiter (the Roman equivalent of Zeus) "ground up his heart, put it in a potion, and gave it to Semele to drink", and she became pregnant with Dionysus.[62] According to Diodorus Siculus,[63] Egyptian myths about Priapus said that the Titans conspired against Osiris, killed him, divided his body into equal parts, and "slipped them secretly out of the house".The Christian apologist Firmicus Maternus gives a rationalized euhemeristic account of the myth whereby Liber (Dionysus) was the bastard son of a Cretan king named Jupiter (Zeus).[68] When Jupiter left his kingdom in the boy's charge, the king's jealous wife Juno (Hera), conspired with her servants, the Titans, to murder the bastard child.[76] The only ancient source to explicitly connect the sparagmos and the anthropogony is the 6th century AD Neoplatonist Olympiodorus, who, as part of an argument against committing suicide, states that to take one's life is "forbidden" because human bodies have a divine Dionysiac element within them.In his essay On the Eating of Flesh, Plutarch writes of "stories told about the sufferings and dismemberment of Dionysus and the outrageous assaults of the Titans upon him, and their punishment and blasting by thunderbolt after they had tasted his blood".[89] This Platonic passage is often taken as referring to the anthropogony, however, whether men are supposed by Plato to "display and reproduce" this lawless character because of their Titanic heritage, or by simple imitation, is unclear.[90] Xenocrates' reference to the Titans (and perhaps Dionysus) to explain Plato's use of the word "custody" (φρούρα), has also been seen as possible evidence of a pre-Hellenistic date for the myth.[92] In the game, Zagreus is the son of Hades and is attempting to escape the underworld to find his mother Persephone, who disappeared before his time, and learn why she left.
Zagreus (disambiguation)Greek underworldAeacusAngelosAscalaphusCerberusCeuthonymusCharonErinyesEurynomosHecateHypnosMelinoëMenoetiusMoiraiPersephoneRhadamanthusThanatosAcheronAsphodelMeadowsCocytusElysiumFields of sorrowFortunate IslesLand of dreamsPhlegethonTartarusDanaïdesSalmoneusSisyphusTantalusTitansTityusAeneasDionysusHeraclesHermesOdysseusOrpheusPirithousPsycheTheseusancient Greek religionmythologyAncient GreekromanizedOrphicAeschylusTimothy GantzMartin Litchfield WestKarl KerényiHesychiusZagros MountainsUgariticAlcmeonisEuripidesIdaeanMount IdaCuretesZeugma Mosaic MuseumSemelesparagmosOrphismCallimachusEuphorionByzantinechthonicPlutarchNonnusPseudo-NonnusDiodorus SiculusClement of AlexandriaArnobiusChristian apologistNeoplatonistOlympiodoruseuhemeristicastrologerFirmicus MaternusPhilodemusProclusLycophronFabulaeHyginusJupiterinterpretatio graecaEgyptian godOsirisPriapusNeronian-eraCornutusCretanTheogonyTitanomachythunderboltDamasciusDio ChrysostomOrphic HymnsPindarXenocratesZagreusunderworldMacariaDionysiacaMetamorphosesAthenagoras of AthensProtrepticusPausaniasTzetzesEtymologicum GenuinumEtymologicum MagnumBrill's New PaulyTyphonHesiodRepublicPhaedoOrphic HymnH. J. RoseE. J. BrillAthanassakis, Apostolos N.Bibliotheca TeubnerianaBrill’s New PaulyBrisson, LucBurkert, WalterHarvard University PressDe Gruyter