Bacchus

Silenus strayed into the rose gardens of Midas, the wealthy king of Phrygia, while he was drunk. The king’s attendants found him, bound him with roses, and brought him before Midas. Midas treated the aged satyr kindly and entertained him for ten days. He then led Silenus back to Bacchus, who had been concerned for his friend.

Bacchus offered Midas any reward he wished to choose. Midas asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Bacchus granted the wish. Midas tested it on a green twig, and the twig became gold. He touched a stone, a clod of earth, ears of corn, and an apple, and each became gold beneath his hand. The furnishings of his house also changed when he touched them.

Midas soon sat down to eat and drink. The food became gold before he could swallow it, and the water became gold before he could drink it. Hunger and thirst overcame him, and he bitterly regretted his wish. He begged Bacchus to release him from the golden touch.

Bacchus told Midas to go to the source of the river Pactolus near Mount Tmolus and wash himself there. Midas obeyed. The golden power left him as soon as he washed in the river, and the sands of the Pactolus then shone with gold.

Theseus left Ariadne asleep on the shore of Naxos and sailed away. She had been abandoned on the lonely island after the escape from Crete. Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, king of Crete. Sorrow and weeping had worn her out, and she lay asleep upon a rock.

Bacchus found her there while he travelled with his merry train of Satyrs and Maenads. He stood gazing at her in admiration. When Ariadne opened her eyes, he revealed himself and spoke to her gently. He tried to drive away her grief. She had believed herself forsaken and without friends, so his kindness brought her comfort. She gradually recovered her calm and accepted his request to become his wife.

Bacchus married Ariadne without delay. He placed Thetis's crown upon her head, and she bore him many children. Thoas and Oenopion were sometimes called the sons of Theseus. Bacchus later set the crown among the stars, where it became the constellation Corona Borealis. The crown had been made by Hephaestus from fiery gold and red Indian gems, arranged in the shape of roses.

Dionysus returned to Thebes and found King Pentheus denying his divinity. Pentheus, the son of Agave and grandson of Cadmus, had taken the throne after Cadmus gave up rule. He banned the worship of Dionysus and forbade the women of Thebes to celebrate his rites. Dionysus answered by driving Agave, her sisters Ino and Autonoë, and the other women of Thebes into a Bacchic frenzy. They went to Mount Cithaeron and joined the revels there.

Pentheus grew enraged when his own family ignored his commands. He arrested Dionysus and the Maenads. In his madness, he fastened a bull in the palace stable instead of binding Dionysus. The Maenads escaped and rushed over the mountains, where they tore calves apart. Pentheus then heard their cries and went after them. Dionysus led him to Mount Cithaeron in disguise so that he could spy on the women.

Pentheus hid among the trees and watched the sacred rites with profane eyes. Agave, his mother, saw him first. Dionysus drove her and the other women into a deeper frenzy, and they mistook Pentheus for a wild animal. Agave struck him with her javelin. She called to her sisters, and the women rushed upon him together. They dragged him down and tore him limb from limb.

In one telling, Agave tore off Pentheus's arm and then ripped off his head. She placed the head on a pike and carried it back to Thebes, believing that she had taken the head of a mountain lion. Cadmus told her that it was the bloody head of her son, and she recognised Pentheus. Agave and her sisters were then exiled from Thebes.