Dionysus and Apollo

Luke Roszkowski

Dionysus

• Dionysus was a patron for the arts. He was the god of fertility and wine. In ancient Greece, wine and fertility was very important in everyday life so Dionysus was a pretty big deal. Dionysus’ cult takes responsibility for being the origin of Greek Theatre.

• Dionysus played the aulos (double pipe).• Because of his popularity, every December a

celebration was thrown where a statue of Dionysus was taken from Eleutherai to the city. This statue would be placed in with the God sanctuaries and a bull would be killed there, all for this God!

• All of the plays Dionysus’ cult performed were based around singing and dancing. This was very successful. Then, one day a Dionysian priest named Thespis decided to speak the dialogue instead of sing and therefore the first actor was born!

Pisistratus

• Pisistratus made a theatre for Dionysus. This theatre was made for the performance of Tragedy.

Theatre

• When Theatre was finally established, the writers began to experiment with different genres. Such as comedy (486 BC) and Satyr plays (500 BC).

• Nobody really knows who actually wrote most of these plays but they are thought to be written my Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides.

Apollo

• Apollo is the god of, prophecy, music, intellectual pursuit, healing, plague, and sometimes the sun. Apollo is the known for his light radiance.

• Dionysus is the half brother of Apollo.

• In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus goes to Apollo's Oracle.