Dionysus was the ancient Greek god of wine, winemaking, grape cultivation, fertility, ritual madness, theater, and religious ecstasy, fruitfulness and vegetation and a protector of misfits. His Roman name was Bacchus. Dionysus had the power to inspire and to create ecstasy, and his cult had special importance for art and literature. The followers of Dionysus included spirits of fertility, such as the satyrs and sileni, and in his rituals the phallus was prominent. Dionysus often took on a bestial shape and was associated with various animals. His personal attributes were an ivy wreath, the thyrsus, and the kantharos, a large two-handled goblet. In early Greek art he was represented as a bearded man, but later he was portrayed as youthful and effeminate.
