For the Greeks, Dionysos was a fertility god like Demeter. But while Demeter was the goddess of dry things growing, like grain, Dionysos was the god of wet things growing, like fruit of all kinds, but especially grapes (and the wine that people made from grapes). In fact, Dionysos is in some ways more like Persephone than like Demeter, because he is often thought of as being the wine itself, just as Persephone is the wheat.
For instance, when people drank wine, they said that they were taking the god into their own bodies, and when they became tipsy, they said that the god had taken over their minds and hearts. The Greek word for this is "enthusiastic", en= in and thus = god, taking the god into you. You were not really responsible for things you did while you were drunk, because the god made you do them.
Mythologically, Dionysos is one of the younger gods, like Apollo, Artemis, and Athena. He is even younger than they are. In fact, he is so young that Homer, in the Iliad and the Odyssey, seems not to know about him yet - although his name does show up in written documents from the Late Bronze Age in Greece (about 1300 BC). He is the son of Zeus, and a mortal women named Semele (SEH-muh-lay). The story goes that Zeus and Semele were in love, and she was going to have his baby, and he was so happy about it that he told her (foolishly) that he would give her whatever she wished for, anything at all (in fairy tales, and maybe in real life, this is ALWAYS a bad idea! - compare for instance the Christian story of Salome).
Taken from www.historyforkids.org
For instance, when people drank wine, they said that they were taking the god into their own bodies, and when they became tipsy, they said that the god had taken over their minds and hearts. The Greek word for this is "enthusiastic", en= in and thus = god, taking the god into you. You were not really responsible for things you did while you were drunk, because the god made you do them.
Mythologically, Dionysos is one of the younger gods, like Apollo, Artemis, and Athena. He is even younger than they are. In fact, he is so young that Homer, in the Iliad and the Odyssey, seems not to know about him yet - although his name does show up in written documents from the Late Bronze Age in Greece (about 1300 BC). He is the son of Zeus, and a mortal women named Semele (SEH-muh-lay). The story goes that Zeus and Semele were in love, and she was going to have his baby, and he was so happy about it that he told her (foolishly) that he would give her whatever she wished for, anything at all (in fairy tales, and maybe in real life, this is ALWAYS a bad idea! - compare for instance the Christian story of Salome).
Taken from www.historyforkids.org