April 18, 2012, the exhibition Islands of the Gods is opened in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. Among other things, a large marble statue of Dionysos can be admired during this exhibition. One of the masterpieces of the RMO is a damaged head of this Greek god of wine.
The damaged head of Dionysos has a fierce facial expression with hollow eyes, an open mouth, and a chipped nose. He is portrayed as a beardless young man and his fluttering, curly hair is held together by a headband. Under this band, grapes can be seen with his right-hand sleep.
Style The head is found in Western Turkey in the area around the city of Smyrna, present-day Izmir. The statue was made by the Pergamese sculpture school and therefore shows clear influences from Pergamese art. Characteristics of this art are large muscular figures and the expression of emotions. The style of the image points to a date at the end of the Hellenistic period or in the Early Imperial period (100 BC to 100 AD).
Mythology Dionysos was processed by the supreme god Zeus at Semele, the daughter of the Treban king Kadmos. His stepmother Hera was jealous of Zeus' love for Semele. Hera came to Semele under a false form and persuaded her to ask Zeus if he wanted to show herself to her in all his glory to prove that he really was the god of heaven. Bounded by an oath, Zeus had to grant the foolish request, but when he showed himself in the full blaze of his lightning, Semele burned her house.
Zeus could only save his unborn son from the flames. He wore Dionysos in his thigh until the time of his birth. After the birth, Zeus handed over the god's upbringing to the nymphs of Nysa, a mythical place to which various Greek regions were later named. In India you want to buy such marble god statue in mumbai, we gaj arts are best in scenario.
When Dionysos was mature, he planted the crop, the vine, from which grapes grew. With the liquor extracted from it, he drank himself and his educators. Everyone who came into contact with him was seduced by the sweet smell of the new drink, wine. He then traveled through the country to spread his new gift, the making of wine, to the people.
Roman god of wine The Romans also knew the wine god Dionysos, but with them he was called Bacchus. A well-known image of Bacchus is a young man with a vine leaves wreath on his head and a bunch of grapes in his hand, supported by a satyr (a mythological figure with a goat's tail, ears and sometimes legs). The face of Bacchus, unlike the Greek Dionysos, shows no emotion.
In addition to wine, Dionysos-Bacchus was also associated with intoxication, ecstasy and death. Dionysian scenes are often depicted on marble coffins or sarcophagi. In ancient times, making wine was seen as a metaphor for the human being who was reborn after his death in a blissful afterlife, just like the grapes that are trampled and "resurrected" like wine.