Beauty and The Beast

[Nicator]

Hello Poli,Welcome to the forum! you wrote..."Thebes was the birthplace of Dionysus in which he established his cult"In reality, we don't know where this religion originated. Recent study suggest that Dionyses is indeed older than Zeus himself, perhaps originating in southern Asia Minor as early as the 18th century b.c. From there traveling upwards around the Hellespont and into Greece. Where it stayed and flourished (particularly in the northlands in and around Thrace). Eventually migrating south into Greece proper, where Apollo appears to have been a Greek manifestation of the deity. Again, this is all very speculative. later Nicator

[Nicator]

Hello Dean,I've been busy, so I almost missed this one. 1. The unification and creation of Hellenistic Greece.2. The exemplorary treatment of native and foreign religions throughout his dominion.3. His attitude towards living life without bounds, and showing all who followed by example, what was possible. The worst...1. The murder of Cleitus, Callisthenes, Philotas, and especially Parmenion. (Provided, Callisthenes, Philotas, and Parmenion were not actively plotting against him).2. The razing of Persepolis...(if it was not burned by the Persians themselves). Thebes had their chance to peacefully diffuse the situation, and blew it. 3. The treatment of the Greek mercenaries at Granicus, and the double cross and slaughter of the Indian mercenaries.I disagree with Nick on one point...that there was "no good reason for burning Persepolis". Burning Persepolis was all but mandated by the Hellenistic league. It was the ultimate goal from day one of this crusade. The Persians must have felt extremely bad after this shocking event, and it is for this reason that I bother to include it in this list. It was a bad thing...in hindsight, of course. By burning the Persian capitol he all but assured stiff resistance in the coming years by uniting what was left of the Persians against him. The good thing about this is that there don't appear to have been any victims burned alive in the conflagration...just a building, albeit a symbolic architectural monument to Persian power and prestige. Had people been burned alive, and destroyed with the building, then we are talking about a much more sinister event. That might just be my modern American morality talking, but I can't imagine the Persians felt much different. If a highjacked airplane fly's into a vacant building...my general reaction would be...who cares. But innocent people aboard the plane and trapped in the building is a different matter.

[Polyxena]

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your Welcome. Yes, I wrote that Thebes was the birthplace of Dionysus in which he established his cult because until now I tought that's true (I found this info in many books). But, your information is really interesting and I would like to read more about that. Can you recommend some book or site that claims this? And if Dionysus originates from southern Asia Minor, than was his original name Dionysus or not? It's really ineresting to know that he came from Asia into Greece.
Regards, Poliksena

[John.]

Good luck on getting hard information about the gods! Here's a quote from Arrian concerning Dionysus:"...I for my part cannot gather whether the Theban Dionysus started from Thebes of from the Lydian Tmolus, and led an army against the Indians, invading all these warlike peoples, unknown to the Greeks of that time, and subduing no other part of them but the Indians; still, one must not be a precise critic of ancient legends about the divine beings. For things which - if you consider them mereley from their probability - appear incredible, may, when one adds to one's story the divine element, prove by no means incredible."John

[Nicator]

I found the information in a book called "Thrace". I don't have the book, but it's in my neighborhood library. I'll try to remember to get the author for you the next time I'm there. If I recall correctly, his name was Dionysus in his early days as well. He had a son named Orpheus? I think, and Orpheus also had a cult following in and around Thrace which in time came to rival that of Dionysus. later Nicator

[Polyxena]

Hi Nicator,
Thanks. But, I've posted my reply to your message on the message called "Dionysus" by S (S).
Regards