: Dithyrambic Language and Dionysiac Cult Author(s): Daniel Mendelsohn Reviewed work(s): Source: The Classical Journal, Vol.

87, No. 2 (Dec., 1991 - Jan., 1992), pp. 105-124 Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3297967 . Accessed: 01/08/2012 07:23
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LANGUAGE DITHYRAMBIC LYFKEPAYNOfl: AND DIONYSIAC CULT* concludes his definitive survey of Sir ArthurPickard-Cambridge with an characterization of the genre as "a dithyramb exasperated Most scholars would agree that and puzzling disappointingaffair."' his description is appropriate for what remains of the "two great which some periods" in the composition of "literarydithyramb,"2 believe was devoid of the "dionysischeStoffe"that had characterized the cult songs, and whichby the fifthcenturyhadbecomethe vehicle for floriddisplays of musicalvirtuosity.3Scholarly is, therefore,only aporia
An earlierversion of this paper was presentedat the ClassicalAssociation of the AtlanticStatesconferencein Princeton, New Jerseyin October,1990. I am indebted to David Siderof CJ,as well as to SarahPeirce,Andrew Ford, Jenny Clay, and Froma Zeitlin for their generous and helpful comments. Thanksarealso due to W.Robert Connor,who providedinspirationat an early stage of my research. Tragedy, and Comedy (2nd ed., Oxford1962)58. 2Dithyramb, I.e.,the late sixth/ early fifthcentury(underthe patronageof Peisistratos and his sons; see RichardSeaford'sbriefdiscussion in "The'Hyporchema'of Maia29 [1977]82-83) and the late fifth/early fourthcentury (at the Pratinas," greatpublicfestivalsof the Athenianimperialdemocracy).Forthese dates see TheDramatic Festivalsof Athens(2nd ed., Oxford also Pickard-Cambridge, 1989) 79. A degree of caution seems in order in positing a very strict a division between early, "cult" dithyramband a later,purely "literary" genre. Themost recentstudies of the publicperformances of music and dramain fifth-century Athens suggest thatattemptsto separatethe intricatelyintertwinedthreadsof religious, civic, and artisticactivitythat contributedto these performancesin their festival setting would be wrongheaded. Nevertheless,it does not seem unreasonableto assumethata gradualdilutionof the purelyreligiouselement occurredbetween the early sixth and late fifth centuries,as the civic element became increasinglyimportantto an ever more democraticAthens. DerUrsprung derTragbdie (Vienna1925)103. Despite 3 AlfredWinterstein, the paucity of hard evidence, scholarsboth earlierand laterthan Winterstein have advanced persuasive argumentsthat Dionysiac cult must in some way have been centralto earlydithyramb.See A. Hauvette-Besnault, Sa Archiloque: vie et ses podsies ditiramboda (Paris1905)170, 182,as well as G. Privitera,"I1
The Classical Journal 87 (1992) 105-24

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DANIELMENDELSOHN

more pronouncedin discussions of dithyramb'searliest,"purelyritual"incarnation.4 Indeed,SirArthurwarnedthatscholarsattemptingto reconstitutethis cult dithyrambfromwhat remainsof laterdithyramb are prone to "generalizefar too boldly."5 Priviteraput the problem most succinctly: del VIIsecoloe piil faciledirche sia letterario [D]elditirambo esistito,non checosasiastato.Ignotarimanela suastruttura, la tessitura metrica e musicale, la compagine dialettale, il rapportoin esso di musicae poesia. I'argomento, However, despite the apparent futility of studying the earliest into Dionysiaccult and performance formsof the genre,recentresearch does permit speculationas to the natureand significanceof dithyramSeaford articlesRichard bic language. Forexample,in severalimportant
ed. Claude in Grecia, corale cantocultualea spettacolomusicale,"in Ritoe poesia

27. Calame 1977) (Bari seePrivitera 27-37. formusical asavehicle Forlater virtuosity, dithyramb

cult elements in the Seafordis cautious about the presenceof echt-Dionysiac whom he calls "deviantsfrom literarydithyrambsof Pindarand Bakkhylides, the dithyrambictradition," althoughhe does cite the formerin his arguments. "the note on to that He goes fragmentsof Pindar'sdithyrambsare not in fact without affinity with the language of laterdithyramb"(note 2 above, 92; emphasis mine);but for evidence of a civic-festalcontextfor Pindar'scompositions, see RichardHamilton'srecentcommentson the frequencywith which HSCP93 the word ZreeriZ appearsin those works ("ThePindaricDithryamb," of the two survive few that a complete only fragments [1990]218f.). Noting books of Pindar'sdithyrambsinventoriedby the Alexandrians,Privitera(33) is equally hesitantabout how to classify the remainingfragments. Thereis in facta good deal of controversyas to whetherthe Bakkhylidean materialis to be classified as dithyrambat all. See, e.g., Pickard-Cambridge di Bacchilide: (note 1 above) 25-31, and O. Vox, "IlditiramboXVIII dialogo ed of for the classification Vox 136f. 34 (1982) Bakkhylides Maia argues enigma," on the grounds 14-19as dithyramb.Seaford, however,"excludes" Bakkhylides that there was "the possibility that the 'dithyrambs'of Bacchylides were forno betterreasonthan thatthey grouped togetherunderthe titledithyramboi embody a continuous narrative"(note 2 above, 92, following A. E. Harvey, the "TheClassificationof GreekLyricPoetry,"CQ 5 [1955]160). Also contra "Paeans cf. note C. 213 Ian Hamilton is label Rutherford, 15; by dithyrambic Simonides,"HSCP93 (1990)204. 4Winterstein(note 3 above) 99. 5 Pickard-Cambridge (note 1 above) 11. 6 "Archilocoe il Ditiramboletterariopre-simonideo," Maia9 (1957)100.

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has argued thatit is possibleto ascertainthe "characteristic features"of and, further, dithyrambiclanguage fromits vestiges in laterliterature7 that these featurescan be tracedbackto theirsourcesin Dionysiac cult. The "languageof satyricdramaand dithyramb(and, in vestigial form, tragedy),"he maintains, "originatesin the ritual of Dionysiac initiation." Even earlier, some scholars had argued that the religious elements said to be at the heartof cult dithyrambwere not completely abandoned when the genre became a literaryratherthan a religious of Pratinasthat Seafordstudies, the one. Indeed, in the hyporkhema of the is "the narrator's ire spread into drama . . . of the object dithyrambic style"-an infiltrationthat could have preserved cultic diction, as well as style, in laterdrama.11 The fragmentsof laterdithyramb(afterabout450 BCE) have certain featuresin common thathelp Seafordto arguefor a "newtheory about "Pratinas" Dramaand the (note2 above)89;see also his "Dionysiac 31 and and (1981) 252-75, Salvation, CQ Mysteries," Dionysiac "Immortality, the Elements," 90 (1986) HSCP 1-25. (Butn. b. Hamilton's substantial objectionsto Seaford's methods note3 above,214-17.) andevidence, of course, couldanddid referrather to certain Manyscholars, broadly
7

of dithyrambic characteristics languageand style. Hence, forexample,Bowra was ableto pass judgementon the "literary" dithyramb's"inflated" style in his [Oxford1970]170f.) Allen essay "Arionand the Dolphin"(in OnGreekMargins elementsof dithyrambin their commentary and Sikes speak of "stereotyped" on H. h. Dion.(London1904)231. These scholarstake their cue as much from the opinions left by ancientliterarycriticsas fromthose bits and pieces of the works themselves thathave remained; cf., e.g., PlatoCrat.409c;AristotlePoet. 1459a9 and Rhet. 1406bl-2; Demetrios Peri Hermeneias ?91; and schol. ad Philos.VA1.17St0Epai iv. Cf.also Horace glwiM aov0'Tot;6v6o'at avevovV 4.2.10ff. seuperaudaces novadithyrambos devolvit / verba numerisque fertur/ lege solutis. It is Seaford'sargumentsfor a directconnectionbetween the specific Dionysiac topoi in laterDionysiac poetry and dramaand their earliestcultic context that make his approachan especially importantone. 8 "Dionysiac Drama" (note 7 above) 254. Here Seaford is especially interestedin the languageof Euripides'Bakkhai. Forotherargumentsthat seek to confirm the cultic origins of Euripides'diction see also KarlDeichgraiber, "Die Kadmus-Teiresiasszene in EuripidesBakchen," Hermes 70(1935)323 ff., and A. J. Festugiere, "La signification religieuse de la Parodos des Bac54 (1956)80 ff. chantes,"Eranos 9 Privitera(note 6 above) 109. Forthis point see also August C. Mahr,The A StudyoftheEarlyTheater Form: in Attica(New York OriginsoftheGreek Tragic 1938) 25. 10Athenaios 14.617b(= Pratinasfr. 3 Snell, in Trag.Gr.Frag.1. 81-82). 11Seaford(note 2 above) 83.

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dithyrambic language," as it infiltrated later dramatic genres. He in particular: identifies three characteristics elaboratelycompounded and aggregationof epithets,and periphrasis epithets, great frequency 12Seafordfurthernotes that"itis clearfrom "oftenof a riddlingnature." the remainsof dithyrambiclanguage as a whole that its characteristic featureswere associatedwith the traditional(Dionysiac)dithyrambic abandon:wine and musicalinstruments,"13and he arguespersuasively that texts from the fifth century and later bear distinct tracesof both diction and action associatedwith early Dionysiac cult. It is thus no surprise that the poetic contextsin which he has located dithyrambic language typically referto Dionysiac themes-wine,14 music, riotous abandon. Borrowingsome of Seaford'sassumptions and methods, I hope to shed light on the very rareword ouycepauv6), which occurs and which, I shall argue, is a only three times in the classicalcorpus,15 survival from the vocabularyof early Dionysiaccult dithyramb. All threetexts offerindisputablyDionysiaccontextsfor this word; is emin the Arkhilokhos fragment, furthermore, oyicepauv60 I to want bedded in a specifically setting. briefly explorethe dithyrambic
12Seaford(note 2 above) 88. See his notes 57-61 here for full citationsof passages. pertinent 13 Seaford (note 2 above) 89. For other evidence that confirms the traditionalassociationbetween Dionysos and dithyramb,see Pickard-Cambridge (note 1 above) 2 on Aiskhylos fr. 355 Radt (quoted by Plutarch,De Ei 389b),and on Pindar01. 13.18. apudDelphos 14The prominencegiven to wine and drunkennessin laterdithyrambhas been pointed out by many scholars,and supports the view that these were likely themes of earlier dithyrambiccelebrations of Dionysos in a cultic context.Therearevarious examplesfromlaterdithyramb(i.e., after450 BCE) that refer prominentlyto wine: PMG744 (Ion of Khios);780 (Timotheos,on see below); and 831 (Philoxenos),as well as whose dithyramb 'k2i; ege`i,X of Antiphanes(12K:all cited in Seaford[note 2 above] the parodic fragment 88-89). And while Seafordis surelycorrectto acknowledgethat "mostof these in Athenaeusto theirconcernwith wine and fragmentsowe theirpreservation is a concise utterance music," fr. 155 of Epikharmos,from his Philoktetes, and was taken for between wine the connection that dithyramb implying i8op istEi;.) granted: ocK Eart 8t06paCqlpb6XK' fr.187K(= 199K-A);and Bakkhai Kratinos Arkhilokhosfr.77B(= 120W); 15 rather 1103,a vexed passage whose manuscriptreadingof o0vepawvoioat, discussion hopes to the present than Pierson'semendation aovtptatvoOUact, be discussedbelow. Theword appearsonly one confirm. Thesepassageswill other time in ancientGreek:Lxx2 Ma.1.16. In light of the presentargument, it is noteworthy that here oiyKcpacv6wodescribes death by stoning where dismembermentimmediatelyfollows.

YTFKEPAYNOX2

109

implicationsof this fragment,in orderto expand the set of criteriafor what constitutesa dithyrambictextualreminiscence. This in turn will suggest that the other, fifth-centuryoccurrencesof oayKepauv6oare ratherthangenerally"Dionysiac." Subsequent specificallydithyrambic, in more detail how avuycpcauv6o is intricately will show analysis connected with dithyramb as a literary form, as well as with both Dionysiac mythology and cult practices. Few would dispute the fact that the Arkhilokhosfragment resonates with allusions both Dionysiac and dithyrambic. The poet here exalts the Dionysiacinebriationthatinspireshim to lead the dithyrambic chorus:

); Atwov1,oot' &va-to; IcaXOv C6pPat gLeo; (pp o{xa Mt,6paLPov v . Rtvont oyKepaVe)oeg (77B = 120W)
These lines are cited with great frequencyin studies of choral poetry and Dionysiacreligionalike. As the oldest of these Dionysiactexts that we possess, the verses are consideredauthoritativein this respect,not least because they come closest chronologicallyto the actualperiod in assessed flourished. cultdithyramb whichtheearliest Pickard-Cambridge studies: for their importance literary Its[dithyramb's] specialconnectionwith Dionysosthroughout its historyis sufficientlyattested,and the importanceof Archilochoslies in thefactthat,whereasitmightbe possible ... to argue that later references to the connection of dithyrambwith Dionysos were due to the well-knownperformancesat the Dionysiac festivals at Athens ... no such suggestion can be made in regard to the words of Archilochos.16 The Arkhilokhospassage, with its prominentreferencesto music and would seem to confirm wine in thecontextof dithyrambic performance, themes as based on the the validity of Seaford'scriteriafordithyrambic later fragments. The passage also suggests that ayicepa~v6o belongs to a special vocabularyof Dionysiacdithyramb.As a meremetaphorfor the effects
16 (note 1 above) 1. Pickard-Cambridge

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MENDELSOHN DANIEL

of wine, the word is rather forced; it connotes devastating natural violence ratherthan inebriatepoetic exultation.17LSJtell us that the prefix conveys the "completionof an act, altogether, completely," rav- in this case the is "to strike with thunderbolts."18 and act, icepauv6o), translationof Arkhilokhos's as Pickard-Cambridge's oiypopauvve00w a word that,thus "fused"is thereforetoo tame,and failsto do justiceto compounded, must mean something more like "utterlyblasted with of the metaphor (cf.uncompounded lightning."The strangeness icepauvoei';, almost never used figuratively19) is, possibly, a sign that its provenanceis religious ratherthan purely poetic. Indeed, the Greeks had special religious reverence for those who had been struck by o.656i y0xp lightnin% (epavov800E;rtgo; ortv, 67tnoye icc 6;g 0a6 And no figure from Greek religion better unites within Tt~tarat.
17 For the destructiveness of lightning, cf. Artemid. 2.9 T&h rnoXtoXeki

To Steven LonsdaleI am indebtedfor another,quite intriguingexpla653don the originsof festivity, in nationof the prefix. He pointsto PlatoLaws which Apollo, Dionysos, and the Muses are called?vveopraoaxrd of mortals: to as laterin the same passage(653e)the gods in generalarereferred vyXopEurai. Bearingthis religiousand festivalcontextin mind,Lonsdalesuggests that in the Arkhilokhos fragment the aov-prefix is used to indicate the poet's identificationwith the god. Thusin these verses he "sympathetically experiences the lightning blast that felled Semeleand produced Dionysos, through a wine-induced frenzy that results in Arkhilokhos'own poetic creation." Lonsdale furtherindicates the use of the acv- prefix in Corybanticrites, as 228band alluded to by Plato'suse of oyxcopo3eavTtlv at Phaedr. gesi{ etv ~utlaic thereseems at 234d. Althoughthese ritesarenot properlyDionysiac,forPlato ritesaregrouped with the to be an overlap,e.g. at Laws 815c,whereCorybantic will dances. Lonsdale's Bacchic arguments appearmorefully in his proscribed andRitualPlayin Greek Seebelow forfurther book, Dance Religion. forthcoming discussion of the possible connectionof the cov-prefixto the initiatoryrites of the Dionysiac mysteries. of icepa-v6co, occurrence at Artemid. 19LSJreportonly one metaphorical Cc 2.9 (a passage to be discussed below): lci Tot; v tf y,&p tcXacOv-a to be KCa This seems clearly popular usage qptEv. OV710Eia KeKepa0vaai to punishwrongdoers;as such, the Zeus'suse of the thunderbolt derived from would, I think, have been rather purely metaphoricalforce of KepauvvoOei weak. It is not comparableto the vividly figurative uses of ayicepav6wo discussed herein. 20Artemid.2.9,a chapteron fireandlightning. I was of courseencouraged B by Artemidoros'sassertionin this passagethat&OXrlt&; ev86ZoS 'eCpauv6 a were struck Places that Ii by lightningwere also 6biotel t&vaaq q;toX6yoS;. consideredsacred:see GregoryNagy's interestingdiscussionof the Isles of the

oZ8v oCtEx ... EI Kac iEPcpv6; ,pxata prlta cai Xopca py iXio v na7cav Oeipetv. 6 bq

aZtIv &Xo i~irp, 'itov

2YFKEPAYNOO

111

himself the elements of drunkeninspirationand naturaldisaster than does Dionysos, whose special song was the dithyramb. It seems the violent verb, with its connotations of sudden, godForancientdescriptoucheddeath,would beathome in cult-dithyramb. tions of dithyramb-for example, the Pratinas passage noted above-suggest that comparableviolent destructiveness was in fact anotherimportantelementof earlycult dithyrambthatwe should add to Seaford'scriteria.This qualitywas reflectedin dithyramb'sstyle as well as in its themes. In the fourthcenturyAristotlecites dithyrambas an example of music set to the Phrygianmode, against which (along with the aulos that accompaniedit) he warns as being unsuitable to Pollux laterideneducation, since they are & raiarlzt 6&.21 6pytaaztuX tified the dance thattypically accompanieddithyrambas the tyrbasia,22 which Pickard-Cambridge, among others, reasonably derives from connected to rvpf3Cw, Ip "andother words which seem to imply or furtherargues that confusion, riot, revelry."' Pickard-Cambridge what Aristotle in the fourthcentury disapproved of as being "out of control"was in fact tame comparedto the earliest cult-songs: "as the of an orderlycivic festival, Bacchicrite... becamepartof the celebration the wildness of the music... abated."24 Moreover,dithyramb'smusical unrulinesswas associatedwith realviolence. In the Pratinasfragment, the speaker complains that dithyrambicperformanceleads to street It thereforeseems likely thatin its style, brawls of young drunkards.25
Blessed/Elysium in TheBestoftheAchaeans (Baltimore 1979)190. Nagy derives "made sacred by virtue of being struck by the 'Hhcatov from &VV~$atoS, thunderbolt,"and tradition,noteworthyin the context reportsthe remarkable of the present discussion, that Macdpov vi-o; was the name of the sacred precinct where Semele was struck dead by the thunderbolt of Zeus (Parmenides ap. Suda,and ap. Photius,s.v. MaKcpcov vi~io;;Tzetzesad Lykophron

1194 1204).

Politics8.7.1342a,b. Pickard-Cambridge (note 1 above) 33. 24Ibid. 32. 25Pratinas fr. 3 Snell 10 6-9
vev

2214.104. 23

uCilgatiotot the dithyramb]. It neednotbe the casethatPratinas is merely accompanies here.InAristotle's Constitution (fr.510Rose,citedin beingcrotchety ofNaxos of tipsy youths(veaviaecot Athenaios8.348),a similaridcoo;S oyv ITtvE ... led to civil could ; Pratinas well have knownof the war; ?cJigaaav) biont6vTz in festalprocessions inherent of drunken explosivepolitical potential young men. Inthis context it is interesting to takenoteof W.Burkert's observation

(note above) te / j'6vov 0ppaghXot; ~cjt OcXot the aulos that I/ [sc. noapoivwv eggevoat orpaotildtla;

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DANIEL MENDELSOHN

of its performance, subjectmatter,and even the circumstances dithyramb was essentiallyassociatedwith the unruly violence that lay at the heart of Dionysiac cult itself.26 is appropriateto Dionysos for other reasons. In a avyKEpaov6mo) discussionof Greekattitudesaboutlightning,Dodds pointsout that "in southernEuropethe thunderstorm is beneficentas well as terrible-the but rain the blasts, lightning quickens the seed in the earth, so that Semele perishes and Dion. [sic]is born."27Apart from its role in the Semele myth, to be discussed below, this lightning embodies the essentially ambiguous nature of Dionysos himself. In a Dionysiac and lightningcould recallthe god setting, referencesto thunderstorms who presidesover liquid nourishment, fertility,and the ripeningof the in same the could, moment, lightning grape;yet bringto mind the god's and the sparagmos.It destructiveness,emblematizedby the oreibasia it is that to Seaford's criteria fordithyramthen, appears, possible expand bic language to include not only inebriationand music-making,but sudden and devastatingviolence-the darkside of drunkenabandon. If violence was intrinsicto dithyrambas a genre, then the Kratinos as well passage offerswhat canbe considereda specificallydithyrambic Theplaywas thePytine,concernas DionysiacsettingforoavywKpcav6o. ing a conflictbetween the poet himselfand his "wife,"Comedy,who is to Drunkenness.Herethe Dionysiac jealousof his excessiveattachment elements of wine, Methe(Drunkenness personified),and comic performance itself provide a context for the kind of violent destructiveness about which Pratinaswarned-in this case, the wanton smashing of drinking-vesselsintendedforbacchicmerrymaking.Theword used to friendsproposes as oneof Kratinos's describethisactionis ouypauv6o, a remedy for the poet's drinkingproblem:

to Corinth ofdithyramb wasroughly introduction thatthelegendary byArion the overthrow two violent with by Kypselupheavals: political contemporary descent from andthe whoclaimed os oftheCorinthian Bakkhiadai, Dionysos,
politically motivated establishment of Dionysos' cult in Sikyon by Kleisthenes. (GreekReligion [Cambridge, Mass. 1985] 290.) Privitera (note 3 above) 29 has suggested that the cult of Dionysos was popular with tyrants because it transcended ancient aristocratic snobberies. 26 Burkert (note 25 above) 292. 27 E. R. Dodds, Euripides Bacchae (2nd ed., Oxford 1960) 62-64 (on 6). Artemidoros more than once cites lightning without an accompanying stormintet KIepo~v6b v8 remarkable: oi~Te yap L60pa 6 & xetwt vo;--as KIpa-v6 t (2.29). mi ~X tgvo; Ov fpovtov Ko 8t& aLb
gERty" tvr n0oioo tvprpeo~a

LYFKEPAYNOCX ztga,dt6v, iW; tt; v (Oq

oa epaSuvw oiro&v,

113

iv OitouItcnalEte, toi I toI; &it,Toi ey(t8a. aovrptyo yap auztoiro;g xouz,

Kai ro;g Kaliloaogoty

6Ow(pov oivIPOV KOX5)' i KEKic1tyerat.

t 66ov ait a Cavt' aE p6v acia~ &yyeot Tt

= 199K-A) (187K

in a Bacchic context wantondestruction Another scenefeaturing classical of theBakkhai, thepreeminent occursat theclimax Dionysiac
text: yhp ijio t "X(v KppeCoaov iTIpOrlODiag; iOijoO' XFeX~i~vo;.
TXoqS 68 putvot; auy epauvoIaxt hKXi8o ~RoXhoi;. d&ot8lpot; p'a daveoanppaooov

nopia 6 tXlymov,

(Ba.1103-06)

of Pentheus's withits hyperbolic narration Theharrowing sparagmos, in of abandon" the maenads' degod-inspired paradigm "Dionysiac as yet another whatcannow be understood establishes structiveness, Hereagain,the metaphor is contextforoayKcpavouo.29 dithyrambic the not pervasive given play's Dionysiac powerful-but inappropriate, ambience.JeanneRoux,along with Dodds and many other recent
at 1103; unlikemanycritics,she rightly critics,defends ouyKepauvoo^at looks to both the Arkhilokhosand Kratinospassages in defending her reading:"Lametaphore,vigoureuse, n'est pas nouvelle pour peindre l'action d'une force irresistibleet instantanee."3?

et difundam." Inview of the play's Dionysiacmilieu it is possiblethat the sudden flash itself has significancewith respect to the of light associated with KcEpa-ov6; Dionysiac mysteries. See Seaford's discussion of the role of light in the initiation ceremonies, "Dionysiac Drama" (note 7 above) 256-58, and the discussion below. LesBacchantes (Paris1970)579. Dodds ad loc. 30JeanneRoux, Euripides: (215)observes that "s.looks less like the chanceproductof a copyist's blunder than like an element of the specialDionysiacvocabularyon which Eur.draws repeatedly in this play," but, failing to see that the other occurrencesof the word appear in Dionysiac contexts as well, he merely comments that in Arkhilokhos and Kratinos,oauyiFpavwW is used for "comic exaggeration." Lacroixfinds and neglectsto mentionit at all in Les unremarkable, oyiyepavMv6

28See schol. Ar. and Kock'sgloss ad loc., "fulminisvi confringam Eq.400,

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MENDELSOHN DANIEL

All three classicalinstancesof u)ylEpau)v6o occur in dithyrambic the domains to belonging settings-textual god Dionysos, who preas as over inebriate musicsides over riotous destructiveness well making. If oa)y epa)v60) consistentlyoccursin three very differenttexts-choralpoetry,comedy, and tragedy-in what canbe seen not merelyas Dionysiac, but specifically as dithyrambiccontexts, its presence in those contexts needs to be accounted for. How, in other words, is specificallyassociatedwith Dionysos and his cult? And why KEpa)v6O in turnwould oaUyKEpa)v60 be particularly associatedwith the dithyrambic performanceshonoring the god-in terms, that is, other than the rathergeneral ones I have alreadysuggested-thereby accountingfor its subsequent recurrencein dithyrambicmilieux? I would like to exploretwo avenuesof inquiry.Oneleads to the myths thatrecountthe birthof Dionysos;the other,necessarilymorespeculativepath, to what little we know of the Dionysiacmysteriesand their initiatoryrites. Semele first. The importanceof lightningas an element of Dionysiac mythology is in fact well known, stemming from the story of the god's double birth. The Thebanprincess Semele insisted on seeing Zeus in his fieryOlympianform;thatelectrifyingrevelationresultedin birthof Dionysos. Semele played an especially the premature"first" in role cult, and apparentlyenjoyedconsiderable Dionysiac important own. The on her myth of her electrocutionwas a popular popularity one late fifth-century one among tragicpoets;31 play by Spintharos,for name and/or entitled Semele's was . example, K~epwtvoU01gTI EiCgTl recurfrequentlyin Dionysiac compositions, role as motherof the god
less recentthan Dodds Bacchantes (Paris1976)236. Commentators d'Euripide here:so or Rouxare morelikely to preferPierson'sconjecture ouvtptatvoiwoa as Beckwith ad loc. (Boston 1888);Dalmeyda, who cites cryiccpacuvoi^oat and the bemusedTyrell,who finds it "so "gubreintelligible"(Paris1908,124); very strange"(London1892,132).Sandys,citingArkhilokhosand Kratinosin his commentary(Cambridge1892,219),favorsoa-ycEpavoi-at but reserves any comment. In this context it is noteworthy that in the Dionysiac drama Bakkhai, lightning is mentioned with notable frequency-six occurrencesapart from 1103(6, 93, 244, 288,594,598)-versus four in the same playwright'sHiketidai threein Troiades (80, (496,640,985,1011,all describingthe deathof Kapaneus), Mainomenos (183,1181), (177,862)and Phoinissai 92,1103),two eachin Herakles and one each in Alkestis (320). (1193)and Kyklops (129),Andromakhe 31 See Dodds xxviii-xxix for a catalogueof these works.

LYFKEPAYNO

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inconjunction often withreferences tothunder andlightning.32 References toSemele seem tohave been prominent inDionysiac cult hymn;

a noteworthy the tombof Dionysosat Thebesfeatured matronymic KCEKtg,1. Of in theepitaph formula &vO68, KEitxt eK A6AVU1O iaOtVV a Dionysiac Farnell the Lenaia, notesthat"thechiefritual-act festival, to the a [waswhen]the dadouchos, holding lightedtorch,proclaimed Invoke the whole the cried god' whereupon congregation people thegiverof wealth.",'3 aloud'Iacchos, sonofSemele, Thegod is closely withhis mother, who washerself identified ouyEpcwvop0eioca. to do with viaSemele. then,has"something Lightning, Dionysos," Whatdoes all of thishaveto do withdithyramb? Ancientsourcesindicatethatthe storyof Dionysos'sbirthwas with dithyramb--that associated is, with both the word particularly itself and the musical/literary formthat borethe same 8t06pacp3og theextentto whichthe name. indicates (Laws Plato,forexample 700b), word "dithyramb" was identified with thissubject &'ko, matter: iciA
AtovI?'ou yveaotm,olwat, 8t0&palpg3o0 Y7i,6gvog.Here Plato playfully

callsthe "philologically alludesto whatPickard-Cambridge impossitwodoors,"36 a referble"derivation of 5ti6pagp3og "through meaning ence to the god's double birth. Euripidesalso knows of the false I wouldargue, contrivances of which, he lametymology, theabsurd
32Semeleprominent in Dionysiac the fragmentary H. h. 1 compositions: to Dionysos(4,21);theH. h.7 to Dionysos (1,56 ff.);cf.Pindar fr.75S-M(12, that"itis plain (note1 above)21 remarks 19),on whichPickard-Cambridge themes."Fr.70bS-M traditional that... Semelewasoneof its [dithyramb's] whichofcourse is crucial features Theban Dionysos's genealogy, prominently

to the Bakkhai; and 70b S-M 31 f. seems as though it too concernedSemele. Thunder and lightning in these works: the H. h. Dion. 1.4 -uoaagEvrjv Ejtirlyv trexetv Atdi rEPntEpaIvcot: the appropriatenessof this epithet in a passage describingDionysos's birth is noted by F. Adami, De poetisscaenicis imitatoribus Graecis sacrorum hymnorum (Leipzig1900,243). Cf. also Pindarfr. 70bS-M 15ff.,andBakkhylides Otpaay 17.55f.&n'oipavo5 Oo&v niuptB' &r pandv. 33Festugiere (note 8 above) 72 ff., esp. 75. Philokhorosfr. 7 Jacoby. Pausaniasobservedboth a monumentto and a tomb of Semeleat Thebes,the formersupposedly on the site of herbedchamber (9.12.3and 9.16.7). Dodds on Bakkhai 6 (63) notes that "Eur.clearly has some knowledge of the Thebancult and cult-places";cf. the passages from Pindar cited above. Plutarch reports the legend that the tombs of both Euriides and Lykourgoswere struckby lightning (Ly.31). The Cults of the Greek vol. 5 (Oxford 1909) 209; emphasis City-States, mine. Cf. schol. Ar. Ranae482. (note 1 above) 7. 36Pickard-Cambridge

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286-97 poons in Teiresias's sophistic speech to Pentheus at Bakkhai into the the (where / po/5g po;-is incorporated story of pun--on 6 gnp6; the double birth; cf. 523-27). The false etymology of 8t60pa%io;, to futurephilologists,was evidentlypopular however irritating among ancient Greeks; 37as Seafordpoints out, these and all the other references connecting t0opagfpo; and the birthof Dionysos are important because "the... derivationcould hardlyhave been popularunless the theme of Dionysos's birth was already characteristic of the early dithyramb."38 Furthermore, vestiges of the motif of Dionysos's birth,which was so important for early cult-dithyramb,continued to surface in later dithyramb. The remains of Pindaricdithyramb,problematicthough they be, do containreferencesto Semeleand to the birthof Dionysos. Thelate fourth-century poet Timotheosseems to have been continuing a traditionwhen he entitled one of his "literary" dithyrambsleg~kX; in "Semele's Labor" which "the cries of the goddess (PMG 792), 'QSi;, were realisticallyimitated,not withoutludicrousresults."40 Based on some scholarshave assertedthatvirtually these and similarreferences, any composition treating Semele's labor was assumed by classical audiences to be a dithyramb.41 Dionysos' firstbirth,then, was precipitatedby Semele'sKepauv6;induced demise. oywicpcupv6o( would have been an especially approword describe to Semele'sdeathat the momentof herunion with priate Zeus-as-thunderbolt; indeed, the ouv- prefix(itselfpossibly a legacy of penchantfor compounds)might suggest dithyramb's"characteristic"

37Cf. e.g. Arr. Anab.6.28; Athenaios 30b; Pind. fr. 85 S-M; Frag.Adesp. 1.10 Plut. Vit.Marc.22. Pratinas fr. Snell; 3.109; Seaford(note 2 above) 90. 39Fr.75 S-M 12, 19;fr. 85;cf. 01. 2.25f., the story of Semele's fiery death. 40 Pickard-Cambridge(note 1 above) 51, citing Athenaios 8.352b-a performance clearly not to be missed. Semele's unconventional lying-in 1eya ka; ~sivaq kaooaaao figures in the Orphic hymn to Semele (44.4 i~ where indeed the Kpovioto), eitcoOUacAtb;poliota cbyiit/ &atpaoioto npqc6pcot the of is kind -uppo6pwt periphrasis that riddling phrase caxyijt precisely Seaford asserts is typical of dithyrambiclanguage (note 12 above). Cf. the (88 ff.). prologue of the Bakkhai 4V"Die ,Wehen der Semele' ... waren als Inhalt von Dithyramben so bekannt ... dass ein Ausdruck wie inuep j;0 iva ... zIjv caOxoivzr llegrxlstatt o yv Atov o ebensoverstindlich war,wie Platons Ausdruck et;ct i t06paruvol. 4 (Leipzig 1909-15)670. Mythologie,
0o;. . ., " W. H. Roscher, AusfiihrlichesLexikonder griechischen und rd'mischen

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that Semele was "'blasted with"the birthof Dionysos.42Herdeath was the necessary prelude to that birth,an event that seems to have been recountedalmost exclusively in the narrativesof cult dithyramb. At this point I would like briefly to investigate another, highly speculative line of inquiryinto the connectionsbetween KepaOv6;and Dionysos, one that concerns the Dionysiac mysteries and their own traditionquitedifferentfromthe matemythologicalinfrastructure--a rial discussed above. As Burkert has observed, "thereis a richvariety of Bacchicmythology, but with regard to the mysteries one tale has commandedattention,perhapstoo exclusively:the storyof the ChthonianDionysosbornfromPersephoneand slaughteredby the Titans,the ancestorsof man. Thismyth is explicitlyconnectedwith the mysteries Now themysteries of Dionysoshaveremained by severalauthors."43 just that;to speculate about them is, like the god himself, both tantalizing and dangerous-the moreso whenourreconstruction of thosemysteries is based, as it must be, on vague evidence fromlate sources.44 Yet some if seems because the speculation justified, only Dionysiacmysteries,in common with other mysteries, "aimedat a blessed state in the afterwithothercults, world,"45andcouldhavesharedsomecommonfeatures such as that of Demeterand Koreat Eleusis,about which we do know a bit more.46Proceedingby analogyfromthe Eleusinianmysteries (a method thatis tentativein nature,at best)andby reconsideration of the mythic narrativeof Dionysiac initiation,I hope to suggest how, quite apart from any reference to Semele, y-yepawv6'o could have had for the mysteriesof Dionysosand for dithyrambic special significance celebration. At Eleusis, the appearanceof a sudden brilliantlight appears to have been the culminationof the initiation rite. Plutarchprovides a famous descriptionof the experiencesof the initiand:47
42Cf. Anth. Gr. 3.1.1 6paOeioav [sc. t di; 4Ej q icepa~vtov.

note 38 (155) for a list of these authors and further relevant references. 44Burkert (note 25 above) 294: "Our knowledge of the [Dionysiac] rites, myths, and doctrines remains, of course, very fragmentary." Ibid. 293. 46On the common themes and features of mystery cults, see ibid. 276-78. 47Fr. 178; but see Mylonas' objections to drawing too many conclusions from this passage, Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries (Princeton 1961) 264 ff. Seaford, "Dionysiac Drama" (note 7 above) 255, note 37, cites passages in Plato

p1,grTv] Ancient Cults Burkert, W. 6va Mystery (Cambridge,Mass. 1987)73. See his

&v68tveot

cpaov~Rt; 16.7.3

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nkavat t inpotx rpaneptSpopotL1 K8o. Koi KRotin)g X I

t Xo01 1nope1at i 00oM stv cjE0z1qEoot, 1"o1tcot Eta % 'ppb &W no" aUToI) al cvrat(PK tfaiNf (p1ic 88tva f8po i pqa i d0fg4og; & t (pr& S ronto0 at Oaiminotov cat irot KcaOapo't a'rnr1vt1loyev VT7X Kci cit htetRoveg e&ctavTo, (pO)VKIcati opeict oeKy6at ) ovTE O)v ay ti(ov daKo)o?dYtR tep)ov Kai cpaagotWv

6i8t oKOTOug

At first there is wanderingand roamingabout that wears one out, gloomy pathsthatcauseanxietyand leadnowhere; then, just before the Consummationitself, all manner of terrible things: shuddering and trembling and sweating and astonishment. But thereaftera wondrous light meets one; open countryand meadows receive one, and in them are voices and dances and the august majesty of sacred music and of holy visions. Seafordargues convincinglythat "thiscontrastbetween sudden light and the precedingdarknessis an emphasizedfeatureof mystic initialiteralenlightenmentfor the initiand--and it is tempting to tion""48-a a comparableflash of light was centralto the mysteriesof that imagine Dionysos. For,althoughwe cannotknow how the abruptappearance of this (pa; 0t Oacg6otov was stage-managed during the Eleusinian referentforsuch a phenomenonwould certainly ceremony, the natural have been a bolt of lightning as it suddenly illuminatesa landscape. Seafordoffers furtherdetails of the Eleusinianflash of light: Now this mysticlight seems,at leastatEleusis,to have been identified with the deity... with the divine child whose birth was announced by the hierophantbin6noi316nt p{. Oneidentification of thischildwas asPloutos,whomPindar,

that seem to mirrorthe language of mystic initiation:Phaedo 69c, Symp.210e The diction of the latter (esp. Phdr. 247a-254c. and "Ascent" (the passage), 250b-c) bears the most strikingresemblancesto Plutarch. 48 "Dionysiac Drama"(note 7 above) 256; cf. Burkert'scomment that "thereis a dynamic paradoxof death and life in all the mysteries associated with the opposites of night and day [and] darknessand light ... ." (note 43 above, 101). Seafordcites Dio Chrys.12.33,where of particularinterestis the
clt (porob phrase orc'6oo Kai vall referencesto relevant Seaford256 note 45 for additional secondarymaterial.
aoi'riot (sc. the initiand) <patvohvowv.See

EYFKEPAYNOO speaking of the mystic doctrine of life after death, calls d&oXip dpiT log, traR(czcov &v8p t(pyyog (01. 2.53 .. .)

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If, as at Eleusis, this mystic light was "an emphasized feature" of Dionysiac initiation,and if this ritealso referredto the birthof a child no iupi, a divine child with whom that ritualxr p would have nR6 rX t n been identified-then thatchildcould only have been Dionysos, whose birthwas signalledby a fierybolt of lightning.5 ForiKpauv6g is crucial to both of the principalmythic narrativesassociated with that event: and that of the Titans blasted by Zeus's that of Semele keraunoumene, thunderboltfor theircrime againstthe infantgod. It is to the latter of the two myths that I would now like to turn. Typical of the "talesof sufferinggods" that gave the initiationrituals theirnarrativestructure,51 the taleof the chthonicDionysos was central to the Dionysiacmysteries,as well as to the Orphicsystem of belief that owed so much to Dionysiac cult.52 It provided an account of how
49 Ibid. 256 with note 46. It is worth noting that at Eleusis the child was sometimes identified with "Iakchos-Dionysos, son of Persephone"(see Burkert, note 25 above, 288). 5 Forthe identificationof lightning with fire,cf. Artemid.2.96ic Epauvb6 o86vv oazv ~Xo ij ntip. Most of his chapterabout fire-6 nepi pnp6 X6yo' is in factabout and the two termsareused interchangeably throughicepapv6;, out his discussion. 51 Burkert(note 25 above) 277. 52 For Dionysiac myth as central to Orphicbelief, see Burkert(note 25 above) 297. It was the Titans'murderof Dionysos that was especiallyimportant for Orphism,as Jeanmaire's commentindicates:"l y a apparenceque le mythe de la 'passion' et du d6membrementde Dionysos occupe une place centrale et eminente dans la r6velationqu'apportaientles &crits orphiques" (Dionysos:Historiedu culte de Bacchus[Paris 1951] 404). W. K. C. Guthrie describes this myth as "whatmust have been to the worshipper the central andGreek Religion[2nded., London1952]107); point of Orphicstory"(Orpheus cf. M. Detienne, DionysosmisAmort(Paris1977) 165, 197, and ErwinRohde, Psyche(8th ed., New York1925)341. Orphic borrowings from the Dionysiac mysteries would account for (note 25 above)293-301and many sharedmotifs,as discussedby both Burkert M. L. West, TheOrphicPoems(Oxford1983)15 ff. Jeanmaire400 noted that Orphism grew up in milieux that had proved hospitable to Dionysiac cult, which fact would further account for an attractionbetween the two. The argument for Dionysiac genealogy of much Orphic material stands to gain from Rohde's propositionthat Orphismbegan as a kind of "reform" aimed at in his of what Rohde's to as "le refers Jeanmaire, account, summary restoring charactereprimitif"of early Dionysiaccult (395);cf. Rohde 335-36.

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Dionysos (here the son of Zeus and Persephone)was killed, dismembered,and then eatenby the Titans. Forthis the Titanswere punished. Struck by Zeus's lightning bolt, they were hurled to Tartarosbut as the presentraceof men, who sprangfromthe eventually resurrected Titans'ashes;the god himselfwas also restored.Thismyth of Dionysos and the Titanssuggests furtherreasonsfor believing that therewas an of the mysteries,o~lyepauv6o0, and associationbetween the celebration dithryramb. One importantseries of texts seems to recapitulatethis Dionysiac tradition,and might shed furtherlight on it. The South Italiangold funerary leaves, in which punishment by lightning is prominently featured, have been variously referredto as "Orphic"or "Bacchic"; given the centralityto Orphismof Dionysiacmyth and tradition,that confusion is hardly surprising." (Indeed, the ancient tradition that Orpheus founded the Dionysiacmysteriessuggests that what we find in "Orphic" texts has close affinitiesto earlierDionysiaccult.54)Forthe
53The essential discussion of the funerarygold leaves is to be found in (Oxford1971)277-393. Zuntzderidedthe "general GiintherZuntz, Persephone acceptanceof this [Orphic]designation,with its vast and vague implications" (278);instead,he championsthe theorythat "thoseburiedwith these particular tablets had been killed by lightning,"and thus were given special burial (as oi Kepauv witness Artemidoros2.9o6l&y&p t;gTriOevrat, &6a' itou av ohrCevq Burkert (note 25 above) 295 ivralOa toz K 67t'nrovrat). tnpbq atXcl(p06xatv, iot6 agrees that the leaves referto real people who died in this way; elsewhere he with its referenceto seems persuadedthatthe Hipponionlamella (ca.400BCE), bakchoi and mystai,positively identifiesall of these texts as Dionysiac,related to the mysteries(note 25 above, 294;note 43 above, 34. On the Hipponion leaf, PP 29 [1974]108-26;M. L. West,ZPE18 [1975]229see G. Pugliese Carratelli, (note 7 above) 36;and G. Zuntz, WS10 [1976]129-51.) Seaford,"Immortality" 9 calls the Orphic label "questionable,"and generally finds a Dionysiac interpretationunattractive(4-5; cf. below, note 57), although he himself uses the Hipponion leaf to demolish Zuntz's claims that the leaves are Orphic( 9, note 34). Jeanmaire, Dionysos (note 52 above) 396 allows that the leaves allude to Dionysiac cult, but is reluctantpositively to identify the leaves as Orphic. 54Orpheus as founderof Dionysiacmysteries:Anth.Pal. 7.9.5 (DamageDiod. Sic. tos) 0; [sc. Orpheus] 7tos B&aqXo-; nOrlppiaq Evpero :axtreXser; rouAtov 3.65.68th k inb 'Opqtu1a; yEv npocayopeOVilvat; eXerz; oot otYjCva;q 0:airdct Apollod. 1.3.2.3 e6pe 8c 'Oppel;b oLox tgrpta; cf. Cic. Nat. D. 3.58 Tx AtovCaoo putanturconfici. Citing a [Dionysum]love et Luna[natum],cui sacraOrphica Macedonianepitaph,Diogenes Laertius(1.5)reportsa traditionthat Orpheus was slain by a thunderbolt: r-8' 'Opcpza Moact gOcayav/ Opif'Ka XptaoX?prljv Ze; ev ?dAvev iWtCp8kOV I ket. ;io,6ev0t

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purposesof the presentdiscussion,it will be assumed thatthe leaves do referto Dionysiac material--eitherbecause they are themselves "Bacchic," or because, as Orphicdocuments, they naturallycontain references to the Dionysiac mythology. Seaford'sreading of the leaves stresses the crucialrole played by the Titans.Althoughhe arguesagainsta Dionysiaccontextforthe texts' referencesto icEpauv6;, some of thepointshe makesaboutthe Titanscan in factbe assimilatedto a Dionysiacinterpretation. Seafordassertsthat in the SouthItalianfunerarytexts,the deceasedwas stronglyidentified with the Titans,thoughtto be the ancestorsof the presentraceof men.55 The initiate/sup iant-"almost certainlythe dead person arrived in the underworld" ---claimsin these texts to be of the raceof the gods, to have been struckby lightning, and subsequently to have paid the penalty for his unjust actions. With referenceto icpaupv6, the three leaves from the A series have nearlyidenticalformulaedescribingthe subjects'punishment by lightning:cf. &aoepophk?Xia ipauv6ot (A.1.4) and &ovrponijt Kepp)vCo(v) (A.2.5); the text of A.3 is garbled but seems to me to give the latterphraseas well; icpawvo, at any rate, is clear (versovv. 2-3). Unlike Seaford,most scholarsbelieve thatthe crimeto which these texts refer was in fact the eating of the infant Dionysos57-the central myth of the Dionysiacmysteries,as I have noted. Yetthe preeminence
Because of its presumed debt to much earlier Dionysiac material, Orphism would havebeen a naturalvehicle forthetransmissionof elements from the Dionysiac mysteries. This hypothesis is obviously crucialto the present discussion, since I am arguing that the materialunder consideration is the residue of a Dionysiac traditionwith which Arkhilokhoswould have been familiar--a delicate suggestion, as I am aware. (note 7 above)5-6. TheTitansare forerunners 55Seaford, "Immortality" of man as far back as the H. h. Apoll.336;cf. Plato Laws701c. 5Ibid. 4. 57Seafordargues that, in these texts, the crimefor which the Titanswere punished was theirrebellionagainstZeus,and not the devouringof Dionysos. He cites Pindar Pyth. 4.291 ff. Xace Sk Ev se Xp6v0t/ acpotvo; ZeDS Ttr&va;, ootv&v Xliavro; oipo /Iioaiwvand fr. 133Snell olot ~ Hflpaxnep6va rtcpohai leaves,as in the latter t^iv0eo; / etat, suggestingthatin the funerary nahato passage, Persephonehas assumed chargeof the Titans'punishment for that crime:leaves A.2 and A.3 similarlymentionthe poinai. Burkert (note 25 above) 298, representingthe majorityopinion of scholars,argues that Persephone's particularinterest in this case is due to her personal grievance against the Titans for eating her chthonic child Dionysos. Seaford's own reason for dismissing these grounds for the Titan's punishment as weak-"Dionysos was afterall quickly restoredto life" ("Immortality," 8 note 26)-itself seems

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of the Titans' role here, which Seaford argues is not of Dionysiac be a survivalfromthose mysteries. Forit is possible provenance,could to imaginea Dionysiacinitiatoryritethatgave prideof place (amid that strangeflashing light?)not only to the birthof the god, but also to the but ultimately crime of the Titans,brought low by Zeus's Kpatv6; restored,just as Dionysos himselfwas rehabilitated.Therestorationof both the god himself and the Titanswould naturallyhave been central to the mysteries, analogous to the rebirthto which the initiand, the of the mortaldescendantof the Titans,himselfaspired. Therestoration in the where South Italian the Titans figures prominently leaves, initiate,like the Titans,claims "thathe has flown off the circleof heavy Thatclaim,in fact,is consonantwith a detailof the grief and misery.",58 initiation provided by Demosthenes:the initiands' ritual Dionysiac fromevil andfoundthebetter": that "escaped pronouncement theyhave 59 Kcaov, eqpov algetvov. C(pl)yov If the Titans'crimeand punishmentwere so featuredas partof the with divine beings Dionysiacinitiationrite,the initiand'sidentification for the has ramifications struck who were compelling by lightning with that associated the the was cult hymn present discussion. For initiand as "lightmystic initiation60 would likely have celebratedthe ning-blasted"like the Titans,andalaSemele. In thathymn, the initiand would have been assimilated to-literally aov-Kepauveo(q--those mythic figures. The cultic traditionof the chthonic Dionysos thus indicates how could have been appropriateto the worship of that god, ouyKiepauv6om from any role played by Semele. Yet the briefOrphicHymn to apart Semele(admittedlyof latedate)indicatesthata formalcult hymn could in facthave conflatedthe discretetraditionsderived from the myths of
V
*

a bit weak:Greekgods were rarelygiven to forgiveand forget,even if no harm had been done. (note 7 above) 4 note 11: "Not every claim 58 Seaford, "Immortality" appears on every leaf, but the leaves are clearly based on the same overall conception." For the Orphic doctrine of the "Circleof Necessity"'and the "Wheelof Birth,"see Rohde (note 52 above) 342. 59De Corona 18.259;see also Burkert(note 43 above) 96-97. Quintilianuscommentson the roleof the initiatorymelodies and dancesin the Dionysiac mysteries, asserting that their purpose was to clear away the depressive anxiety of less educated people (3.25). Plutarch'sdescription of "voicesand dances"in the passagecited above suggests that at Eleusischoral music and dance accompaniedthe initiatoryrite as well.
60In his treatise De Musica, the third-century CEmusicologist Aristides

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Semele and of the Titans.61 The Hymn assumes continuity among motifs derived fromboth narratives: it ties togetherSemele's labor (35), Persephoneas stewardessof awardsand punishmentsin the underworld (6), and the Mysteriesthemselves(9, 11). And the invocationof at the end of the Orphichymn-vbv ao, Semele, Persephone'sprotegee, et ti Otat OEd, Xitotat, Koipri &vaoa, Ka8ugi';, /npTffvoov aieov aide echoes that to in herself Thurian the Persephone gold rn6pXetv--closely S ie leaves: 6j (A.2.7, A.3.7). At least niryWlt 8paoq Eg np6pp0yv eqayco0v late in the classical tradition,all of the divergentstrandsof Dionysiac myth were comfortablyassimilatedin a formalcult-hymniccontext. What we infer from the Eleusinianmysteries, then, suggests first that an importantmoment in initiatoryritual was the abruptappearanceof a brilliantlight,whichthe sacrednarrative explained. Inthe case of the Dionysiacmysteries,basedon the mythof the chthonicDionysos, the narrativereferentfor a flashof light would have been the lightning bolt that punished the Titansfor eating the newborn deity. Evidence from various sources suggests that it could have been with the Titans, as well as with Dionysos himself,thatthe initiandwas identified-that is to say, Sinceancientsourcesindicatethatthe climax aov-Kpau)vo({oc. of the initiation was accompaniedby the performance of an actualcult it is not unreasonableto posit that,in the case of the Dionysiac hymn,62 mysteries,the hymn describingthebirthof the god and the Titan'sfiery punishment was a dithyramb. This, then, could have been another and Dionysiac cult contextin which oauyipquv6o dithyrambicperformance were quite naturallyassociated.63
61 See West 162 f. on Hyg. Fab.167, "designedto reconcilethe story that Dionysos was the son of Persephone,killed by the Titans, with the story (ignored in the Orphictheogonies, so faras we can see) that he was the son of Semele, born amid lightning." Butthe Hymn to Semele does accountfor the Semele storyin the contextof the moreusual Orphictraditionof the chthonic Dionvsos. Plutarch'sreferenceto "holyvisions"at this momentin the rite is more difficult to assess;but perhapsnot, if the Dionysiacrite involved a good deal of wine-drinking. Pavlos Sfyroeras of Princeton University has offered an appealing reievaluationof the passages with which this paper began, in light of the foregoing discussion of the Dionysiacmysteriesand cult. He points out that Arkhilokhosexpresseshis knowledge of how to <'x6pXat in terms Mt06pagoilov of the "visual"verb ol8a, a possible referenceto the initiatory"illumination" that seems to be integral to the mysteries; A. "knows" because he has witnessed the Bacchicrite. With respect to the Bakkhai passage, Sfyroeras suggests firstthatIca0foeomay allude to a culticthronosis comparableto that

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Both the Semele myth and the mythic narrativeof the Dionysiac has survivedin the context mysterieshelp to explainwhy aoyicepaov6o of Dionysiacdithyramb.Foreven if the religiouspotencyof dithyramb became diluted by the end of the fifth century and afterwards,later of the genre were evocations of the Dionysiac abandoncharacteristic bound to assimilate its diction as well as its style, with all of their seemsto havebeen transmythicaland ritualassociations. o(iyKcpaov6(o mitted into laterliteraturefromcultdithyramb,the genre in which the birth of the god Dionysos (and, perhaps,his mysteries as well) were most appropriatelycelebrated.

DANIEL MENDELSOHN

Princeton University

HomoNecans[Berkeleyand of the Eleusiniancult (for which see W. Burkert, in Los Angeles 1983]266-68);and secondly,that Pentheusis aocupacvoOei0 illumithan rather the that here but an initiatorycontext, lightningdestroys nates-an abortiveinitiationconsistentwith Pentheus'failureto understand Dionysos's mystic power.