Bacchus facts for kids

Bacchus by Caravaggio

Bacchus was the Roman god of agriculture and wine, copied from the Greek god Dionysus. He was the last god to join the twelve Olympians; Hestia gave up her seat for him. His plants were vines and twirling ivy. He often carried a pinecone-topped staff, and his followers were goat-footed Satyrs and Maenads, wild women who danced energetically during his festivals.

Birth and childhood

Bacchus was the child of Jupiter (whose Greek name is Zeus) and Semele, a human whom Juno (whose Greek name is Hera) had tricked into asking to see Jupiter as he really was. Since she was a mortal, she was burned up by the sight of Jupiter in his divine form. So Jupiter sewed the infant Bacchus into his thigh, and gave birth to him nine months later. As a child, Bacchus was tutored by Silenus, who was a great lover of wine and often had to be carried on the back of a donkey. Before he took his place at Olympus, Bacchus wandered the world for many years, going as far as India to teach people how to grow vines.

Related pages

• Dionysus - Greek mythology version of Bacchus

Images for kids

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  Dionysus extending a drinking cup (kantharos) (late sixth century BC)

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  Dionysus triumph, a mosaic from the House of Poseidon, Zeugma Mosaic Museum

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  A Roman fresco depicting Bacchus with red hair, Boscoreale, c. 30 BC

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  The Conquest of India by Dionysus at the archaeological museum of Sétif, ca. 200–300 CE

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  Marble head of Dionysus, 2nd century AD, Capitoline Museums, Rome

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  A mosaic from Antioch of Dionysos, 2nd century AD

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  Roman marble relief (first century AD) from Naukratis showing the Greek god Dionysus, snake-bodied and wearing an Egyptian crown.

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  Bust of Dionysus in the temple of Liber Pater in the forum, first century AD

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  Sacrifice to Bacchus. Oil on canvas by Massimo Stanzione, c. 1634

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  Painted wood panel depicting Serapis, who was considered the same god as Osiris, Hades, and Dionysus in Late Antiquity. Second century AD.

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  Pinax of Persephone and Hades on the throne, from the holy shrine of Persephone at Locri.

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  Votive relief of Dionysus and Pluto with adorant. Fourth century BC. From Karystos, Archaeological museum of Chalkida.

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  Bronze hand used in the worship of Sabazios (British Museum). Roman first–second century AD. Hands decorated with religious symbols were designed to stand in sanctuaries or, like this one, were attached to poles for processional use.

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  Birth of Dionysus, on a small sarcophagus that may have been made for a child (Walters Art Museum)

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  The education of Dionysus. Fresco, now in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, c. 20 AD

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  Marble bust of youthful Dionysus. Knossos, second century AD. Archaeology museum of Heraklion.

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  Wall protome of a bearded Dionysus. Boeotia, early fourth century BC.

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  Bronze mask depicting Dionysus bearded and horned, 200 BC – 100 AD. Height 21.4 cm.

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  The Infant Bacchus, painting (c. 1505–1510) by Giovanni Bellini

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  Badakshan patera, "Triumph of Bacchus" (first–fourth century). British Museum.

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  Lycurgus trapped by the vine, on the Lycurgus Cup

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  North African Roman mosaic: Panther-Dionysus scatters the pirates, who are changed to dolphins, except for Acoetes, the helmsman; second century AD (Bardo National Museum)

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  Ancient Roman relief in the Museo Archeologico (Naples) depicting Dionysus holding a thyrsus and receiving a libation, wearing an ivy wreath, and attended by a panther

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  The Triumph of Bacchus, Diego Velázquez, c. 1629

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  Hanging with Dionysian Figures from Antinoöpolis, fifth–seventh century (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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  Bacchus - Simeon Solomon (1867)

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  Triumph of Dionysus

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  The Dionysus Cup, a sixth-century BC kylix with Dionysus sailing with the pirates he transformed to dolphins

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  Dionysus holding an egg and a cock, terracotta from Tanagra, Greece, c. 350 BC

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  Statue of Dionysus (Sardanapalus) (Museo Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme, Rome)

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  Bronze head of Dionysus (50 BC – 50 AD) in the British Museum

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  Statue of Dionysus in Remich Luxembourg

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  A Bacchus themed table - the top was made in Florence (c. 1736) and the gilded wood base in Britain or Ireland (circa 1736–1740).

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  Head of a Dionysian statue, 310-290 BC, Palatine Museum

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  Dionysian amphora

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  Dionysian jug

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  Terracotta vase in the shape of Dionysus' head (circa 410 BC) – on display in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the Stoa of Attalus

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  Amphora with cult mask of Dionysus, by the Antimenes Painter, around 520 BC, Altes Museum

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  Marble head of Dionysus, from the Gymnasium of Salamis, second century AD, Cyprus Museum, Nicosia, Cyprus

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  Cult mask of Dionysus from Boeotia, fourth century BC

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  Marble statuette of Dionysos, early third century B.C, Metropolitan Museum

See also

In Spanish: Dioniso para niños