Unmasking Bacchus. An Examination of Gender Constructions in in The Participants of Bacchic Rites

UNMASKING BACCHUS: AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER CONSTRUCTIONS IN
THE PARTICIPANTS OF BACCHIC RITES
by
Madeline Emma Ramsden
B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2016
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF ARTS
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES
(Ancient Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity)
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
(Vancouver)
April 2020
© Madeline Emma Ramsden, 2020

ii
The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate
and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled:
Unmasking Bacchus: An Examination of Gender Constructions in the Participants of Bacchic

Rites
submitted by Madeline Emma Ramsden in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Arts
in Ancient Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity
Examining Committee:
Dr. Katharine Huemoeller, Assistant Professor, Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and
Religious Studies, UBC
Supervisor
Dr. Matthew McCarty, Assistant Professor, Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and
Religious Studies, UBC
Supervisory Committee Member
iii
Abstract
The rites of Bacchus have long been a source of intrigue among academics. Previous
scholarship has often assumed a normative set of Bacchic worship based on the literary evidence
available to us, primarily Euripides’ Bacchae. As a result, scholars these rites as a female-only set
of practices.
However, epigraphic and archaeological evidence has revealed more diversity in the rites,
leading scholars to challenge gender composition of participants within the rites. It is now known
men and women participated in these rites equally.
This thesis seeks to further our understanding of the gender of participants in Bacchic rites
by examining how the gender identities of participants were constructed across the various media
of Bacchic rites. I argue that, in the epigraphic evidence, participants are represented as conforming
to conventional gender norms, whereas literary sources construct participants as subverting these
norms. Through the production and display of inscriptions, participants in Bacchic rites legitimated
their practice and promoted their rites. In reverse, the literature constructs participants as
subverting traditional gender roles, which serves to delegitimize the rites and participants and acts
as a discourse of deterrence from the rites.
This research also points out a larger issue regarding the study of gender in antiquity: the
conflicting representation of Bacchic participants in the literary and epigraphic evidence acts as a
reminder to historians that gender is not a neutral subject. As such, constructions of gender
identities across any ancient media must, in the future, be viewed with a critical eye.
iv
Lay Summary
This thesis has two primary goals: one – to move beyond a literary model of gendered
participation in Bacchic rites. As past scholarship has relied primarily on Euripides’ Bacchae for
information regarding the practices of Bacchic rites, there has been little movement in how we
understand gender in Bacchic rites beyond a hysterical, female-only set of rites. This thesis
pushes beyond this by looking at how the gender identities of Bacchic participants were
constructed and what these representations can tell us about attitudes towards the rites.
Two – this thesis demonstrates how gender as a category is biased, used as a tool of to
measure validity in individuals or groups. I argue that the gender identities of Bacchic
participants were constructed in such a way that marginalized or legitimized the rites.
v
Preface
This thesis is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Madeline Emma Ramsden.
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Table of Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................... iii
Lay Summary .................................................................................................................................iv
Preface ............................................................................................................................................. v
Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................vi
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... viii
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 The Bacchanalian Conspiracy ............................................................................................... 1
1.2 Past Approaches .................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Gender in Bacchic rites ......................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Terminologies and Methodologies ........................................................................................ 5

1.4.1 Gender and Power .......................................................................................................... 5
1.4.2 Breadth vs. Depth ........................................................................................................... 6
1.4.3 Legitimacy and Authorship ............................................................................................ 7
2 Re-examining the evidence .......................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Scholarship: A Euripidean Norm for Bacchic Rites.............................................................. 9
2.3 Epigraphy: Scholars’ re-evaluation of Bacchic rites ........................................................... 12
2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 18
3 Female Participation ................................................................................................................... 19
3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 19
3.2 Marriage and Motherhood ................................................................................................... 20

3.2.1 Bacchic Participants ..................................................................................................... 23
3.3 Domesticity and Invisibility ................................................................................................ 25

vii
3.4 Sexuality and Power ............................................................................................................ 31

3.5 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 37
4 Male Participation ...................................................................................................................... 38
4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 38
4.2 Civic Identity and Wealth .................................................................................................... 38

4.3 Age and Sexuality................................................................................................................ 44

4.4 Family and Kinship ............................................................................................................. 50

4.4.1 Bacchic participants...................................................................................................... 51
4.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 53
5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 54
5.1 Legitimacy: Epigraphy ........................................................................................................ 54
5.2 De-legitimacy: Literature .................................................................................................... 56
5.3 Final considerations: the senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus and the Bacchanalian
Conspiracy ................................................................................................................................. 57
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 58
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 67
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Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the following people for their assistance
and contributions during my research and studies: first and foremost, I would like to thank Dr.
Katharine Huemoeller, my supervisor, for the endless hours spent in insightful discussion and on
revisions, and for her knowledge, support and patience throughout the entire process; Dr.
Matthew McCarty, for his enthusiasm for my project and for his endless encouragement and
advice in all aspects of my academics; and Dr. Kevin Fisher and Sheri Pak, who have been a
constant sources of guidance and support throughout my entire academic career in the CNERS
department at UBC.
I would also like to thank to my colleagues in the CNERS graduate program for their
words of encouragement, support and friendship. In addition, I would also like to thank the
faculty and staff of the CNERS Department for their guidance and support throughout every
stage of the program.
Finally, I would like to thank my partner, family and friends whose endless love and
support were pillars in the completion of this work.

1 Introduction
1.1 The Bacchanalian Conspiracy
The year is 186 BCE. In Italy, the Roman senate has only just learned of a secret plot against
the state, led by an immense group of fanatic and dangerous religious worshippers devoted to the
god Bacchus. “When [the worshippers] were inflamed with wine and when all sense of modesty
had been extinguished by night and the mingling of men with women, youth with age... all varieties
of corruption began to be practiced,” writes the Roman historian Livy. “Much was ventured by
treachery, more by violence,” he reports, “but all of it was kept secret, so that the cries of those
calling for help amid the murder and debauchery could not be heard through the howling and the
crash of drums and cymbals” (39.8.5-9). It was in these moments that the Roman senate made the
decision to legislate all forms of Bacchic worship – an unprecedented move for a state praised for
her religious freedoms. The senate’s declaration was upheld: thousands fled the city, the consuls
were tasked with destroying all relics and places of worship, and captured worshippers were
rounded up for imprisonment or worse – execution. This event, known to modern historians as the
Bacchanalian Conspiracy, is about a set of religious rites and worshippers that propelled one of
the most intriguing, and bizarre, historical episodes of Roman history.
The Bacchanalian Conspiracy is also unique to historians for another reason: it is one of the
few Roman historical episodes for which we have two different accounts in two different media.1
The first account is Book 39 of Livy. As the excerpts above indicate, it is a wonderful and sinister
narrative that describes a massive underground movement of Bacchic worshippers, whose
1
Many have used these two pieces of evidence in order to reconstruct the inner workings of Bacchic rites in Rome,
and the bibliography on this episode is now vast. For the most inclusive works, see Bruhl (1953); Scullard (1973);
North (1979); Pailler (1988); MacMullen (1991); Beard, North & Price (1998); Flower (2002); Pagan (2004).
2
religious practices are nefarious, criminal, and downright dangerous to the Roman state. The other
piece of evidence is the senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus (SCB)2 — a bronze tablet inscribed
with a senatorial decree that legislated Bacchic rites. Uncovered in the 17th century in Tiriolo, this
document corroborates Livy’s narrative by offering the piece of legislation that is referenced by
Livy, but tells a very different version of accounts.
1.2 Past Approaches
Much of the existing scholarship on the cult and the Roman Conspiracy has focused on the
rites’ shift from an elective, private cult to a public cult.3 Some have argued that the rites’ growing
popularity and public recognition in different cities in Italy instigated the Roman senate to do the
same in Rome, formally issuing the SCB. Others have insisted that the rites and the Bacchic
Conspiracy arose from a clash of the strict nature of state-level Roman religion with the unique
mysteries that Bacchic rites encompassed, from the Greek East.4
While past scholarship has contributed substantial and valuable research to understanding
the events of 186 BCE and the rites through a public/private approach, it focuses primarily on
understanding the historical accuracy of the rites and the conspiracy. While this is helpful in its
own right, it has not only limited our understanding of Bacchic rites to Rome, but also ignored two
another important aspect of the rites. Bacchic rites were largely unlegislated by any political
authority in ancient Greece and Rome until the Imperial period, and so attempting to understand
these rites through a specific event poses a threat of flattening a very culturally diverse set of rites.5
2
ILLRP 511 = ILS 18. The inscription was found in Tiriolo, in Bruttium in 1640. See IG 12 in Appendix.
3
Cole 2011, 275.
4
See Schultz 2006, 91; see also Bruhl (1953), 166; Pairault-Massa (1987), Rüpke (2007), Takács (2000).
5
Cole 2011, 275.
3
As such, a movement away from this approach is necessary, in order to look beyond the historicity
of the events and illuminate exactly how we interpret such temporally, geographically, and
culturally diverse evidence for Bacchic rites. One such approach, which has yet to be fully
explored, is that of gender.
1.3 Gender in Bacchic rites
The SCB and Livy are clearly in agreement on the threat that Bacchic rites posted to the
Roman state. However, one aspect that these sources do not agree on is which gender is at the
heart of the problem. In Livy’s account of the events of 186 BCE, he states that women and their
transgressive behaviour are the source of the rites: the cult began as female-only, with no male
initiates. And, a female priestess was indirectly responsible for the dangerous and lude behaviours
of participants after she chose to initiate the first two males – her own two sons (39.13.8-12). And
even when Roman men do participate, their presence in the rites is often attributable to the women
in their lives: Aebutius’ mother pushes for his initiation, and the first male participants are initiated
by their own mother, Paculla Annia, head priestess for Bacchic rites. And lastly, Livy directly
states that women are “the source of [the Bacchic rites’] mischief” (39.15.9), laying the
responsibility of the rites and the Bacchic Conspiracy at the hands of women.
The SCB suggests the opposite: the document, grouped together through prohibitive
clauses, shows a concern with male participation within the cult.6 Limitations are placed on where
men can, as indicated by a clause that states no men – Roman citizen, ally or Latin – were allowed
6
This argument is first presented by Flower (2002), who found that the prohibitive clauses of the legislation are
grouped together in such a way that distinguishes between men and women. She argues that the restrictions are focused
primarily on restricting male participation, whereas women can continue their participation (albeit to a lesser extent).
See also Schultz 2006.
4
to enter a Bacchanal (lines 7-9). Male presence in Bacchic rites is also restricted more heavily than
female presence, as is visible in the stipulation that no more than 5 individuals – with a maximum
of 2 men – were to assemble at one time (lines 19-22). Another prohibitive clause restricts only
male authority by stating that no men could hold priesthoods (line 10). Not only do these
restrictions imply that prior to 186 BCE, men were holding roles of responsibility in Bacchic
worship alongside women, it also strongly suggests that male participation must have been at the
same degree of female participation (if not higher), as it was deemed serious enough by the senate
to have warranted a senatorial decree. And lastly, because the restrictions specifically target male
participation, it is clear that the senate deemed male participation a specific issue in the Bacchic
Conspiracy, which indicates that men comprised a larger presence in Bacchic rites and were the
cause for concern of the Bacchic Conspiracy.
The differences displayed in male and female participation – and more broadly, the
representation of this participation – in the SCB and Book 39 has guided me to a larger inquiry on
gender in Bacchic rites; namely, how is gender presented in Bacchic rites across different bodies
of evidence? What changes occur when shifting from the literary to the epigraphic evidence? And
most importantly, what can these changes tell us about Bacchic rites and the participants more
broadly?
This thesis will demonstrate that the differences noted in Livy and the SCB are indicative
of a larger discrepancy in how gender is formed in different types of evidence in Bacchic rites. I
argue that male and female participants are consistently portrayed as conforming, or not
conforming, to normative gender roles behaviours, depending on the media they are represented
in. In the epigraphic evidence, participants are represented as conforming to conventional gender
norms, whereas literary sources construct participants as subverting these norms. Through the
5
production and display of inscriptions, then, participants in Bacchic rites legitimated their practice
and promoted their rites. In reverse, the literature constructs participants as subverting traditional
gender roles, a representation that serves to delegitimize the rites and deter participation in them.
My first chapter will provide a review of scholarship on the gender dimension of Bacchic
rites and will demonstrate that past research has focused only on the numbers of male and female
participants, rather than their degree of conformity to gender norms. In doing so, it will also
highlight a problematic, but largely ignored, assumption of a normative set of practices for the
rites. It will show why an in-depth analysis of gendered behavior is more valuable for
understanding the rites. The second and third chapter are divided into ‘male’ and ‘female’
categories; each chapter will begin with an overview of normative gender roles in antiquity and
demonstrate how literary evidence constructs their participants’ behaviours as a subversion of
these ideals while the epigraphic evidence will show how participants’ behaviours are represented
as upholding these ideals. My last chapter will show how the subversion or affirmation of gender
roles acts as a (de)legitimator for the rites, and furthermore, it will hypothesize on why these
constructions are specific to either literature or inscriptions. Finally, I return to the Bacchanalian
conspiracy, with which we began, to demonstrate how my findings can be applied and interpreted
for future research.
1.4 Terminologies and Methodologies
1.4.1 Gender and Power
It is necessary to discuss the terms and methods I will be using in this research. The first
is gender roles and ideologies. Gender roles and ideologies are a set of socially approved actions
6
for gender, historically linked to biological sex.7 What gender ideals, and their alterations, achieve
is the maintenance of a distinct divide between those who are conforming to gender ideals and
those who are not. In other words, they can create power hierarchies by making those who do not
conform to gender ideals seem as though they do not share the collective values of society. Those
that do conform are considered of merit, whereas those that do not are marginalized.8 As a result,
gender roles and ideologies are also indicative of power.9 Within the scope of this research, gender
norms will be defined as the expectations and roles that are associated with masculinity and
femininity, culturally created and mediated by patriarchal power hierarchies.10
1.4.2 Breadth vs. Depth
The evidence that I employ ranges widely both topographically and temporally, which
means that I am operating within a broad framework. I will be drawing on inscriptional evidence
from across the Mediterranean — a large portion of which comes from the Greek East and Asia
Minor. In comparison, my literary evidence will reflect the dominant voices of ancient literature,
which are from Athens and Rome. The breadth of this evidence has its own set of problems: it is
impossible to account for the individual context of every source (primarily epigraphic). As a result,
I am at a risk of over-simplifying what are very distinct, local iterations of gender ideologies. This
is partly due to the nature of our evidence, which doesn’t allow for microscopic evaluation of local
identities, because we do not have enough evidence.
Yet, a broad perspective also has its own set of benefits and lends itself well to my research
questions surrounding gender identities and ideologies. First, breadth makes it possible to see
7
Lips 2018, 2-3.
8
Fallwell and Williams 2017, 1-3.
9
Foxhall 2013, 33-60.
10
Unger 1979, 1085-1094; Lips 2018, 2.
7
similarities across different groups, which would could have otherwise been missed. Second, as
mentioned previously, gender ideologies are based on larger cultural values and ideas – while these
are not the only values and ideas that exist, they are representative of a dominant voice. Applying
a wide focus allows me to take note of larger ideas and notions surrounding gender, which can
help contribute to future research in gender in antiquity.
1.4.3 Legitimacy and Authorship
It also is worth defining the term ‘legitimacy’ within the text and furthermore, how this
concept intersects with gender. At a general level, legitimacy can be defined as conformity to a set
of laws and regulations – be it social, legal, political etc. The process and definition of legitimation
originates from the general agreement of an audience on what features and behaviors are socially
appropriate and desirable.11 In relation to this thesis, one means of achieving legitimacy is through
the conformity to traditional, normative gender roles, and with that, the power hierarchies that they
uphold.
But who is monitoring this legitimacy? The answers to these questions lie in the authorship
and audience of the evidence, which, for both literary and epigraphic evidence, reflects male, and
likely wealthy elite views. Most of our literary sources were generated by elite, adult men and
were meant for elite men (and likely elite women).12 We lack the voices not only of women, but
children, slaves, disabled, foreigners, people of lower-socio economic status, etc. The lack of
marginalized voices indicates that the ways in which gender constructions are described in our
literary sources will likely follow iterations of the dominant power structure, and as such, will
show ideologies that support this.
11
Zuckerman 1999, 1398-1438.
12
Foxhall 2013, 16.
8
Authorship and audience of inscriptional evidence is more complex; in the Hellenistic and
Roman period, inscriptions were erected both for and on behalf of many private individuals, male
and female.13 While this does provide an opportunity for unheard voices to emerge, the nature of
inscriptions are such that they are not only an object of the wealthy, but they are also biased in
their own right. Inscriptions are a specific type of monumentality: inscriptions dedicated to, or by,
individuals or groups and placed in a public setting serve as a means of memorializing an
individual or community. Thus an inscription’s purpose serves the self-representation of the
producer.14 And, since we are discussing primarily elite, male individuals, we arrive at a similar
conclusion to the literary sources: the ways in which gender is constructed in our sources can also
be based on dominant power hierarchies. Their audience, depending on where the inscription is
placed, can be individuals within the rites, or larger community members.
There is also one large difference between the two types of sources that is imperative to
authorship and audience: while the authors (or commissioners) of inscriptions are clearly
participants, the authors of literary sources are not necessarily participants of the rites. They could
be observers, or never have witnessed the rites at all. But regardless, evidence for both literary and
epigraphic evidence reflects male, and likely wealthy elite views, and is written for male (and
likely, some female) viewers. As a result, when discussing legitimacy, it is primarily those that
dominate social structures (ie. elite) who are the regulators and producers of legitimacy.
13
See Riet van Bremen’s (1996) The Limits of Participation: women and civic life in the Greek East in the
Hellenistic and Roman periods for a full assessment of inscriptions during the Hellenistic period.
14
Cooley 2012, 220-228.
9
2 Re-examining the evidence
2.1 Introduction
Bacchic rites are arguably one of the most discussed forms of worship in the ancient world,
due largely to Euripides’ dramatic account of the rites in Bacchae. The play has formed the basis
of scholarship on a vast array of topics, including, but not limited to, who was participating in the
cult. The privileging of Euripidean works – and, to a degree, other literary works – has led
researchers to assume a normative set of practices, which included an all-female group of
participants.
Recently, scholars have begun to expand their evidentiary scope to include epigraphic
documentation of participants. It has become clear that there was no standard version of the rites,
and instead Bacchic rites should be seen as related forms of worship that have been adapted into
local settings. The inclusion of new types of evidence has spurred some to start looking at the
possibility of mixed female and male participation in Bacchic rites, but only as far as questioning
if men also participated in the group, and at what levels. What is needed now is a movement beyond
questioning the sex composition of participants in order to begin an analysis of how participants’
conformity with gender roles are portrayed in our evidence.
2.2 Scholarship: A Euripidean Norm for Bacchic Rites
One issue with past studies on Bacchic rites is that scholars have often assumed that they
were practiced in same way and by the same types of people – women – in all places and times.
This idea was first set out in Erwin Rohde’s Psyche; Rohde was the first modern scholar to look
at the psychology of the Bacchants in Euripides’ Bacchae. Their ecstatic behaviour, night-time
10
festivals and revelry, he argued, should be seen as a sympathetic portrayal of the historical reality
of the orgiastic rites of the cult. To him, the female participants in Euripides’ play represented the
real world of Dionysiac worship.15
Others have followed suit, attempting to prove how certain passages within the extant
literary evidence should be taken as authentic portions of real-life Bacchic rites: maenadic ecstasy
became a parallel for religious hysteria, and every aspect of the literary works represented tangible
acts in real-life ritual practice.16 Some scholars, such as Albert Henrichs, have suggested that
Bacchic worship acted as the feminine equivalent to the masculine symposia.17 The maenads of
inscriptional evidence, he argued, were a historical representation of the mythical beings presented
in Euripides’ tragedy of the Bacchae.18 And for the most part, gender exclusivity in Bacchic rites
is not questioned by scholars.19
The problem with these assessments is that they rely primarily on literary evidence –
specifically Euripides’ Bacchae – to inform their conclusions. Those that do include other forms
of evidence dismiss or ignore that which does not agree with their work. Martin P. Nilsson, for
example, stated that “when the [Roman] mysteries were grafted onto old cults of Dionysus they
must have been modified and men had to be admitted.”20 His assessment was determined by the
discovery of a tomb, in which the epigram featured a Dioscorides, the leader of a local set of
15
See Chapter 4 of Erwin Rohde’s Psyche.
16
See Introduction xi-xxv and examples of analyses for ll. 695-698 in Dodds’ Euripides Bacchae (2nd edition); Dodds
1951, 270-282. See also Jeanne Roux’s Les Bacchantes (1970) for an analysis of ll. 32-33.
17
Henrichs 1982, 138-139.
18
Henrichs 1978, 122.
19
Joyce (2010) looks at the depictions of maenads in Roman art as an exaggerated representation of the cult and its
practices. See also Bremmer (1984) and Kraemer (1979) – they both argue that the cult of Dionysus offered a likely
attraction to women marginalized by a patriarchal society.
20
Nilsson 1953, 177.
11
Bacchic worshippers from the middle Hellenistic period.21 And here, the argument comes full
circle: Nilsson has assumed that Bacchic rites were female-only based on literature; as such, in a
position where he needs to account for mixed participation, he suggests ‘a transitory stage’ in
which, afterwards, Bacchic rites became mixed. This reinforces the idea that there is a distinct
temporal divide on mixed participation and reinforces the biases of literary accounts of the cult.
Others include only what is necessary to uphold their already-drawn conclusions:
Henrichs uses evidence to substantiate his claims of female exclusivity in Bacchic rites, but
subsequently dismisses documents as ‘non-Bacchic’ if they provided any evidence for male and
female participation, and as such, could not be proof of Bacchic rites.22 It becomes clear that early
scholarship has based its understanding of Bacchic participants’ sex on a Euripidean model and
scholars that followed suit, for reasons that are unclear, chose not to challenge these assumptions.
Take also, for example, the definition of ‘maenad’ — a Greek term used to describe the Bacchic
participants. Oxford Classical Dictionary defines ‘maenads’ as female-only roles, in which
“women [were] inspired to ritual frenzy by Dionysus… [which] strongly stimulated mythical
imagination [of] the Bacchae.”23 The fact that the standardized definition for Bacchic worshippers
is female-only, based off of Euripides’ work, clearly demonstrates the influential role Euripides
has played in our understanding of Bacchic worshippers, and has greatly limited the scope of past
research.
21
ibid. 177.
22
Henrichs (1978) states that the inscription found in Miletus denotes a mix of male and female participants, but says
that these participants are likely not worshipping Bacchus in the form of mystery rites.
23
Jan Bremmer, “maenads” in Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. Simon Hornblower, (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2012).
12
The type of reasoning mentioned above brings to mind the aphorism: absence of evidence
is not evidence of absence. But ironically, Euripides actually does represent men as participating
in the rites.24 And so, it becomes obvious that past scholarship has had an assumption about a
standardized set of rites based on interpretations of literary evidence as historical fact. In relation
to gender specifically, this “Euripidean” model has led research to assume – and not question –
Bacchic rites as female-only.
2.3 Epigraphy: Scholars’ re-evaluation of Bacchic rites
Some have attempted to move beyond the Euripidean model: A. Rapp was an early critic,
arguing in 1872 that scholars should look elsewhere for historical evidence of participants in
Bacchic rites.25 According to Rapp, the maenads of playwrights and artists were fictive. While
24
Dionysus makes multiple remarks about wanting all citizens of Thebes to worship in his rites. At the opening of the
play, Dionysus states that “the city [of Thebes], though uninitiated in [his] Bacchic rites, must learn them to the full,
whether it wants to or no” (32-40). He advises Pentheus to “receive the god into the land... join the ecstatic dance and
crown [his] head” (823). The chorus also echoes this, stating “blessed the man who, happy in knowing the gods’ rites,
makes his life pure... performing Bacchic rites upon the mountains” (72-75). Dionysus also asks to receive joint honour
from everyone (209).Male participants are also attested in the characters of Teiresias and Cadmus: they join in the
processions in the mountains (190-205). Pentheus describes Teiresias and Cadmus as βακχεύοντ᾽- translated as
“playing the Bacchant” or “being the Bacchant” (247; 347). To “play the Bacchant” is a term that is used in situations
indicating Bacchic initiations, thought to be because those participating in the orgiastic rites assume, briefly, the
character of the god. Furthermore, when disguised as a mortal man and speaking to Pentheus, Dionysus tells Pentheus
that he had been initiated by the god himself (465). If men were not allowed to be initiates in this rites, wouldn’t
Pentheus’ reaction be of surprise?
Male participation has been noted by Henrichs (1978), who explains that this is an exception of genuine maenadism
and a deliberate attempt in Euripidean tragedy to demarcate the perversion of what is normal. Kraemer (1979) argues
that male participation in the rites was there, although heavily limited. The blatant disregard by scholars for evidence
is out of the scope of this research but does warrant further investigation.
25
A. Rapp 1872, 1-22.
13
Rapp’s arguments are problematic in their own right,26 his advocacy for looking at alternative
media of evidence outside of Euripides is worth noting. More recently, new works on epigraphy
have replaced the mythical satyrs and maenads present in the literary and artistic tradition with
ordinary individuals, neighbourhoods, demes, and cities; from these works, it has become apparent
that there was a significant degree of divergence in the practice of Bacchic rites.27
With regard to gender specifically, scholars have begun to reconsider whether it was
only women who practiced these rites. Some have conceded that men participated, but only at
lower levels, while others have identified mixed participation at all levels—among both initiates
and priests. But, when looking at inscriptional evidence, it becomes apparent that there is a large
variation in how the rites are practiced and specifically, by whom the rites are practice.
There are three inscriptions which indicate female priesthoods in Bacchic rites. These
inscription are often used by scholars as evidence for female-only set of Bacchic rites. The first
inscription is funerary, from the 3rd century BCE from Miletus, and lists the death of Alkmeonis,
a priestess of the Bacchae. In this inscription, we learn that a female priestess represents the highest
authority within the rites:
26
The problem is two-fold: 1) Rapp classifies later writers – ie. Livy, Plutarch, etc. – as historically accurate/without
biases, and 2) that historical writings, in their own right, do not generate their own set of biases.
27
Cole (2011) attributes this ambiguity to the lack of central authority governing the cult prior to the imperial
period, leaving the initiation rites subject to the change and the need of a specific city, deme or community. On top
of this, Dionysus/Bacchus often appears alongside other mystery cults, and differentiation in the evidence between
his rites and the rites of other gods is not always obvious. For a full summary of Dionysiac associations with other
mystery rites, see Taylor-Perry (2003) and Jaccottet V. I & II (2003). Graf (1993) looks at the variety of artistic
Dionysiac associations during the Hellenistic period through epigraphic evidence, and discusses their economic
structure, internal organizations, interactions with other known Dionysiac groups.
14
Bacchae of the City, say ‘Farewell, you holy priestess.’ This is what a good woman
deserves. She led you to the mountain and carried all the sacred objects and orgia,
marching in procession before the whole city. Should some stranger ask for her name:
Alkmeonis, daughter of Rhodios, who knew her share of blessings.28
The second inscription, also from Miletus, dates to 276/275 BCE and outlines the proper
ritual procedures of Bacchic rites as well as documents the role of a priestess, who holds a high
level of rank. Her position as the official who performs the sacred rites on behalf of the entire
community shows that these Bacchic rites are recognized by the local, governing bodies:
When the priestess performs the sacred rites in the name and for the salvation of the
whole city, let no one be allowed to throw the omophagia until the priestess has cast it
in her name and for the salvation of the city; it is also impermissible for anyone to
assemble a private thiasos before the official thiasos (has assembled).29 If a man or a
woman wants to offer a sacrifice to Dionysus, let him choose the one whom he wants
to officiate; that the one who officiates is entitled to the royalties.30
A third example suggests, but does not explicitly state, female leadership roles. This
inscription from Magnesia, originally from the Hellenistic period, illustrates the acquisition of
sacred rites of Bacchus through three maenads:
28
See IG 1 in Appendix.
29
30
15
Go to the holy plain of Thebes to fetch maenads from the race of Cadmian Ino. They
will bring you maenadic rites and noble customs and will establish troops of Bacchus
in your city. In accordance with the oracle, and through the agency of the envoys, three
maenads were brought from Thebes: Kosko, Baubo and Thettale.31
But, when considering the three pieces of evidence mentioned above against other
documents, it becomes apparent that there is large variation in who occupies priestly titles in
Bacchic rites. Another portion of IG 2 reveals that there are multiple priestly roles held by both
men and women. The mention of both priest and priestesses of Dionysos Bakkhios suggests that
for this community, men and women were both able to hold priesthoods in Bacchic rites.
During the Katagôgia, the priests and priestesses of Dionysos Bakkhios will
escort Dionysos with the officials from before the day until sunset ....... of the
city. 32
31
See IG 3 in Appendix. The mention here of maenadic rites is a clear indication of Bacchic rites. Dionysus has long
been associated with maenads, but this term is first associated with the god himself, as he is addressed as μαινóμενος
in the Iliad (6.132) — a participle of a verb that is used to describe a rage characteristic of gods, or of mortals who
have been incited by the gods.
32
See IG 2 in Appendix. We know from the language used that these inscriptions illustrate the Bacchic rites. The use
of the words ὄργια (orgia) and ωμοφάγιον (omophagia) are both terms used specifically for Bacchic rites. The orgia
can loosely be translated as a form of ecstatic worship, commonly seen in mystery cults (Luck 2006). And it is often
used in context with Dionysiac and Bacchic rites: Euripides employs it several times in the Bacchae when Dionysus
refers to his initiation rites (ll. 33-34; 465-480); Pausanias also states that Onomacritus’ composition of the orgia of
Dionysus involve his dismemberment by the Titans (8.37.5) Similarly, the term ‘omophagia’ – translated as the
consumption of raw meat – is also used in conjunction with Bacchic rites. The word appears in Euripides’ play (ll.
139) and is alluded to on the Gurob papyrus - a piece of papyrus describing the rituals performed by initiates during
Bacchic rites.
16
Some scholars, in an attempt to bridge the gap between literary evidence of female
exclusivity in Bacchic rites and the epigraphic evidence, have argued that there were separate types
of Bacchic rites; only those that had exclusively female participation were “legitimate”.33 But,
there are other epigraphic examples that explicitly mention male priesthoods.34 Perhaps, instead of
trying to understand whether a group was legitimate or illegitimate as a means to make the
evidence fit, it might be more useful to see this discrepancy as a local iteration of a group of rites
that had no set standard. And so, while exclusively female groups represent a grouping of Bacchic
priesthoods, they are not the only possibility.
Similarly, it appears that both men and women were initiates. Take, for example, the
term ‘Bacchae’ – often used to describe initiates of Bacchic rites. This term has both a
masculine and a feminine form and can help indicate whether a group of initiates was
exclusively female or mixed. Most of our inscriptions refer to a mixed group: an inscription
from Tomis, for example, states that “the son of Parmis… wears the mystic crown among the
Bacchoi.”35 Here, I have gone against the usual translation and chosen to translate βακχοισι as
Bacchoi, rather than Bacchae, to indicate the word’s grammatical gender.36 And furthermore, the
leader of the thiasos – Paso – is a female. Mixed participation also occurs on other inscriptions: it
33
Henrichs 1978, 133.
34
See IG 6, IG 11, IG 12 and IG 18 in Appendix for examples.
35
36
The feminine form exists on other inscriptions (such as IG 1) and so it is only plausible to assume that if the
initiates of this inscription were an exclusively female group, it would have been used. Using the feminine form
Bacchae in English translations is not only incorrect but also speaks to a scholarly assumption of female-only
participation.
17
appears on a marble slab honouring Eumenes II, from Pergamon ca. 160 BCE.37 Two inscriptions,
both from Rhodes ca. 2nd - 1st century BCE, list the honours of a man named Dionysodorus.38
Similarly, the term thiasos – another word used to describe Bacchic initiates – often refers
to mixed male and female participation.39 There is no standard definition for this term, but it is often
attributed to a group of worshippers of a specific ancient deity and their participation in a god’s
worship. The deity is usually a god associated with mystery rites, and his or her followers were
believed to be united around not only the god and his or her worship, but also the undergoing of a
common experience, such as an initiatory ritual. It is often seen in relation to Bacchic rites, and so
is indicative of some level of participation or affiliation with the rites.
This word appears on an inscription that lists the construction of a temple in Callatis, during
the 3rd century BCE40; a stone stele, written for the vestibule of a Baccheion, from the 2nd century
BCE41; an inscription from Tomis, ca. 1st century BCE, also lists the masculine form of thiasos42;
an attic black-figure vase stand, ca. 5th century BCE, mentions the male names of a northern
thiasos43; a decree honouring Ladmos, from 160 BCE in Thera, states that Ladmos, his wives, and
his descendants shall all be part of the local thiasos;44 lastly, an orphic tablet, ca. 400 BCE, found
37
38
See IG 8-9 in Appendix. While neither inscription explicitly mentions his initiation into the rites, the link is
supported by Dodds (1951), who demonstrated how the term bakkhe, bakkeuein, and other variations, should be
translated as initiations into Bacchic rites. Thus, the mention of the reception of the Bakkheia during the trieteric
festivals, is likely related to Bacchic initiations.
39
Robert Christopher Towneley Parker, “thiasos” in Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. Simon Hornblower, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2012).
40
41
42
43
44
18
in the cist-grave of a woman lists initiates and Bacchoi that travel down a sacred road after death.45
In every single one of these inscriptions, it is certain that men participated in Bacchic rites, either
alone – or, more likely – alongside women.
2.4 Conclusion
Past work has often overlooked or oversimplified the available evidence, largely as a means
of understanding Bacchic initiates within the already established literary framework of Bacchic
rites. But, the epigraphic evidence discussed above clearly indicates that scholars are correct in
pushing back against a dated, “Euripidean” model of Bacchic rites, especially the misconception
of a female-only set of rites. Now that it is clear that both men and women took part in Bacchic
rites, we can address the more interesting question of how our different sources characterize their
participation. The next two chapters will establish how Bacchic worshippers are variously
represented as either conforming to or subverting gender norms.
45
19
3 Female Participation
3.1 Introduction
In this chapter, I argue that female participants are portrayed in distinct ways in our two
types of source material: in literature, they subvert normative gender roles, while in epigraphy they
conform. In the former, female worshippers are characterized as embodying the exact opposite
of feminine ideals of marriage, sexual passivity, motherhood and domesticity. In the latter,
the authors of epigraphic documents constructed female participants as conforming to
traditional gender norms, as is seen in their occupation of priesthoods, as well as their minimal
presence within the rites.
I will first outline gender roles before demonstrating how each body of evidence either
reflects or subverts these ideologies. In order to define gender roles and ideologies, I will be
relying primarily on the extant comedies to inform my research. The nature of comedy is rooted
within a social framework; in order to get “the joke,” a viewer has to understand what the ‘joke’ is
commenting, critiquing or questioning.46 The comedic jokes lie in the understanding of dominant
social structures and frameworks, so that comics can then distort it to make it funny. As such,
comedy provides an excellent social commentary on larger social concepts, such as gender.
Reading gender in comedy can provide information on some ways that societies (read: primarily
male society) have conceptualized, understood, and further perpetuated, how gendered behavior is
performed, or more likely, ought to be performed.
I will focus primarily on the comedies of Menander, Terence, and Plautus, as the period
range in which they were reflects the most closely to the bodies of evidence that I am examining.
46
Bergson 1980, 62.
20
This brings up another caveat worth mentioning: Terence and Plautus adapted Greek plays, which
suggests that the cultural ideals represented in these plays are not necessarily Roman. Scholarship,
however, has argued for the cultural validity of these plays as larger adaptions to local settings;47
as such, these plays provide solid evidence on which I can determine certain gender ideals of Greek
and Roman society. Further, Roman and Greek concepts of gender are nuanced, in flux and differ
widely; it is important to note that the following sections are by no means a measure of the
complexity of gender in antiquity. Instead, I have chosen to focus on gender ideals that are present
in both Greek and Roman societies.
3.2 Marriage and Motherhood
Status plays an integral role in determining what sort of gendered behavior is expected of
you: a woman’s status was a crucial aspect in determining how she should behave in society. And
so, it is also important to note these intersecting markers when discussing gender ideologies.
A woman’s status was a crucial aspect in determining how she should behave in society. Given
this, the ideals that I will outline are those that are applicable to women who are of citizen-status,
or free-born.
Another intersecting axis of analysis worth mentioning is public versus private set of rites.
This is especially pertinent to my topic, as we have effectively demonstrated that female
representation in religious rites expands when is also worthwhile mentioning private versus public
function of the rites, especially in conjunction to women.
47
See Richlin (2017), who argues that “the burden of the joke has shifted” in order to accommodate new audiences.
Others, such as Konstan (2013) are more hesitant, but still argue that there are noticeable differences between Old,
New and Roman comedy.
21
It should not come as a shock that ideals of femininity have long been associated with a
woman’s role as a wife and mother. The role that marriage and motherhood play in the construction
of ancient femininity is agreed upon by scholarship: in the Greek world, a proper oikos ensured a
man’s participation in politics and the continuation of his property. For women, this meant the
production and rearing of legitimate children, who could act as inheritors (through birth) or
contributors (through marriage) to the property and wealth of the oikos.48 The Roman domus was
not much different: women were also held to the same standards in their duties as child-bearers,
rearers and household managers. Marriages were principally for the production and raising of
legitimate offspring, of which fertility and motherhood were the essential component.49 Women
were thus assessed by their ability to produce and raise legitimate children for inheritance
purposes.
This theme is visible throughout ancient comedy: one common plot thread often involved
the reconciliation of a broken marriage. This is the case for Glycerium and Pamphilus, as well as
Charinus and Philumena in Terence’s Andria, and Pamphila and Chaerea in his Eunuchus. In other
instances, ancient comedies conclude with a marriage of two newlyweds.50 The point of a
(re)unified couple in the plot is the ability of the couple to beget citizen children. Once this has
48
Demand 1994, 2.
49
Lovén 2016, 885-886.
50
Some examples include Chairestratos’ daughter and Kleostratos, as well as Kleostratos’ sister and Chaireas are all
married in Aspis; the unification of Sostratos and Gorgias with their loves in Dyskolos. In fact, in Dyskolos,
Kallipides explicitly states that he married his daughter off “for the bearing of legitimate children...” (842-843).
Plautine plays also reflect the importance of marriage: Planesium and Phaedromus are reunited and married at the
end of Curculio; Euthynicus and Casina are eventually married, after her Athenian status is discovered, in Casina.
22
been achieved, the comedic plot can conclude. This narrative, consistent over most New and
Roman comedies, demonstrates how female gender ideals promoted marriage and motherhood.
Along with marriage came the importance of female fidelity and chastity within a marriage.
Familial discord caused by unfaithful — and thus unharmonious — marriages was a topic
especially prevalent in Athenian tragedy.51 In turn, these discordant marriages produced
devastating results: plagues, infanticide, patricide are all topics that have been thought to reflect a
larger ideas of marriage and heterosexual intercourse as integral to the peace and prosperity of the
polis. As a result, female chastity became a priority in proper female behaviour.52 In Republican
Rome, men’s anxieties about women in public space also had to do with their perceived propensity
for sexual misconduct.53 This sexuality not only posed a threat to an individual male, but to the
fundamental well-being of the state.54 This is very evident in Livy: in Book 1, Lucretia is the ideal
wife through her devotion to her household and to her own chastity. Instead of abandoning her
domestic duties to socialize like the other Roman women, she remains at home to weave. When
she is subsequently sexually assaulted by Sextus Tarquinius, she commits suicide, as she knows
that her chastity — and as a result, her household — has been ruined. Her valour and heroism are
attached to the Roman state as her death marks the end of the monarchy and the foundation of the
Republic (1.57-59). Chastity was paramount in ideals of femininity.
In ancient comedies, themes of matrimonial fidelity are discussed at length. Take, for
example, Terence’s Eunuchus. In this play, Philumena’s sexual assault and subsequent pregnancy
51
For some examples, see Clytemnestra and Agamemnon in Sophocles’ Electra, Medea and Jason in Euripides’
Medea.
52
Dhillon 2003, 121.
53
See Parker’s “The Teratogenic Grid” which outlines how sexuality is often something that is used for rhetorical
attacks in Roman discourse.
54
See Chapter 2 of Braund (2017) for an analysis of Livy’s use of men and women as exemplum for Roman gender.
23
almost destroy her marriage (390-430). Only when her husband realizes that it was he who had
sexually assaulted her does the play conclude harmoniously (810-880). Pamphilus’ willingness to
take her back expressly because there was no adultery, demonstrates the importance of chastity
and sexual fidelity in constructions of femininity.55
3.2.1 Bacchic Participants
The women in literary accounts of Bacchic worship subvert the feminine ideals outlined
above. In Bacchides, a fragmentary play by Plautus in the 2nd century BCE, the protagonist
Pistoclerus warns of the temptation of Bacchic women, who aim to ruin him and his father (3.1).
Here, the assumption is that that the potential for sexual escapades outside of marriage will ruin
men’s reputation. Diodorus Siculus also warns of this behavior, stating that Bacchic rites are
celebrated at night “because of the disgrace resulting from sexual intercourse of both sexes” (4.1-
5). In Book 39 of Livy, he refers to female infidelity twice in his account of the Roman
Bacchanalia: he discusses the “promiscuous encounters of free men and women” (39.8.6; 39.8.7-
8) as well as the “lustful practices” between men and women that occur during initiations
(39.13.10). Furthermore, he also reiterates that the women attending these participations are
women of status (39.8.7-8; 39.10.5; 39.13.14; 39.18.6). Livy’s attention to the social standing of
the women immediately marks them as breachers of female ideals: these women, some of high
social status, were expected to behave in specific ways. This is further reiterated when he
55
Similarly, Thais’ plans to get Pamphila into better social standing by returning to her Athenian looks as if it is ruined
after her sexual assault by Chaerea (580-603; 650-660). It is only through Chaerea’s agreement to marry her (883-
885) that the play can conclude. This story line is telling: the rape, which ruins Pamphila’s chance at returning to her
family, suggests that Pamphila’s chastity was seen as the most valuable asset to her family. The violation against her,
although not her fault, has subsequently made her less valuable.
24
underlines certain women that abstain from the rites: Hispala – a woman of freed status – states
that although she attended the initiation rites as a slave, she would never attended them as a
freedwoman (39.10.5-6); the two women responsible for helping expose the rites (of which they
purportedly knew nothing about) are described as high-ranking and virtuous (39.11.3-6). Livy’s
contrast between the virtuous woman who chooses not to participate stands in stark contrast to the
female participants with allegations of sexual misconduct.
Even the Bacchae fits within this trend of unfaithful female participants. Although I have
advocated for movement away from Euripides’ Bacchae in understanding female participants, I
will include it is a means of showing how our literary evidence is conforming to this rhetoric of
participants. Pentheus makes several remarks about the sexual activity of female participants,
stating that “they sneak off… to tryst in private with men” as the Bacchic rites wreaks havoc on
their marriages (220-21; 355). In this play, we know that Pentheus’ reference includes citizen
women and women of elite status, such as his own mother. These are women who were expected,
as mentioned previously, to conform to traditional roles of marriage. Their supposed sexual
conquests outside of their own marriage therefore directly violate these ideologies. The
participants of Bacchic rites thus supposedly violate matrimonial fidelity – a behavior that the male
perspective believes they should uphold – marking their participation in Bacchic rites as socially
subversive.
The literary image of women of Bacchic rites also demonstrates a subversion of
motherhood. Paculla Annia and Duronia, both women in Livy’s Book 39, are mothers who were
responsible for initiating (or almost initiating, in the case of Aebutius) their sons into the Bacchic
rites (Liv. 39.9; 39.13). In Demosthenes’ De Corona, Aeschines is charged with helping his mother
participate in the rites (Dem. De Cor. 259). Similarly, after elaborating on the criminal behaviour
25
of participants in the rites, Livy informs us that the mares — male youth — that were being
initiated into the Roman rites were so young that they weren’t able to make their own decisions
(39.15.12). The implication here is that it was women —whose purpose was to raise children and
keep them safe — who were inserting children into a situation that was thought to be dangerous.
Again, the Bacchae also exemplifies this trend: the women abandon child-rearing in favour
of nurturing wild animals (695-700). In other instances, child participation (and the potential
harmful outcomes that occur) in Bacchic rites amplifies this lack of maternal care in female
participants: in the Euripidean play, the women of Thebes snatched the children of Hysiae and
Erythrae away from their mothers (750-755); Pentheus is killed by his own mother and aunts while
in their Bacchic frenzies (1000-1200). For these participants, their lack of maternal instinct is
magnified, and acts as a direct violation of what was expected of these women in antiquity. Female
participants in Bacchic rites were constructed in such a way that subverted what was socially
expected of women; no longer were they faithful in their marriages, and no longer were they
inherently protectors of their children.
3.3 Domesticity and Invisibility
Another important gender ideal that women were expected to adhere to was their role
within the domestic sphere. Scholars have argued that the development and diffusion of democracy
during the late Classical and Hellenistic period saw the increasing importance of the production
and maintenance of the household for the betterment of the state, with each individual sharing the
responsibility and outcome of the state.56 Men performed their duties outside, exercising the
political voice of the oikos, and/or physically managing the production of their oikos through
56
Möller 2007, 375-376
26
physical labour, such as farming. Women, having few political rights and perceived as the
physically weaker sex, were then relegated to the domestic sphere to perform duties for state
benefits.57 This prominent role inside the house corresponded to an absence outside the domestic
sphere, pushing her out of public visibility.
Female invisibility reiterated in the public sphere is in ancient comedy in two ways: the
first is obvious – all female characters, silent or visible, were constructed by men and portrayed by
men. Women held no voice in the writing of female characters and their experiences, nor were they
part of the production. This in itself is telling; banning women from this activity should be read as
a means of restricting their movement outside of the home and relegating them to the house. The
second way that women were relegated to the domestic sphere and rendered invisible lies within
the text: women, at least women eligible for marriage, were more often the silent characters, or
never appeared on stage at all. In most of Terence’s plays, the female protagonists who stand as
the objects of marital desire, affection, and ownership of the male protagonists are rarely seen, or
heard. Instead, they are referenced to or heard off stage.58 Plautus represents women in a similar
way: in the Aulularia, Megadorus states that “not a single silent woman has been found either now
or at any time” (126). Similarily, in Rudens, Trachalio states that “a woman’s worth is always
judged by silence, not by speech” (1114). These comments illuminate a struggle between what is
happening and what men think should happen. For men, as soon as a woman speaks, she is
speaking too much. The silent presence of these women suggests that men believed that proper
married women should remain invisible, and within the domestic sphere.
57
Skinner 2013, 101-183.
58
This is the case for both Philumena and Glycerium in Andria, for Philumena in Hecyra; for Pamphila in
Eunuchus, for Phanium and Pamphila in Phormia, for Pamphila in Adelphoi, and for Phoenicium in Pseudolus.
27
This ideal of silence and invisibility is further underscored when one considers the
intersection of status and femininity. The types of female characters that are visible on the comedic
stage are often women of lower status and/or undetermined status, such as female prostitutes and
female slaves.59 These positions occupy the majority of female-speaking roles.60 The above
analysis reiterates traditional gender norms: it suggests that women of lower status are exempt
from a certain category of women – ie. citizen women – and thus, they do not need to behave
according to social norms. Presence within the domestic sphere, and by extension – invisibility in
public – were behaviours attached to free, citizen female gender norms.
The domesticity and invisibility of female participants of Bacchic rites is consistently
inverted across the literary evidence. In Book 39, Livy notes that the rites were deliberately
changed from 3 days per year to 5 days per month by women (39.13.9). The massive increase in
59
There are instances in which citizen women do appear onstage. In these instances, it is often in a position where
the woman’s role is defined by their need to preserve the family. In Sykonios, Stratophanes’ mother is essential in
saving him from debt (135); in Terence’s Hecyra, the step-mother plays an integral role in the rekindling of
Pamphilus and Philumena; in Heauton Timorumenos, Sostrata is integral to uniting Clitipho with Antiphila; in
Plautus’ Aulularia, Eunomia discusses at length with Megadorus about the importance of siblings counselling each
other (2.1). Or, it is a daughter, whose relationship (known or unknown) with her father is a central part of the
storyline, such is the case with Daemons and Palaestra in Rudens. In some cases, these women are often not the
targets of marriage affections, or, are already married, and thus exempt from the need to be silent. Or, in the case of
the daughters, are part of a plot in which their parent discovers their long-lost identity in order to make them eligible
for marriage. Furthermore, their roles are always integral to facilitating a harmonious and prosperous household,
which demonstrates the notion that women are meant to play an integral role inside the household.
60
In Hecyra, Bacchis, Syra, and Philotus – female concubine and female slaves – are featured on stage. Similarly, in
Samia, it is Chrysis that appears on stage; the kidnapped Philocomasium and her companion Acroteleutium have
speaking lines in Miles Gloriosus; Thais – a foreign courtesan – plays an integral role in the happy ending of
Eunuchus.
28
time is a suggestive nod to the amount of time Roman women would have been participating in
these rites in public settings, instead of remaining at home. As the women are mentioned to be
practicing outside, near the Grove of Stimula (39.12).
The opening lines of the Bacchae point immediately to an absence of women in the
domestic sphere when Dionysus states that he has made the women of Thebes abandon their
household roles (40-45). In the play, they are described numerous times as being out of the house,
either in the streets or in the forest (for some examples, see 34; 86-87; 116; 445; 660-780). While
these settings – primarily the natural setting – are not uncommon in associations of Bacchic
imagery and initiations, what would have been abnormal was the high female presence in these
settings. The outside world was a space meant for men; the home was a female-occupied space.
Female presence in a supposedly male-dominated space highlights how their participation in the
rites is transgressive. Pentheus’ consistent attempts throughout the play to get these women to
return home are consistently thwarted, highlighting the subversive behaviour of the Bacchant
women. In the literature, female participants were constructed in ways that subverted normative
gender ideals; instead of remaining indoors with little in the way of public visibility, they
abandoned their domestic sphere and occupied public space.
However, our epigraphic documents suggest the reverse: the construction of female gender
(or lack thereof) conforms to normative gender roles of female invisibility and domesticity. To
begin with, there is no mention of marriage, motherhood or domesticity on any epigraphic
documents. This is obviously another reflection of the logistics of epigraphy; inscriptions only
have a finite amount of space to record. It was not meant to record detailed accounts of the rites
through narration. However, one could also read these absences in a deliberate attempt to represent
traditional gender ideals. One such way is the notable underrepresentation of women in our
29
epigraphic evidence. In fact, out of the 18 inscriptions, less than 1/4 of them directly support female
participation.61 While the lack of women in inscriptions could be a result of Greek and Latin’s
default to a masculine noun in any mixed group setting, it is also possible to read this absence as
an iteration of cultural ideals that support female absence in the public sphere.
This is not to say that women are not participating in Bacchic rites. As Schultz states, “the
small number of female-authored dedications should not automatically be interpreted as evidence
of restricted religious worship” and it is not my intention to suggest that their epigraphic absence
is evidence of their physical absence.62 The lack of female presence in inscriptions could suggest
is that the women participating in these rites were women of lower status and did not have the
financial means to make dedications.63 However, the dearth of female voices in the epigraphic
evidence could also be interpreted as an author’s reiteration of normative gender roles in the
diminishment of the role of women within the rites.
When women do appear, it is almost always in conjunction with a religious role or religious
activity, which acts as justification for her role outside of the domestic sphere and reinforces typical
gender hierarchies. In IG 1, Alkmeonis is described as τὴν ὁσίν… ἱρείν — translated as ‘sacred
priestess’. Charged with carrying the ὄργια πάντα καὶ ἱρὰ (the sacred objects and orgia), her role
is to lead her followers of female-only participants – the Βάκχαι – in a procession on behalf of the
whole city. Here, her leadership and the participation of the Βάκχαι are integral to the entire city’s
piety towards the god. As religious practice and piety played an important role in ancient religion,
the women’s visible participation is a necessary role in proper religious practice, and their pious
nature legitimizes their activity outside the domestic sphere.
61
See IG 1-3; IG 6 refers to Paso, the head of a thiasos.
62
Schultz 2006, 48.
63
See section 1.3.3 on the financial aspects of inscriptions.
30
Similarly, IG 2 and IG 3 also note female religious prominence. Here, the priestess casts
the omophagia for the whole city, and is in charge of gathering the official thiasos, which (likely)
sets off the rest of the chain of events listed in the inscription, such as the trieteric festival and the
Katagogia. The priestess’ presence is necessary for the entire procession to take place and for the
city to practice proper worship towards a god. IG 3 also amplifies the religious element of female
participants. The three maenads of Thebes — Kosko, Baubo, and Thettale — are brought over
from ἱερὸν πέδον, meaning a ‘sacred plain’. They carried with them the ὄργια (orgia) and νόμιμα
(sacred customs) of Bacchic rites. These women are responsible for the establishment of Bacchic
rites in Magnesia; without them, there would be no Bacchic rites in Magnesia. It is because of
these religious women that Magnesia can perform, as a city, the proper rites for Bacchus. So, while
these women of these inscriptions are occupying roles widely outside of the domestic sphere, they
are occupying roles that are an integral part of the religious activities of the city.
The association with female participants and religious roles also demonstrates authorial
intent to uphold gender ideals and is demonstrated when considering the public vs. private lens.
For literature, it was very common to discuss rites that were public and state-level. As a result, it
is not uncommon to see women in state-sanctioned religious roles.64 The priestesses and
worshippers of IG 1-3 can thus be seen as iterations of normative roles that women occupy in
religion, which uphold traditional gender hierarchies.65
64
Schultz 2006, 26.
65
Dhillon 2003, 74. See also Takacs 2008, xix- xxiii, who suggests that female priestly roles primarily revolved
around the protection and rearing of life, translated into priestly roles that had to do with agricultural life. See also
DiLuzio 2016, 240-242. She argues that women who participated in the civic cult still had to conform to traditional
gender roles such as the Virgin, the Matron, and the Univira.
31
The lack of female presence in inscriptions outside of religious ones further upholds gender
norms of female invisibility. Epigraphic evidence for religious worship often provides evidence
religious activities outside of the state/public sphere; alongside evidence for private iterations of
religious worship comes the increase of female presence in religious activities.66 Further, from the
3rd-2nd century onwards, it was common for women to use inscriptions as a means to promote
themselves, their wealth, and their status.67 For Bacchic inscriptions then, the lack of female
dedication and presence in inscriptions could mean one of two things: one – women were not
participating very much, which is not likely given the evidence that we do have. The second – and
more plausible option – is that inscriptional creators opted out of mentioning female presence in
the rites, and as a result, reinforce female ideals of invisibility in the public sphere.
3.4 Sexuality and Power
Power dynamics are also key components in gender roles in antiquity. For women, this
manifests primarily in submission to men in all aspects. In Greek society, proper women – wives
and mothers – remained inside the domestic sphere; being in situations with men – particularly in
sexual situations with men – was thought to be reserved for sex slaves and courtesans. Free women
were meant to remain indoors; it was only those that “sought” sex (ie. sex workers) who would
have been in public.68 Roman standards of female passivity in sexual relationships were also
similar. The standard sexual power dynamics were presented as male penetrator - female
penetrated, marking women as passive recipients of sex.69
66
See Chapter 3 of Schultz (2006). See also Beard, North and Price (1999).
67
Schultz 2006, 48-50.
68
See Chapter 2 and 3 in Davidson’s Courtesans and Fischakes: the consuming passions of classical Athens.
69
See Walters’ “Invading the Roman Body: Manliness and Impenetrability in Roman Thought;” see also Edwards’
32
These thoughts are also reflected in our ancient comedies: the majority of mutual sexual
relationships – and here I mean sexual relationships in which the woman gives consent70 – take
place between sex workers and men.71 In contrast, all unwanted sexual advances take place against
citizen (known or unknown) women. What this suggests is that it is was not ordinary for proper
women to show an interest in, or seek out, sex. If they were to engage in sex, it would have to be
at a man’s initiation. Sexually active behavior was reserved for men and for sex workers – women
who fell outside of societal norms. Proper behavior of women thus encompassed sexual passivity.
The most obvious gender role a woman could fulfill in antiquity was her ability to be
controlled by men. Aristotle stated that men were inherently superior to women, and thus, in a
proper society, should be in control of women (Arist. Pol. 1.2.12). In Greek democratic societies,
every individual in the male citizen body was granted with the potential opportunity to govern the
state. In turn, this propagated a need for public performance of what was deemed proper male
behaviour.72 Male identity then was expressed through performative actions of sophrosyne, a
conceptual inner balance of honour, moral excellence, and — above all — self-control. This
extended to his ability to maintain control of his household, and thus, his wife.
The ancient comedies deal with this type of power dynamic regularly. The relegation of
women to the household and the importance of their sexual virtue and their passivity, discussed
previously, also attest to this: men were to remain visible and in control, women were meant to
“Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome.”

70
Consent here does not account for the financial needs of sex workers and the power dynamic that exists between
client and sex worker.
71
Menander: Chrysis and Demeas in Samia; Terence: Bacchis and Pamphilus, Philotus, in Hecyra, Bachis and
Clitipho in Heauton Timorumenos, Thais and Phaedria in Eunuchus; Plautus: Philocomasium and Pleusicles,
Acroteleutium in Miles Gloriosus.
72
Konstan 2006.
33
remain invisible, and to be controlled. In the Hecyra, Laches states that all women are equally
determined to oppose their husbands (Ter. Hec. 195-210), with the point being that if society were
perfect, women would listen to their husbands. In Samia, Demeas’ ejection of Chrysis and her baby
can be read as his attempt to regain control of his household, disallowing her from gaining a
permanent spot in his household, and serving as a reminder to her that he ultimately controls her
livelihood.73 And for each marriage that takes place, the woman’s father or brother is responsible
for facilitation and permission of the wedding. What this indicates is that in an ideal situation,
women were intended to be under the control of men.
If the ideal Greek and Roman woman was passive, the Bacchants of literature were clearly
marked as deviant. First, they are often described as they sexually aggressive: in Bacchides,
Pistoclerus states that the rites are very alluring to young men, because “nothing can be more
alluring than this — night, women [and] wine” (Plaut. Bacch. 1.1). Diodorus Siculus informs us
that the rites of Dionysos Sabazios “are honoured at night and in secret, because of the disgrace
resulting from the intercourse of the sexes” (4.3). While neither of these examples actually gives
agency to women, their mere involvement in sexual acts marks them as more sexually aggressive
than their chaste and faithful counterparts in literature. The Bacchants in Livy’s narrative also
demonstrate how sexual infidelity was thought of as a main feature of Bacchic rites (39.8.6;
39.13.10; 39.15.11). Livy’s description goes so far as to incorporate their improper dress,
describing female Bacchants’ hair as unkempt and uncovered during their nightly rituals
(39.13.12). Even Euripides fits into this trend: Pentheus makes several remarks about the sexual
73
Traill 2008, 86.
34
activity of the Bacchants (220-221, 335). In the above descriptions of Livy, Euripides and Plautus,
the Bacchants are sexual, marking them as aggressive in comparison to the passive sexual nature
expected of women.
Female participants of literature also invert normal power dynamics in the ways in which
they outnumber, have more power over, or threaten men. To begin with, female participants far
outweigh their male participants (when acknowledged) in Bacchic rites. Female participation in
the mystery rites of Bacchus are unanimously agreed upon by scholars, and female association
with the rites is attested very early on in literature.74
Female participants also consistently occupy positions that are higher than men, marking
them as superior to men within the rites. In the Bacchae, it appears that the original priestesses of
Dionysus are his mythical maenads — distinct from his Theban Bacchantes, who come from Asia.
These are the women who presumably look after his rites worship. Female priestly authority is
also attested elsewhere: Livy attributes the priesthoods to matrons (39.13.10); older woman fill
priestly positions such as εξαρχος — Master of Ceremonies, κισσοφορος — Ivy-Bearer, and
λικνοφορος — Fan-Carrier in Demosthenes’ account of the rites (De Cor. 260). These all suggest
that women occupied positions of religious authority in Bacchic rites. On its own, female
occupation of positions of religious authority does not indicate a subversive nature of the rites.
74
For the most thorough summaries of scholarship, see Henrichs (1979) and Bremmer (1984); Dionysiac association
with women is attested very early on in our literary sources: in his Homeric Hymn, his epithet – γυναιμανές – can be
translated as ‘women-frenzier’ (HH. 1.17). Homeric Hymn 26 describes a situation closely parallel to his mystery
rites: he would go around the forests, making revelry with αἱ νύμφαι – the nymphs – female mythological beings
often found in Greek myth (HH 26). These mythical female followers are reiterated in Euripides’ Bacchae, arguably
one of the most famous representations of his ancient rites. In this play, Dionysus is surrounded by an “army of
maenads,” having brought them to Thebes from Asia (Bacc. 30 - 53).
35
Women often held religious positions in literary evidence, especially in public rites.75 While
women in priestly positions of power is not abnormal, it is does seem as if there is an intention to
highlight how their positions of power are abnormal: Demosthenes lists the roles of each woman
in the rites, titles such as εξαρχος (Master of ceremonies) κισσοφορος (ivy-bearer) λικνοφορος
(carrier of sacred objects) and προηγεμων (leader of the procession) (De Cor. 260). As evidenced
by the masculine form of the noun, these titles are all typically occupied by men; here, however,
women occupy these positions, placing them above of (and in control of) men.
Furthermore, what is also abnormal is the status of women who occupy religious roles: it
appears that women of mostly any status, class, or ethnicity could participate in these rites. Both
Livy and Plautus suggest that women of any status can initiate into the rites: Hispala Faecenia (a
freedwoman) was initiated into the rites when she was a slave (Livy 39.12.4); Milphidda, a slave,
is also seemingly an initiate of Bacchic rites as she is aware of the passwords that initiates should
use (Miles Glor. 1016). The low status of these two female participants meant that not only were
women were above men in Bacchic rites, but women of any status could achieve positions above
men in Bacchic rites.
While rules of femininity govern that women should be controlled by men, the women of
Bacchic rites were virtually uncontrollable or conquerable by men. Plautus states that Dionysus,
along with a female army, gained a kingdom out from the hands of men (Bacc. 1.0). Furthermore,
the men in Bacchides express fear at Bacchant women, and their power over men: Pistoclerus
dreads the Bacchants and “[the] Bacchanalian den…,” and expresses concerns for his safety
because the women are said to “suck the blood of men” (3.1). In Aulularia, the hyper-masculine
character Congrio was badly beaten and mugged, and blames it on the work of Bacchant women
75
Schultz 2006, 26.
36
(406-414). In the Bacchae, Pentheus attempts — and fails — throughout the play to get the women
of Thebes to stop worshipping Dionysus. The men of Hysiae and Erythrae are said to be unable to
fight off the Bacchants, as the woman steal away the men’s children and then murder them (736-
800). It becomes clear that the female participants of Bacchic worship in literature embodied all
the subversions of what was deemed to be a normal gender ideal.
In contrast to the literature, the epigraphic evidence confirms to traditional gender norms;
namely, they uphold female invisibility and traditional gendered power dynamics. As mentioned
previously, we have very little to work with in terms of women in the epigraphic record. There is
no mention of their sexual activity, and the only piece of epigraphy where we can determine that
they outnumber men is IG 1, which mentions a group of participants that is female-only. However,
when they do make specific appearances, we can see that they are often in positions that outrank
men. This is the case with IG 1-3 – all three mention priestesses that perform the sacred rites. In
fact their pious nature should not necessarily indicate a non-conformity to gendered power
dynamics. Religious roles in antiquity often provided women with access to public life that they
might not normally have.76 But, their roles within the public sphere should not be seen as defiant
of traditional gender norms. Instead, women’s place within the religious sphere continued to
uphold traditional gender norms.77
76
Dhillon 2003, 74. See also Takacs 2008, xix- xxiii.
77
See Takacs (2008) who suggests that female priestly roles primarily revolved around the protection and rearing of
life, translated into priestly roles that had to do with agricultural life. See also DiLuzio 2016, 240-242. She argues
that women who participated in the civic cult still had to conform to traditional gender roles such as the Virgin, the
Matron, and the Univira.
37
3.5 Conclusions
The portrayal of the female gender in Bacchic participants varies widely between the
literary and epigraphic evidence. Gender ideals of status, motherhood, marriage, sexuality, and
power dynamics are all manipulated in certain ways within the various media of evidence. The
literature constructs the female participant as the ultimate subverter of traditional gender roles: she
occupies public space otherwise held by men, she participates in extra-marital affairs and is
sexually aggressive and hungry, her maternal instincts are non-existent in her actions that threaten
her (or other’s) children, she occupies positions of power otherwise intended for men, and she is
virtually uncontrollable by men. In contrast, the female participant in epigraphic evidence is
constructed in such a way that upholds traditional gender norms. Gone is her sexual voracity, her
amplified presence in the public sphere, her infidelity, her tendencies towards matricide and her
uncontrollable nature. Instead, she is virtually invisible in the epigraphy. She occupies little to no
space, and what space and roles she occupies are confined to a religious context, which reiterates
traditional ideas of women in antiquity.

38
4 Male Participation
4.1 Introduction
Female participants are constructed in literature and epigraphy as opposites of one another:
where one is dominant, visible, dangerous, and sexually aggressive, the other is silent, invisible,
and non-threatening. But further, women, it seems, were presented in ways that either conformed
to, or subverted, gender ideals. The following chapter will focus on how male participants are
represented in the literary and epigraphic evidence in parallel ways; namely, male gender norms
are either amplified, or subverted, in the participants of Bacchic rites. And like the female
counterpart, these trends are specific to the medium of evidence that is being investigated. The
literary evidence tends to subvert ideals of masculine behaviours — specifically: civic/cultural
identity, social status, age and sexuality — while the epigraphic evidences tends to conform to
ideals of masculinity by emphasizing wealth, and family and kinship bonds.
4.2 Civic Identity and Wealth
In the Greco-Roman world, the masculine paradigm is bound up in civic identity.78 This
meant that all normal, typical men should have the ability to hold the local citizenship, should have
been able to legally marry through the citizen status of both them and their spouse, and have also
had the ability produce legitimate heirs through that legitimate marriage. In the extant Greek plays,
a character’s cultural heritage is often used in such a way that presents a non-Greek in a negative
manner.79 This often presents itself in the form of a plot device: a common occurrence in
78
Berg 2011, 105.
79
It is out of the scope of this research to delve into the ongoing debates of what it means to be Greek or Roman in
39
Menandrian plots is the inability of the young, male protagonist to marry the woman he wants
because she is foreign and/or is not of local citizenship.80 Because any marriage or children and
from these unions will not be legitimate, the young men are legally and morally barred from their
love interests.81 While the point of these narratives is to drive the plot forward, they nonetheless
uphold the notion that being foreign, or establishing connections with someone who is foreign,
carries a social disadvantage for men.
The idea that foreign identities were viewed negatively is further exemplified by the fact
that they were often used as a negative trait in describing men. In Aspis, the waiter concurs that
Daos (a slave) is bad because of his Phrygian origins (ll. 239-244); an an old man insults Moschion
in Samia when he refers to Moschion as a “brute… [a] Thracian goat” (ll.518-520). This may be
because foreign identity was heavily embedded with status; slaves could not hold citizenship in
antiquity, neither could foreigners, thus a literary choice to fuse the two identities into one character
makes sense. In fact, a large majority of the foreign characters in ancient drama were slaves.82 The
authors’ use of foreign status as a means of insult, or as a demarcation of lower status, supports the
idea that proper men, masculine men, were not foreign.
antiquity; more so, my use of “Greekness” in this research means someone who is clearly outside of Ionia, and
perhaps does not speak Greek.
80
For some examples, see Chrysis in Samia, Stratophanes’ love interest in Sikyionioi, Krateia in Misoumeno
81
This is also prevalent in the character relationships of other plays, such as the relationship between prostitute
Phoenicium (meaning “of/from Phoenicia”) and Callidorus in Plautus’ Pseudolus, Phaedria and Thais in Terence’s
Eunuchus, or Pamphilus and Bacchis in Hecyra. In each of these examples, the woman’s foreign and/or non-citizen
status does not allow for the young man to legally marry her and produce legitimate children.
82
Thais, a courtesan, is described as foreign (Ter. Eun. 105-120); the household slave, Stalagmus, in Plautus’ Captivi
is from Sicily; Telestis, a sex slave, is from Thebes (Plaut. Epidi.); two unnamed slaves in Truculentus originated
from Syria; and Giddenis, a household slave woman, comes from Thebes (Plaut. Poenu.).
40
Wealth, to an extent, has also been considered a determinant of masculinity. Being self-
sufficient, as well as being able to provide for those considered your property (women, children
and slaves) was a common theme in ancient dramas: in the Dyskolos, Gorgias is venerated for
being a hard-working man, able to provide for himself and his mother (Men. Dysk. 25-27); in this
play, Kallippides, a wealthy Athenian man, is also reluctant to have his children marry their
significant others, as it would be beneath their financial means (793-798). Wealth, like civic
identity, became a determinant of masculinity.
As in the case of women, male participants of Bacchic rites were represented in literature
as subverting masculine ideals of high economic activity and a strong civic identity. Most of the
men are of either lower status and/or foreign backgrounds. The first example is from Herodotus,
who describes Scyles – a Scythian king – participating in Bacchic initiations. According to
Herodotus, Scyles initiated himself into the Bacchic mysteries and often “[played] the Bacchant”
(4.79). Similarly, the role of Aeschines in Demosthenes’ speech is also evidence of this: in the
oration, Aeschines is charged with helping his mother and other participants get ready for the
initiatory rites of Bacchus (De Cor. 260). In this oration, Aeschines’ character is repeatedly
attacked for not being an upstanding citizen, unlike the orator himself. Demosthenes accuses
Aeschines of being raised incorrectly: with a foreign mother, and not as a citizen (258). The above
two examples indicate that when male participants are mentioned in our literary sources, it is often
with a foreign identity marker.
Male participants are also often of lower status, as well: in Plautus’ Miles Gloriosus,
Palaestrio – a slave – has a conversation with Milphidda, who asks him for the password that is
41
given to Bacchic initiates, insinuating his participation in the rites. Livy also attributes the Bacchic
rites to foreign influence: he attributes the mystery of the rites to an unknown Greek man (39.8.3),
a foreigner to the Roman-bred Livy. In this way, the male participants of the rites are represented,
at least in literature, are presented as men of low socio-economic status and/or foreign.
Unlike its literary counterpart, the inscriptional evidence provides little in the way of
cultural identities or heritage. Instead, male members of Bacchic rites constructed themselves in
such a way that adhered to and promoted another masculine ideal: wealth. This was often done
through euergetism – benefactions donated by individuals or small groups to their poleis. The
Hellenistic period saw an increase in wealth, power, and success, concentrated in the hands of
fewer individuals.83 Euergetism also grew exponentially during this period; Hellenistic kings and
their families arose as the most grandiose euergetai, donating large gifts to entire poleis. Wealthier
individuals followed suit, and as such, euergetism became the opposite of its original intention: it
now became a means of achieving status within a specific community.84
Participation in the rites became an opportunity to display male wealth and status through
the mention of large financial donations. In the epigraphic evidence, when men are present in the
record, there is always mention of financial contributions made by a male individual, or group of
individuals, on behalf of a Bacchic thiasos. In some instances, the inscriptions list the dedication
of a specific statue: an inscription from Tomis, ca. 1st century BCE, lists the son of Parmis who
donated a statue on behalf of the thiasos of Paso.85 Another statue base from Dionysopolis tells us
83
Skinner 2013, 186-204. See also Reger 2007, 460-484.
84
Reger 2007, 473-474.
85
42
about the son of Dephone, a priest of Dionysus, who dedicated the statue in the name of the
Bakkheastai.86
In other instances, epigraphic evidence lists the members of a Bacchic thiasos that have
contributed financially to the building of monuments: an inscription from Callatis lists the
subscription of the construction of a temple, built from the funds of the thiasos.87 In this inscription,
each contributing member is listed individually. Furthermore, the inscription notes the value of
each donation, and what benefits a member will receive from such a donation. These specificities
help support the notion that male participants used epigraphy intentionally to help promote their
social statuses: in knowing not only who contributed and how much they contributed, but also how
much they contributed in comparison to their peers, could have created a notion of wealth not only
among anyone who chose to view the rites (participants or onlookers), as well as also among male
members within these rites.
The creation and promotion of financial status of male participants through epigraphic
documents is also evidenced on an inscription, ca. 2nd century BCE, from the thiasos of
Menekleides. The stele is inscribed with a set of instructions, in which the thiasos was “to engrave
this decree on a stone stele and place it in the vestibule of the bakkheion…”88. While it is unclear
if this thiasos actually built the bakkheion, their intended attachment to the bakkheion through the
erected stele suggests that the members wanted those entering to think of them in conjunction with
the construction of the bakkheion. Those who were participating would have likely entered the
bakkheion. In this case, the stele allowed the individuals from the thiasos of Menekleides to
86
87
88
43
demonstrate their wealth and promote their social status within the community of Bacchic
participants.
In other instances, male participants’ wealth and status was showcased through their
associations with elite individuals, which helped create an image of high social standing. Some
inscriptions list the specific honours that a thiasos would give certain honourees. An inscription
from Rhodes lists the donation of a gold-leafed crown to Dionysodoros the Alexandrian, “crowned
with two gold crowns in the reception of the Bakkheia” by an association of Dionysiasts. Having
received these honours, he then proceeded to make a dedication back to the association.89 While it
is impossible to tell the status of Bacchic participants definitively, what is of note is that they
clearly have access to a significant amount of financial wealth. Their wealth is then displayed in a
way that constructs these participants as benefactors towards their community – both the initiated
and non-initiated.
The construction of status of Bacchic participants through displays of wealth was not done
in vain; a funerary inscription, also from Rhodes ca. 2nd century BCE, lists the same Dionysodorus
as mentioned above. In this funerary stele, Dionysodorus lists the honours bestowed on him by the
Dionysiasts, as having been crowned with not one, but two gold crowns, for his virtue.90 These
inscriptions provide two different perspectives of the same event and are telling of how both
benefactor and benefactee wanted to be perceived. The inscription from the dossier of the
association of Dionysiasts suggests that they saw an opportunity to showcase their wealth through
their donation of a gold crown and honours to Dionysodorus. On the other hand, Dionysodorus’
funeral stele indicates that he found value in being associated with these honours. This suggests a
89
90
44
mutually beneficial relationship: while the Dionysiasts saw social benefit in announcing their
wealth through benefactions, Dionysodorus’ deliberate display of association with them also
suggests a degree of societal prestige in these participants.
A mutually beneficial relationship is also seen in two other inscriptions. The first is an
inscription from Thera, ca. 160-146 BCE, which states that the community of Bakkhistes are linked
to Ladamos, an individual from the court of Diadochi, with known associations to the king of their
area. They describe how he is devoted to them and their interests, and because of this, they grant
him specific honours.91 Here, the participants take the opportunity to associate themselves with
someone of high rank, which augments their own standing; this is also seen in a marble slab from
Pergamon, ca. 160 BCE. Here, the Bacchoi honour king Eumenes II.92 Thus, the wealth of Bacchic
participants was emphasized to gain social status, as is evidenced in inscriptional evidence. But,
this is also reversed, in that they carried enough social prestige for those of elite status to associate
with them.
4.3 Age and Sexuality
Paradigms of masculinity also strongly emphasize the importance of age, and in
conjunction, marriage and sexuality. Age played an important role in determining proper male
behaviour in antiquity. Henrik Berg writes that “in some respects, age determined what one was
supposed to do in society.”93 For men, age determined the groups into which they belonged, and
how they should have behaved. One such way that age affected male behaviour is in their sexuality.
91
92
93
Berg 2011, 107. See also Berg 2008, 125-139.
45
For male youth, sexuality was abundant and uncontrollable; for men, however, it was meant to be
restrained.94 This becomes very evident when considering a common plot theme in ancient
comedy: the male youth, unable to contain his sexual appetite, sexually assaults a woman; this
leads to the main issues of the play, and it is only when he realizes that he can marry the woman
does the play conclude. Thus, the youth’s marriage to her is his point of transformation into
manhood, having finally eschewed his wayward youth.95 For youth then, sexual promiscuity and
inability to control it was the norm.
For men, it was the opposite – they were supposed to be able to maintain sexual control.96
In Dyskolos, Getas tells us that sexual intercourse is the only thing that boys know anything about
(460-461). This is also evidenced in the way that old men in comedic performances will act in
ways that are abnormal for their age group, especially when it comes to women: in Aspis,
Chairestratos makes fun of Smirkrines for attempting to marry a young girl, as he was considered
too old (ll. 258-260).97 This is but one example of how men should not be acting on their impulses,
and they have grown out of youth and are now expected to behave with sexual restraint.98
Age also determined the relationship between male behaviour and the home. Male youth
were expected to get drunk, go to parties, and act sexually or physically aggressive towards others.
Marriage then represented the end of this pattern of behaviour and shift into actions performed by
94
Pierce (1998) discusses how a masculine youth identity incorporated getting drunk, going to parties, seducing
women, hiring prostitutes, aggressive behaviour and joining the army.
95
For some examples, see Menander’s Epitrepontes, Heros, Samia; Plautus’ Aulularia, Cistelaria; Terence’s
Adelphoe, Eunuchus, Hecyra. See also Sommerstein 1998, 100-114; see also Pierce 1998, 130-131.
96
Berg 2011, 108.
97
Another example is in Plautus’ Mercator, Demipho is infatuated with his son’s young slave girl. He puts aside his
wife in order to “take up [his] old ways again,” insinuating that his age should not hold back him back (ll. 544-549).
The end result? He is humiliated.
98
See also Plautus’ Asinaria (812-815; 851-853); Bacchides (1195-1198).
46
adult males. This entailed sexual fidelity, relationship harmony, and reproduction.99 Convinced of
his wife’s sexual infidelity, Chairisios leaves her and tries to revert to behaviours he performed as
a single man, including drinking and hiring a prostitute. However, he does not have sex with her
(Men. Epit. 437-441). Had he reverted into youthful patterns by having sex with the prostitute, that
behaviour would have represented an intention to divorce and he would have returned to bachelor
status. Thus, being married, and further, being sexually faithful, are expected parts of male
behaviour in full-grown adults. And this is true of virtually all ancient comedies of Menander,
Plautus and Terence that feature a sexual-assault-leads-to-child plot line: a female character cannot
be sexually assaulted by anyone in the play, except for the man who is either already, or about to
be, her husband.100 The sexual assault drives the plot, and so the inference is that the protagonist
would not be able to enter into, or continue in, a marriage where sexual fidelity was questioned.101
These comedic plots are reflections of male conceptions of their own behaviour — marriage and
sexual fidelity represent two necessary components of proper male behaviour.
In addition, these pieces of evidence also indicate that movement outside of your age group
— and — as a linear progression of social responsibilities and morally correct behaviour.102
Meaning, the older one became, the more he was expected to behave in ways that were meant for
his age. The men that deviate from the invariable progression of age are either predetermined to
return to their normal social group eventually (ie. Chairisios) or remain in the wrong age group,
99
Pierce 1998, 130-141.
100
See Menander’s Epitrepontes, Samia; see Plautus’ Aulularia, Cistellaria, Epidicus, Truculentus; see Terence’s
Adelphoe, Andria, Hecyra. See also Sommerstein (1998) for a discussion of rape in Old and New Comedy.
Terence’s Eunuchus is not considered in this plot groupings, as it is unknown if the sexual assault produces children.
101
Sexual fidelity is not being used in a modern sense here; I acknowledge that the woman has had no choice in the
sexual assault.
102
Berg 2011, 107.
47
and as such, become a comedic device. This is often reserved for older men who act like youths,
such as Smikrines in Menander’s Aspis, who’s behaviour is called into question when his brother
comments that he is too old to marry a young woman (258-260). Men’s age is attached to their
social identity; as they age, they assume new social responsibilities. Their behaviours then act as
a marker for their age and their responsibilities; reverting to youthful ways when one had already
assumed their status as adult male through marriage and children was not what was socially
expected of them.
The literary sources regularly portray male initiates in positions that violate the norms
mentioned above. When men are shown to be participants in the rites, their sexual promiscuity is
often emphasized. In the Bacchae, the female participants are assumed, by Pentheus, to be in “tryst
in private with men” (220). The significance of female behaviour in this quote has been previously
discussed, but what is also implied here is that any willing male participant is also acting sexually
promiscuous.103 What then becomes immediately obvious is that these are either male youths, who
have yet to obtain the self-restraint that is present in properly-behaving male adults. Or, they are
adult males, who are participating in the rites in a way that is socially transgressive to what is
expected of them. Either way, the effect is the same: the male participants who participate in the
rites are male participants who are exempt, in one way or another, from the behaving as proper
men.
103
I use participant informally here; it is unclear if these men had been initiated. What is clear is that they were
participating in the rites in some capacity, and as such, are eligible for inclusion in the category of participant.
48
Sexually deviant behaviour is also employed in Livy’s account of some male participants
in early Bacchic rites. He also states that male participants had sex with all female participants
(39.13.10); but Livy’s account further underlines their transgressive behaviour in a way that would
be understood by his specific audience of Romans by accentuating the details of same-sex
relationships. The conception of male-male sex within a Roman context is complex. Many scholars
strongly defend the notion of the status of the Roman vir (as defined by our few male elite sources)
as being linked to a phallocentric ideal: only those that could not be penetrated were considered
Roman viri. Among those susceptible to penetration – and thus not considered a vir – were youths,
slaves, and women.104 In theory, status as a Roman vir became about the impenetrability of one’s
own body, and in reverse, the ability to penetrate their sexual partner acted as a marker of their
social identity and dominant status: penetrator = adult male, penetrated = everyone else underneath
the adult male. And so, in Livy’s instance, the men who participate are not only non-conformists
to matrimonial monogamy that was expected of them, but are also jeopardizing their prevalent
status in the Roman social hierarchy by engaging in same-sex intercourse. And so, through their
participation in the rites, the men behave in ways that subvert the normal behaviours that are
expected of them as men.
Another way in which our literary evidence portrays male participants as not conforming
to traditional gender roles is by accentuating the age of the male participants. In Livy, it is the
young age of male participants that makes them susceptible to participating in what is thought to
be abhorrent behaviour: Aebutius is never referred to as vir, only as adulescens (see 39.9.3; 10.1;
10.9 for examples); Paculla Annia – the female priestess – initiated her children (39.13.9); the ages
of men initiated into the rites are so young that Livy describes their initiations as pitiful and
104
Walters 1997, 31. Parker (1997) also follows this model of penetration in relation to male sexuality.
49
shameful for Roman citizens – an implication that these youth are too young to be making their
own decisions (39.11.5). This is further emphasized when Livy informs us that within the two
years prior to this event, no man over 20 was allowed to be initiated into the rites (39.13.14). What
is implied here is that it was largely male youths who were participating, and these men are too
young to be making correct choices. Had these males been older than youths, they would know
better than to participate in these rites.
In the Bacchae, Pentheus describes Teiresias and Cadmus as βακχεύοντ᾽- translated as
“playing the Bacchant” or “being the Bacchant—” to participate in the rites as initiates (320-330).
Both Teiresias and Cadmus are described multiple times using some form of γεραιος (old), to
describe their age, looks, or mindset (175; 185-186; 193; 205; 252-255; 323-325; 328). However,
their age is often mentioned in conjunction with their participation in the rites: Cadmus rejoices at
his and Teiresias’ participation, exclaiming “how delightful it is that [they] forget [their] age”
(189); Teiresias also speaks out against their old age, stating that “[they] are a pair of grayheads,
but still [they] must dance” (323-325); Pentheus reproaches them for “acting so foolishly” (252-
255). The implication of this is that the old men are too old to be participating in these rites, and
specifically, it is their old age that make them wise enough not to participate in the rites. The point
is that when the ages of male participants of Bacchic rites are mentioned, they are either
broadcasted as too young or too old. The implication is that the age of male participants played a
hand in their participation – had they been an adult man (but not too aged), they would not be
participating in the rites.

50
4.4 Family and Kinship
The concept of the home has always played an integral part in male identity in the ancient
world. Confirmed paternity of a male baby at birth meant his acceptance into his father’s home.
As an adult male ages, he may become head of his household, assuming autonomy over all people
(family members, slaves) and property, in his household.105 In the Roman world, men also gained
a legitimate place in society through his paternal family. His potential complete dominion over his
family as paterfamilias is further evidence of the importance of family to a man.106 The male
paradigm as an individual with strong familial and kinship relations is also emphasized in the
extant comedies. In fact, almost every plot in the plays of Plautus, Menander, and Terence centres
around the need to right familial discord. This familial discord can involve broken marriages or
relationships that need to be reconciled, uniting a man and a woman under a new household, such
as Stratophanes and Philumene in Menander’s Sikyonioi, or Pamphilus and Philumena in Terence’s
Hecyra107.
The importance of family is also emphasized in that many of the plays also involve the
unification of children with their long-lost father, such as Hegio and Philopelemus with their father,
105
Although primarily Atheno-centric, for the importance of family through Hellenistic literature, see Chapter 2 and
3 of Sarah Pomeroy’s Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece: representations and realities.
106
For Roman importance of family through Republican literature, see chapter 2 of Sandra Joshel’s Work, Identity
and Legal Status at Rome: a study of the occupational inscriptions.
107
Others include Menander’s characters Chaireas and unnamed sister, and Kleostratos and unnamed daughter in
Aspis, Sostratos and Gorgias and their unnamed women in Dyskolos, Plangon and Moschion in Samia. See
Terence’s characters Chaerea and Pamphila in Eunuchus, Pamphilus and Glycerium, Philumena and Charinus in
Andria, Antiphilia and Clinia in Eauton Timorumenos.. See Plautus’ characters Amphitryon and Alcmena in
Amphitryon, Lyconides and Phaedria in Aulularia, Pleusicles and Philocomasium in Miles Glorious.
51
Tyndarus, in Plautus’ Captivi.108 The idea that these plays only end with the resolution of a
fractured familial relationship speaks to the importance of family and familial harmony. The
importance of family and familial harmony is attached to the male protagonist’s well-being, which
suggests that ideals of masculinity correlate to family bonds and harmony.
Masculinity also coincided closely with the importance of community presence and
kinship. This is evident in many of our ancient comedic plots: for the young male protagonist to
achieve his objectives (usually marriage), his family, community, and kin are necessary. In
virtually all of the extant comedies, the male protagonist finds himself in a seemingly impossible
situation that only resolves itself at the end of the play. The ways in which it resolves itself,
however, can usually be attributed to the intervening help of the protagonist’s friends, family, or
slaves.109 What is implied in these narratives is that masculine norms involve family, kinship and
community bonds.
4.4.1 Bacchic participants
Our epigraphic evidence shows little when it comes to the discussion of transgressive
sexuality, nor is there any mention of violation of age and their linked behaviours. Instead, the
epigraphic evidence amplifies family and kinship through the systematic naming of fathers and
108
This also occurs with Palaestra and Daemones in his Rudens, and Glykera and Moschion are reunited with their
father Pataikos in Terence’s Perikeiromenioi.
109
In Miles Gloriosus, Pseudolus, and Curculio, all three male protagonists experience a similar situation in which
their lover is taken away from them. It is only through the help of their slaves that their situations resolve. In
Menander’s Aspis, Daos, the young protagonist’s slave, and his uncle Chairestratos are responsible for getting the
young man together with the woman he loves. In Perikeiromene, Glykera and her husband are reunited only through
the intervention of their friend Pataikos; in Dyskolos, Sostratos is united with the woman he loves because of the
actions of his future brother-in-law and his own slave, made on his behalf.
52
sons. In nine of the extant inscriptions, the sentence “name son of name” is used as a means of
identification.110 This patronymic naming system was not a novel or uncommon naming practice
in ancient Greek city states.111 As such, these mentions can be seen as a customary and normal
means for male identification. However, in many Greek city-states such as Athens, men could only
acquire citizenship status if they were accepted into their father’s. In reverse, belonging to an oikos
then became a staple in a man’s identity: it fostered a sense of family and kinship. And so, male
participation in the rites also gave individuals the opportunity to demonstrate this aspect of their
identity. These men could use their association with, or participation in, the Dionysiac rites to not
only monumentalize their own financial status (as discussed previously), but also to create a sense
of family kinship to project into the community.
Participation in the rites could have also provided young men from elsewhere with the
opportunity to create an image of kinship and family during the period of growth and migration
that occurred in the Mediterranean during the 4th-1st centuries BCE.112 The conquests of Alexander
also altered the Mediterranean, shifting the focus towards individualism; the time of the polis or
city-state as a unity was replaced by the importance of the oikos or family113, under the rule of a
large empire. Perhaps then we can see that participation in the rites allowed these men to broadcast
to the communities that they may have only recently established themselves in. For them, listing
the family in which they belonged created familial connections in a place where they might not
have any. Furthermore, listing these men alongside other men in the community could help them
110
See IG 4-7, IG 11, 14-15, IG 17-18 in Appendix.
111
Salomies 2001, 79-81.
112
Berg 2011, 98. See also Chapter 4 in Skinner (2013), which looks at the implications of expansion and migration
on gender during this period.
113
Berg 2011, 98. See also J.B. Burton, Theocritus, Urban Mimes: Mobility Gender and Patronage (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1995).
53
portray themselves to others (participants or general public) as men who belonged to a community
and maintained kinships, as was socially expected of men.
4.5 Conclusion
The male participants of Bacchic rites parallel their female counterparts in the gendered
traits they possess. The literary authors constructed male participants in Bacchic rites as men that
subverted paradigms of masculinity; the participants of Bacchic literature were sexually insatiable,
unable to overcome their lust for the female participants. Or, they were acting outside of the
expected behaviours of their age, or were too young to know better. Or, they were foreign and of
lower social standing. On the other hand, the epigraphic evidence paints a picture of wealthy, high
standing men, who donate large sums of money or property to the rites. These men also attach
themselves to others of higher social standing, and sometimes a mutually beneficial relationship
occurs. Their image is also one that is well connected through family and their community,
upholding behaviours that reflect ideals of masculinity.

54
5 Conclusion
The last two chapters have focused on outlining how different types of evidence –
epigraphic and literary – present different versions of the gender conformity of participants in
Bacchic rites. The next question that follows is how can we interpret these patterns of subversion
or conformity? This last chapter argues that epigraphy acts as a tool of legitimation for participants
towards other participants and the local community and can aid in the promotion of the rites as a
whole. The representation of Bacchic participants in literature serves to delegitimate participants
and acts as a deterrent for literary audiences from joining the rites.
5.1 Legitimacy: Epigraphy
Gender has always had a close relationship with the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘bad;’ what
makes a woman or man, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is often attached to the fulfillment of their presumed
gender roles. Creating male and female participants that upheld normative gender roles shows how
these individuals supported normative social values.. Since participants are shown as adhering to
normal social behaviours within the rites, the rites themselves become legitimate because of the
participants.
Did the inscriptions promote the rites to other participants or the larger community? The
answer to this question lies primarily in the materiality of our epigraphic evidence; namely, the
location of the epigraphic evidence, and its audience. Unfortunately, the nature of our evidence
makes it difficult to do pin down these features, as many epigraphic documents are not found in
situ, and their original locations are difficult to determine. However, there are some inscriptions
for which we can say something about their locations, and as such, how gender constructions could
have been used by individuals creating these inscriptions.

55
Some evidence suggests that these epigraphic documents were likely seen only by those
entering a Bacchic sanctuary, whether they be participants or observers. IG 16-18 were found in
situ, in the portico of a sanctuary, near a set of steps. These inscriptions demonstrate the wealth,
piety and community bonds of each male participant and their pious natures through their ample
donations and listing of names. These inscriptions were viewable only to those that entered the
sanctuary – likely participants and observers; what their displays could achieve is the promotion
of the rites and its participants to the viewers. For viewers, the participants of Bacchic rites were
representative of masculine norms: they were wealthy, well-connected, and pious. These
constructions may have enticed observers into joining the rites. For individuals already involved
in the rites, seeing these inscriptions could have helped support the rites further. The inscriptions
may have created a sense of competition and a need to also display their own thiasos’ wealth, piety
and community relations, thus resulting in their own benefactions to their local Bacchic groups.
By emphasizing their masculinity, the authors of these inscriptions promote themselves and the
rites to individuals who participated in, or observed, the rites.
The location of other inscriptions suggests that one did not have to be part of the rites to
gain access to them. Two inscriptions, IG 4 and IG 6, have elements that suggest that they were
originally part of a building – such as an architrave or pediment. Others are funerary epitaphs (IG
1, 8, 9), which might have been visible to a larger community and audience. These inscriptions list
female priesthoods, as well as wealth, status and kinship. For those who were not able to see the
rites, perhaps these epitaphs acted as a means of promoting Bacchic worship to a larger network.
Showcasing individuals who conformed to socially normative ideas of gender made the rites
themselves normative.
56
5.2 De-legitimacy: Literature
In reverse, the subversion of ideals suggested that participants were not aligned with the
rest of society. Gender subversion in the rites reminds those that are not participating that the
participants of Bacchic rites are fundamentally different because they appear not share the same
societal values. Furthermore, their non-adherence creates an inversion not only of a traditional
gender hierarchy, but of the traditional power hierarchies, as well.
By subverting gender ideals in participants, literature also acts as a justification for those
that do participate in the rites. The men and women of Bacchic literature do not conform to proper
gender roles, and thus likely do not share the same social values as the rest. As such, their
participation within the rites is excusable, because they are clearly not “real” men and women;
“real” men and women would not behave in such a way, and furthermore, would not participate in
the rites.
Lastly, subverting gender can act as a deterrent for readers who, as has been previously
stated, are disproportionately represented by elite men.114 This is further exemplified when one
considers that the men who are actually present in our literary evidence do not meet requirements
for ideals of masculinity. Often, it was their age that excused their participation. This was the case
for the male participants in Livy’s narrative: Paculla Annia’s two sons, as well as Aebutius are all
described as youths; further, the ages of initiates into the rites are so young that Livy describes
their initiations as pitiful and shameful for Roman citizens. In other instances, it is their old age
that excuses them – such as Teiresias and Cadmus in Euripides’ Bacchae.115 And in some
instances, they are not considered masculine because they are foreign or of slave-status. And in
114
See section 1.3.2
115
See section 4.3.
57
many cases, men were coerced into participation by women – such as Aeschines, Aebutius, Paculla
Annia’s sons – and their ability to be controlled by women immediately removes them from the
category of ideal masculinity. As literary audiences were composed of primarily men, these
constructions of inadequate masculinity could help further dissuade readers; the implication is that
only men who lack masculinity would be participants in Bacchic rites.
5.3 Final considerations: the senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus and the
Bacchanalian Conspiracy
The conclusions drawn above suggest that there are serious difficulties in using literary and
epigraphic evidence to make historical claims about the behaviours of Bacchic participants, and
by extension, the rites themselves. Nothing is more evident of these difficulties than the
Bacchanalian Conspiracy and the two pieces of evidence that initially sparked this investigation:
both Livy and the senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus agree that there is a problem with Bacchic
rites in Rome, but do not agree on who may have been the culprit of this problem. Applying the
conclusions I have drawn above, the difference seen in our evidence may be more easily explained:
Livy’s preoccupation with women is a result of literary trends, whereas the SCB’s emphasis on
male participation could be a reaction to what was being displayed in dedicatory inscriptions in
Rome.
Moving forward, historians working on Bacchic rites must be cognizant of biases in the
construction of gender in participants and must study them with a critical eye. And further, the
findings of this research show that it is imperative that we acknowledge that gender is not a neutral
subject, and in fact, can be used as an effective weapon for the intentions of its authors.
58
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Appendix
IG 1: Statue base, inscription to a Dionysiac Priestess, ca. 3rd - 2nd century BCE. From Miletus.
Found near a circular building.
Bacchae of the City, say ‘Farewell, you holy priestess.’ This is what a good woman deserves.
She led you to the mountain and carried all the sacred objects and orgia, marching in
procession before the whole city. Should some stranger ask for her name: Alkmeonis,
daughter of Rhodios, who knew her share of blessings.
IG 2: Anteblock, found in two pieces, inscription on the sale of a priesthood of Dionysus, ca.
276/275 BCE.
When the priestess performs the sacred rites in the name and for the salvation of the whole
city, let no one be allowed to "throw the omophagia" until the priestess has cast it in her
name and for the salvation of the city; it is also impermissible for anyone to assemble a
private thiasos before the official thiasos (has assembled). If a man or a woman wants to
offer a sacrifice to Dionysus, let him choose one of the two (priest or priestess) whom he
wants to officiate; that the one who officiates is entitled to the royalties. He / she (the buyer)
will pay the price within 10 years, at the rate of one tenth per year, the first expiry falling in
the month Apatourion of the year when the god is namesake after Poseidippos, the 4th day
of month Artemision ...... the priestess will give .... women (?) ......; it will provide the
initiatory material (to women) at all orgia. If a woman wants to offer a sacrifice to Dionysus,
give as royalties to the priestess the viscera, kidneys, intestines, sacral parts, tongue, leg
68
dislocated at the hip. And if a woman wants to initiate to Dionysos Bakkhios in the city, in
the territory or in the islands, that she gives to the priestess a stater at each trieteric. During
the Katagôgia, the priests and priestesses of Dionysos Bakkhios will escort Dionysos with
the officials from before the day until sunset ....... of the city.
IG 3: Marble slab, inscription of the foundation and organization of thiasoi in Magnesia, as
directed by Pythian Apollo. Inscription is from Hadrian’s era, copy from a 3rd-2nd century BCE
original. Found to the west of a Roman gym structure. Found near another Dionysiac inscription
of a contemporary date.
Go to the holy plain of Thebes to fetch maenads from the race of Cadmian Ino. They will
bring you maenadic rites and noble customs and will establish troops of Bacchus in your
city. In accordance with the oracle, and through the agency of the envoys, three maenads
were brought from Thebes: Kosko, Baubo and Thettale. And Kosko organized the thiasos
named after the plane tree, Baubo the thiasos outside the city, and Thettale the thiasos named
after the Kataibates. After their deaths they were buried by the Magnesians, and Kosko lies
buried in the area in the area called Hillock of Kosko, Baubo in the area called Tabarnis, and
Thettale near the theater.
IG 4: Slab of bluish marble, with decorated triangular top (likely pediment with acroteria). Decree
of a thiasos for the contributions and subscription of construction of a temple. From Callatis, ca.
3rd century BCE.

69
To Good Fortune! While Simos son of Asklapiadas was basileus, in the month of Dionysios,
when Hagemon son of Pythion was president, the society members resolved that a temple
should be constructed for the god. Let those society members who want to contribute toward
the construction promise whatever amount each chooses. Those who have promised a stater
are granted a crown of honour for life and their name inscribed on the monument. Those
promising less than a gold coin up to 30 drachmas are granted their name inscribed and a
crown of glory during the triennial festival for life. The rest who have promised less are
granted their name inscribed on the monument.
Let three men be appointed from among all the society members to ensure that the temple is
constructed magnificently and quickly. Once they have been chosen, these men will receive
the sums from those who have promised and they will administer the expenses, and the
written account of the management will be handed over. Upon the completion of the work,
those chosen for overseeing construction will be granted a crown for the meeting that the
society members will hold during the triennial festival.
For good fortune! Those who promised to contribute to the building of the temple:
(column a)
Apollonymos son of Satyros: a stater;
Apollonios son of Apollonios;
Phillipos son of Apollonios;
Dionysos son of Kalchadon;
To build [the temple:]
Meniskos son of Heraklei[des… a stater]

70
Damatrios son of Damatios: a stater;
Simos son of Promotion: a stater;
Kratinos son of Mikos: a stater;
Nautimos son of Pasiades: a stater;
Zopyros son of Protopolis: a stater;
Harmagenes son of Damophon: a stater;
Kritoboulos son of Pyrsos: a stater;
Asklapiodoros son of Apollodotos: a stater;
Nossion son of Hierokles: a stater;
Zopyros son of Hestios: a stater;
Demosthenes son of Dionysos:
a sheltered, vaulted passageway leading to the doorway
(column b)
Menis son of Hikesios: 30 silver drachmas;
Sosibios son of Protomachos: 30 drachmas;
Hereas son of Damophon: 30 drachmas;
Euphraios son of Satyros: 30 silver drachmas;
[missing name]: 30 silver drachmas;
[missing name]: 30 silver drachmas;
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
Apollodotos [- - - - - - - - - - - - -]
71
thirty workers;
Promathion son of Promathion: fifteen workers;
Hagemon son of Pythion: a work horse and fifteen workers;
Olympus son of Sterichos: fifteen workers;
Dion son of Aristokles: fifteen workers;
Hapheistion son of Skythas fifteen workers;
Dionysios wreath dealer: ten workers;
Apollonios Simos: ten workers
IG 5: Fragment, decree of Thiasos of Menekleides. From Cyme, Asia Minor, ca. 2nd century BCE.
May it please the thiasotes ... to engrave this decree on a stone stele and place it in the
vestibule of the bakkheion; May this stele remain the sacred property of Dionysos of the
Menekleides thiasos. This decree was made under the prytany of Ditas son of Athenes the
fourth day of the month Pornopion.
IG 6: Marble plaque, probably a piece of architrave for a temple, dedication from the thiasos of
Paso. From Tomis, ca. 1st century BCE.
This sacred statue on behalf of the thiasos, oh Sparkling one, is from a son of Parmis, who
offered it to you as a gift from his own workshop, who wears the mystic crown among the
Bacchoi and who makes known the ancient rites. But you, bull-horned like a bull, accept the
72
work of the hand of Hermagenes and grant salvation to the thiasos of Paso.
IG 7: Attic black-figure vase stand. This inscription, on the lower end of the stand, is a graffito ca.
300 BCE:
Kallinikos son of Philonicus, Poseidonios son of Sokratios, Heroson son of Philoxenos,
Demetrios son of Sokrates, Philo son of Sokrates, members of the northern thiasos.
IG 8: Funerary stele. From Rhodes, ca. 2nd - 1st century BCE:
The archerist of the Haliastes and Haliades Dionysodoros Alexandreus, benefactor, received
the praise and a crown of gold for his virtue from the community of Dionysiastes: he was
awarded the title of benefactor and the exemption of all taxes during the reception of
Bakkheia during the biennale, he was crowned with two gold crowns.
IG 9: Funerary altar, inscribed on four sides (only three sides listed here). Portion of a dossier of
Dionysodoros the Alexandrian, ca 2nd century BCE. From Rhodes.
A) The head of the club of the Haliasts and Haliads, Dionysodoros the Alexandrian,
benefactor, having been praised and crowned for virtue with a gold crown by the association
of Dionysiasts and having been honoured for his benefaction and with freedom from service
of all kinds; and, having been crowned with two gold crowns in the reception of the Bakkheia
73
during the trieteric festival by his fellow club members, who have received benefactions
from him, he made a dedication to the trieteric festival personified and to the association.
B) He was praised and crowned by the association of Paniasts with a laurel crown, crowned
for virtue with a gold crown made from ten gold pieces, crowned with a crown of white
poplar, and honoured for benefaction and with freedom from duties of all kinds on two
occasions. These honours will be proclaimed perpetually in these burial places. Since he has
served as head of the club for eighteen years, he has made the club increase.
C) Since the head of the club, Dionysodoros the Alexandrian, benefactor, has served as head
of the club of the Haliasts and the Haliads for twenty-three years in a row and has increased
the club, he was praised and crowned with a laurel crown by the association of Haliast and
Haliads. Also having been crowned with a gold crown for virtue and honored for benefaction
and with freedom from duties of all kinds, he dedicated (his crown) to Dionysus Bakkheios
and the association.
IG 10: Marble stele, honorific decree on behalf of the Bakkhistes for Ladamos, ca. 160-146 BCE.
Found near the St. Etienne church. From Thera.
Good fortune; it pleased the community of the Bakkhists, in attendance at their ordinary
assembly: Whereas Ladamos, son of Dio, belonging to the court of the diadoques and placed
at Thera by the kings, shows himself devoted to the Bakkhists and has given many great
proofs of his zeal towards the interests of the Bakkhists in the past and more in the present
circumstances; and as sent by kings to the head of our city and of ourselves, he has not ceased
to conform himself to the will of kings, and his generous character behaves kindly towards
74
us as well as towards him. All the others, neglecting on no occasion either his zeal or his
devotion; so that the Bakkhist community clearly shows that it best honors the rulers: it
pleases (the Bakkhist community) that Ladamos son of Dionysophanes and his wives and
descendants be in the thiasos and participate in all that belongs to other thiasites...
IG 11: Statue base of Pan, dedication of a priest of the Bakkheastai. From Dionysopolis, ca. 3rd
century BCE.
Apollonios, son of Dephone, priest of Dionysos, (dedicated this statue) in the name of the
Bakkheastai…
IG 12: Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus. From Tiriolo, 186 BCE.
Quintus Marcius, the son of Lucius, and Spurius Postumius, consulted the senate on the
Nones of October (7th), at the temple of the Bellonae. Marcus Claudius, son of Marcus,
Lucius Valerius, son of Publius, and Quintus Minucius, son of Gaius, were the committee
for drawing up the report.
Regarding the Bacchanalia, it was resolved to give the following directions to those who
are in alliance with us:
No one of them is to possess a place where the festivals of Bacchus are celebrated; if there
are any who claim that it is necessary for them to have such a place, they are to come to
Rome to the praetor urbanus, and the senate is to decide on those matters, when their
claims have been heard, provided that not less than 100 senators are present when the affair
75
is discussed. No man is allowed to near a Bacchant, neither a Roman citizen, nor one of the
Latin name, nor any of our allies unless they come to the praetor urbanus, and he in
accordance with the opinion of the senate expressed when not less than 100 senators are
present at the discussion, shall have given leave.
No man is to be a priest; no one, either man or woman, is to be an officer (to manage the
temporal affairs of the organization); nor is anyone of them to have charge of a common
treasury; no one shall appoint either man or woman to be master or to act as master;
henceforth they shall not form conspiracies among themselves, stir up any disorder, make
mutual promises or agreements, or interchange pledges; no one shall observe the sacred
rites either in public or private or outside the city, unless he comes to the praetor urbanus,
and he, in accordance with the opinion of the senate, expressed when no less than 100
senators are present at the discussion, shall have given leave. Carried.
No one in a company of more than five persons altogether, men and women, shall observe
the sacred rites, nor in that company shall there be present more than two men or three
women, unless in accordance with the opinion of the praetor urbanus and the senate as
written above.
See that you declare it in the assembly (contio) for not less than three market days; that you
may know the opinion of the senate this was their judgment: if there are any who have
acted contrary to what was written above, they have decided that a proceeding for a capital
offense should be instituted against them; the senate has justly decreed that you should
inscribe this on a brazen tablet, and that you should order it to be placed where it can be
easiest read; see to it that the revelries of Bacchus, if there be any, except in case there be
concerned in the matter something sacred, as was written above, be disbanded within ten
76
days after this letter shall be delivered to you.
In the Teuranian field.
IG 13: Marble slab of Bacchants honouring Eumenes II. From Pergamon, ca. 160 BCE.
To king Eumenes, saviour god and benefactor, the Bacchoi of the god honour you.
IG 14: Honorific decree from a thiasos to Bikon. From Callatis, ca. end of 3rd century BCE
It pleased the thiasites. Since Bikon, son of Dioskouridas, charitable and generous towards
the thiasos, took charge of donations as well as the management of the common fund which
he placed for the benefit of the thiasos; since he has returned this capital and the related
interest even though the circumstances have led to the loss of the thiasos’ money and
although by law he has been exempt from (any) debt; so that the thiasites, for their part,
clearly show that they grant the deserved honor to those who show generosity towards
them...
IG 15: Epitaph dedicated by the Mystics. From Poimanenon, 3rd-2nd century BCE.
Funerary monument of Menekrates, son of Andronikos, which the Mystics of Poimanenon
had built for him.
IG 16: Dedicatory inscription of a sanctuary from Dionysios. Found in situ, in a sanctuary in the
77
Piraeus, ca. 185-175 BCE. From Athens.
This temple, it is in your honour that Dionysios, a noble man, raised it here, as well as a
perfumed sanctuary and pictorial offerings that resemble you and everything that is needed;
judging that wealth does not enrich as much as to venerate in this house, Bakkhos, the
traditional rites in your honour; on the other hand, Dionysos, be favourable to him and
preserve his house and his family as well as your thiasos.
IG 17: Decree of the Dionysiasts honouring Dionysius and his successor to priesthood. Found in
situ, in a sanctuary in the Piraeus, ca. 176-175 BCE. From Athens.
Gods! To good fortune! In the year that Hippakos was archon in the month of Poseidon at
the regular assembly, Solon son of Hermogenes of Cholargos proposed the following
motion: Whereas it has happened that Dionysios has left this life, and he had displayed in
many things the goodwill that he had and continued to have towards all who brought the
synod together for the god. Also, when he was asked he was always the cause of some good
thing, both for individuals and for the common good, being benefactor at all times. Whereas
he has already been honoured by the Dionysiasts, he has received the priesthood of the god,
and he has been appointed treasurer, further increasing the common revenues by contributing
one thousand silver drachmas from his own resources. And after all of the other expenditures
he contributed a place in which they could come and sacrifice each month to the god in
accordance with their ancestral customs.

78
He contributed in addition another five hundred silver drachmas, from which funds the statue
of Dionysos was prepared for the sacrificing orgeons, and it was installed in accordance with
the oracle of the god. With respect to the matters, the plain demonstrations that exist
concerning this man are registered in the archives for all time. On account of these things,
the Dionysiasts, recognizing them, have honoured him as being worthy and have crowned
him in accordance with the law, so that the members who bring the synod together for the
god might be seen to remember him, both while he was alive and after he died, remembering
his beneficence and his goodwill toward them. Because of these things, they have publicly
honoured his children, since it happened that he has left behind successors to the things he
possessed with glory and honour.
Concerning these successors, the law of the sacrificing associates also invites, first in this
case, the eldest of the sons, just as also he had been introduced into the group in the place of
his brother Kallikrates while his father was still alive. The sacrificing associates resolve that
the priesthood of Dionysios be given to Agathokles son of Dionysos of Marathon, and that
he hold it for life on account of all the honours with which his father has been honoured.
This was done because he has continued to maintain the treasury for the period after
Dionysios’ death and has enhanced the revenue, devoting himself to the things without
hesitation, wishing to demonstrate his own goodwill and beneficence to all of the
Dionysiasts. He also introduced his brother Dionysios son of Dionysios of Marathon into the
synod in virtue of the possessions of his father, possessions which he shares, in accordance
with the law. Furthermore, the sacrificing associates resolved to recognize that Dionysios
has been canonized as a hero and to set up a statue of him in the tele beside the statue of the
god, where there is also a statue of his father, so that he may have the most beautiful memory
79
for all time. Let this decree be inscribed on a stone monument and erected beside the
sanctuary of the god. The cost of the erection shall be borne by the treasurer. These things
were moved by Solon.
IG 18: Honorific decree to the priest Dionysios from the Dionysiasts. Found in situ, in a sanctuary
in the Piraeus, ca. 184/185 BCE. From Athens.
Sacred to Dionysos. To good fortune! Here are the orgeons: Dionysios son of Agathokles of
Marathon; Agathokles son of Dionysios of Marathon; Solon son of Hermogenes of
Cholargos; Epikhares son of Kraton of Skambonides; Isokrates son of Sayrs from
Cydathenaeum; Andron son of Sosandros of Hamaxante; Dionysogenes son of Dionysios of
Paiania; Simon son of Simon of Poros; Philostratos son of Dionysios of Poros; Leon son of
Simos of Eleusis; Theodotos son of Timesion of Pylos; Dion son of Timesion of Kifissia;
Apollodorus son of Apollonios of Lamptrai.
To good fortune, under the archonship of Eupolemos, in the month Poseidon, during the
assembly; it pleased the Dionysiastes, Solon son of Hermogenes of Cholargos made the
proposal; since Dionysios son of Agathokles of Marathon, instituted the treasury by the
Dionysiastes during several years and having received from them the priesthood of
Dionysus, erected the temple of the god and decorated it with a large number of beautiful
offerings and spent for this purpose not an insignificant sum, which he gave to the common
fund thousand drachmas so that they [the Dionysiastes] can offer a sacrifice to the god each
month according to the ancestral customs, which he provided to the Dionysiastes for their
use of gold and silver objects as well as all the other supplies necessary for sacred ceremonies
80
as well as a place where they can meet each month to participate in sacred ceremonies. Please
the orgeons to grant praise to Dioysios son of Agathokles of Marathon net to crown him
with a crown of ivy according to the law for his value, his magnanimity and his devotion to
them, to proclaim this crown after having accomplished the lbatios, when the sacred rites for
the oranges have been celebrated during the first assembly; to engrave this decree on a stone
stele and place it next to the temple of the god, and that for the engraving and the erection of
the stele, the treasurer collects the expenditure made; such was Solon's proposal.

Unmasking Bacchus. An Examination of Gender Constructions in in The Participants of Bacchic Rites

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UNMASKING BACCHUS: AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER CONSTRUCTIONS IN

THE PARTICIPANTS OF BACCHIC RITES

Madeline Emma Ramsden

B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2016

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES

(Ancient Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity)

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

© Madeline Emma Ramsden, 2020

Unmasking Bacchus: An Examination of Gender Constructions in the Participants of Bacchic

submitted by Madeline Emma Ramsden in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master of Arts

in Ancient Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity

men and women participated in these rites equally.

as a discourse of deterrence from the rites.

Lay Summary .................................................................................................................................iv

Table of Contents ...........................................................................................................................vi

Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... viii

1.1 The Bacchanalian Conspiracy ............................................................................................... 1

1.2 Past Approaches .................................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Gender in Bacchic rites ......................................................................................................... 3

1.4 Terminologies and Methodologies ........................................................................................ 5

2 Re-examining the evidence .......................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 9

2.2 Scholarship: A Euripidean Norm for Bacchic Rites.............................................................. 9

2.3 Epigraphy: Scholars’ re-evaluation of Bacchic rites ........................................................... 12

2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 18

3 Female Participation ................................................................................................................... 19

3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 19

3.2 Marriage and Motherhood ................................................................................................... 20

3.3 Domesticity and Invisibility ................................................................................................ 25

3.4 Sexuality and Power ............................................................................................................ 31

3.5 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 37

4 Male Participation ...................................................................................................................... 38

4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 38

4.2 Civic Identity and Wealth .................................................................................................... 38

4.3 Age and Sexuality................................................................................................................ 44

4.4 Family and Kinship ............................................................................................................. 50

4.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 53

5.1 Legitimacy: Epigraphy ........................................................................................................ 54

5.2 De-legitimacy: Literature .................................................................................................... 56

stage of the program.

support were pillars in the completion of this work.

the most intriguing, and bizarre, historical episodes of Roman history.

narrative that describes a massive underground movement of Bacchic worshippers, whose

Livy, but tells a very different version of accounts.

1.2 Past Approaches

mysteries that Bacchic rites encompassed, from the Greek East.4

explored, is that of gender.

1.3 Gender in Bacchic rites

cause for concern of the Bacchic Conspiracy.

demonstrate how literary evidence constructs their participants’ behaviours as a subversion of

for future research.

1.4 Terminologies and Methodologies

1.4.1 Gender and Power

femininity, culturally created and mediated by patriarchal power hierarchies.10

1.4.2 Breadth vs. Depth

identities, because we do not have enough evidence.

help contribute to future research in gender in antiquity.

1.4.3 Legitimacy and Authorship

show ideologies that support this.