MYTH OF

BACCCHUS AND ARIADNE

BACCHUS & ARIADNE
Who is Bacchus?

Dionysus, also spelled Dionysos, also called

Bacchus or (in Rome) Liber Pater, in Greco-
Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness
and vegetation, especially known as a god of
wine and ecstasy.
Who is Ariadne?

Ariadne, in Greek mythology, daughter of

Pasiphae and the Cretan king Minos. She fell in
love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a
thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the
Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur.
 BACCHUS AND ARIADNE
In Greek mythology, Ariadne was the clever, though
perhaps naïve, daughter of King Minos of Crete who aided
the hero Theseus in his mission to slay the Minotaur.

On the island of Crete, there was a great labyrinth

(constructed by the famed Daedalus) that housed a fearsome
beast - the Minotaur - that was half human, half bull. King
Minos, in retaliation for his son's death at the hands of an
Athenian, required the people of Athens to send seven young
men and seven young women to be sacrificed to the Minotaur
every nine years, or risk the complete destruction of their city.
 She approached Theseus and offered to help him
defeat the monster and navigate out of the labyrinth safely
if he agreed to marry her. Theseus agreed and Ariadne told
him how to find his way out of the maze, and gave him a
sword to fight with and a ball of red thread to use to mark a
path.

Theseus was successful in killing the Minotaur and

winning Athens' freedom, but he had no intention of
marrying Ariadne. They sailed for Athens to keep up
appearances, but during a brief stop on the island of Naxos,
he very un-heroically sailed away without her while she
was sleeping on the beach.
Utterly distraught by her unwarranted abandonment and
rejection, Ariadne was still sitting on the beach when
Bacchus (known as Dionysus to the Greeks), the god of
wine and revelry, appeared with a procession of his
followers. He spotted the grief-stricken Ariadne and was
instantly intoxicated by her. Ariadne returned his
affection and they were married, having three sons and
remaining fairly happy.

Some versions of the myth say that after their wedding,

Bacchus placed Ariadne's sparkling diadem in the sky as
the constellation Corona, thus elevating his new wife to
immortal status.
 Symbolism: Bacchus is wearing a crown of ivy leafs,
which is the sacred plant to Bacchus to prevent
intoxication (which is what people in the past believed
that ivy could do). The constellation of stars (which we
now refer to as Corona Borealis) on the top left is in the
form of the diadem that Ariadne was wearing when she
married to Bacchus. It is a symbol of their marriage.
MORAL LESSON
“TRUSTING THE WRONG PERSON
CAN HARM YOURSELF”