The Bacchae

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The Bacchae ( Greek Βάκχαι Bakchai , Latin Bacchae ) is a drama of the classic Greek poet Euripides (* 480 v. Chr .; † 406 v. Chr.). He wrote it shortly before his death in 406 BC. As the third part of a tetralogy and thus won 405 BC. Posthumously first prize at the tragedy competitions in Athens.

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Pentheus is torn apart by the maenads; Casa dei Vettii, Pompeii

Bakchen (German mostly Bacchantes, see Maenad and Bacchants ) are the worshipers of the god Dionysus (Latinized Bacchus).

Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele , the god of wine and intoxication, has returned - in human form - to his native town Thebes to take revenge on its inhabitants who do not recognize his divinity. He makes all the women of the city go mad and leads them out to Mount Kithairon - including Agaue , the mother of the ruler Pentheus . Messengers report that the women lived with wild animals and beat the rocks with thyrsos , so that wine gushed out. When they were disturbed, they used superhuman strength to destroy everything that came in their way.

The main goal of Dionysus' anger is Pentheus, who, contrary to the advice of the seer Teiresias and his grandfather Kadmos, decides to use force of arms against Dionysus and the women. That fails: both Dionysus and his Bacchae escape captivity and Dionysus and Pentheus meet each other. Finally, Pentheus, blinded by the god, can be persuaded to watch the orgies even disguised as a woman. Again the messengers report how the two made their way to the Kithairon, where Dionysus Pentheus sat on a treetop. This observation post becomes Pentheus' undoing: the women discover him and throw him down. He desperately tries to identify himself, but his mother does not recognize him either, and together the women tear him apart. Agaue returns to Thebes with the head of her son, whom she still takes to be the head of a hunted mountain lion, and only realizes what she has done with the help of her father Kadmos. Now Dionysus appears for the first time in divine form and announces the fate of the Thebans.

interpretation

The orgiastic cult of Dionysus is depicted in Euripides as an extreme form of trance in mythical clothing. The maenads run into the mountains at night, indulge in the hunt, and kill game that is torn alive and eaten raw. According to some accounts, the description of the maenad's behavior reveals perversion and reversal of the regular victim and its function. Instead of the polis, the cult takes place in the wilderness, it is hunted and killed in unusual ways and divided (i.e. sacrificed) and the meat is also eaten raw. In this sacrifice, which was primarily attributed to the maenads, the implicit rejection of state sacrificial practice and state values ​​in general is seen as an alternative form of experiencing human existence.

Edits

Pieces of music

  • Agawe . Cantata for voice, choir and orchestra. Libretto : Zofia Szymanowska. Music (1917; op. 38: Karol Szymanowski , not performed)

Opera versions

filming

Performance, new translation

See also

literature

expenditure

Translations

Secondary literature

  • Bernhard Gallistl: Teiresias in the Bacchae of Euripides. Dissertation Zurich 1979

Web links

Wikisource: Βάκχαι  - Sources and full texts (Greek)

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Louise Bruit Zaidman / Pauline Schmitt Pantel: The religion of the Greeks. Cult and Myth. Beck Verlag, Munich 1994. p. 178.