Zagreus

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Zagreus' child of the gods, depicted with a bull's head, could take on animal shapes at will.

Zagreus ( Greek  Ζαγρεύς ) is a figure from Thracian mythology and was integrated into Greek mythology . There he was the son of Zeus and Persephone . Zagreus is usually depicted as a small child with a bull's head, as he was able to transform himself into various animal forms for defense.

prehistory

In a cave Zeus, who had taken the form of a serpent, got Persephone with impregnation. Persephone then gave birth to Zagreus, to whom Zeus granted his divine inheritance because of his great affection for Persephone. Zeus loved Persephone even though she was his niece and daughter.

Zeus knew the jealousy of his wife Hera and had his newborn son Zagreus hidden in a cave and guarded by curetes who were supposed to drown out the children's blaring with shield drums.

death

On Hera's orders, the titans found Zagreus and tried to lure him out of his guarded cave in order to kill him. First they promised him apples that would enable him to take the form of a woman. They then promised him the gift of understanding animal sounds. Zagreus was only lured out of the cave by the third gift, a mirror. Zagreus, who could transform himself into animal forms at any time, was impressed by his reflection, and forgot the caution that the titans pounced on him. Zagreus turned into a lion and then a bull in the fight against the titans, but was defeated by them.

It was torn into seven pieces by them, boiled in a cauldron on a tripod, roasted over the fire and devoured.

But the horns of the roasted child remind us that it is a sacrificed kid or calf, whose sufferings corresponded exactly to those of the god.

Enraged by this outrage, Zeus, the father of the gods, killed the titans with his lightning, and they turned to dust. The dust of the titans mixed in the rain with the remains of the eaten Zagreus and formed a strange, muddy mass. For this divine mud formed Prometheus the man who has a good and a bad side, just like the sludge consisting of a mixture of the divine, good and pure Zagreus and the bad and unclean Titans.

According to the Orphics , through purification and initiations one could lose the titanic element and become a Bakchos .

Different traditions of history

There are, besides this Orphic, various other traditions in the story of the Titans' killing of Zagreus:

Continuation A

Zeus collected the limbs and handed them over to Apollo , who buried them in Delphi . There his "resurrection" was celebrated every year in the winter absence of Apollo.

Continuation B

The "first vine" arose from the ashes of the burned limbs of the Zagreus. It was also reported that Rhea collected the limbs cooked in the cauldron and put them back together. Zagreus returned to life in the form of Dionysus and was returned to Persephone. In a similar version, Zagreus was rebuilt on its own and lived with his mother in Hades.

Continued C.

Athena only put aside the heart of Zagreus . Zeus gave this heart to Semele to eat or in a drink, through which she gave birth to Dionysus . In fact, it was another part of the body that a goddess hid in a covered basket, the phallos .

The difference between the last two stories is small.

Ancient sources

The Zagreus myth is u. described by Nonnos :

“ ... and while Zagreus was looking at himself in the mirror,
they cut him to pieces with a Tartaros blade.
Zagreus ended his life, torn to pieces by the sword of the titans,
but when Dionysus began to breathe all over again,
he was now able to alternate in many forms ... "

- Nonnos of Panopolis : Dionysiacs . (Life and deeds of Dionysus).

additional

Since 2013 he has given its name to the Zagreus Ridge , a mountain ridge in Graham Land in Antarctica .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nonnos: Works in two volumes. Translated from the Greek and edited by Dietrich Ebener. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1985.

literature

Web links