Original subtitles

(orchestral music)

- [Narrator] Once upon a time, there was a young man

who adored love, singing, and dancing,

and also dressing as a woman.

Wherever he went, he was accompanied by a procession

composed of pale-skinned nymphs

with long black hair and satyrs with goat horns.

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The young man led the procession

carrying his thyrsus, a staff wound with ivy

and topped with a pine cone, accompanied by the raucous

sound of the rhombus or bullroarer,

which resembled thunder

or the screams of the gods.

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This long procession wended its way along roads,

causing fear and astonishment among onlookers.

(violin music)

As a young man, he was very different

to others of his age.

It was said he didn't have the same morals

as respectable people.

His were carefree and debauched.

Once he was seen lying on the road,

drunk on wine after a long night of love making.

No, this young man was definitely different.

In everybody's eyes,

he was an outsider, a vagabond, and marginal,

and yet he was a bona fide god.

His name was Dionysus.

He was nicknamed Agrios, meaning the wild one

or Bromius, he who roars,

due to the terribly din that accompanied his birth.

His birth, it was indeed an unbelievable event.

Zeus, whose appetite for seducing young women is well known,

fell for the charms of a young princess,

Semele, daughter of the king of Thebes.

To have his way with her,

Zeus took on the appearance of a mortal,

the only way a human is able to set eyes on a god.

If a misfortunate mortal were to see a god

with his or her own eyes,

the consequences would be terrible.

So, disguised as an ordinary man,

Zeus lived a moment of perfect love with Semele.

The trouble is, Zeus was married.

His wife, Hera, was not only queen of the sky

and Olympus, but also the protective goddess of marriage,

and her husband's latest affair concerned her

more than usual because for the first time,

Zeus was regularly away from home at night.

Before her rival took her place permanently,

Hera needed to act.

She took on the appearance of Semele's nursemaid,

an old woman who had the princess's complete trust,

and she made her way to the home of Semele,

who was already six months pregnant.

Beware, she began, I'm convinced your lover is not Zeus,

but a lowly imposter.

If you want to have a clear mind, ask him to show himself

as king of the gods and master of lightning,

as he does when he's amongst the gods on Mount Olympus.

Semele was disturbed.

Supposing what her nursemaid had said were true?

When Zeus next visited her,

she demanded that he show himself in his true state.

Zeus was horrified.

He knew too well the danger that would entail

for his beloved, so he refused, but Semele insisted,

reminding him that he had sworn on the River Styx

that he would do all she asked of him,

and swearing on the Styx was an oath

that couldn't be broken.

A god who did so would be simply banished

from Mount Olympus forever.

Semele begged him.

Zeus resisted.

Very well, fretted Semele.

If it is so, you shall not have access to my bedchamber.

Zeus finally yielded.

Before the pleading eyes of his beloved,

he revealed himself in all his thunder

and lightning splendor.

Then tragedy struck.

The whole palace was set on fire,

but the poor Semele just had time to give birth

before she too was devoured by the flames.

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Miraculously, the fire spared the infant,

whom Zeus gathered in his arms,

but what should he do with this prematurely born child?

Hermes, the messenger of the gods,

who was also the son of Zeus, came to his aid.

He cut open the king of the gods' thigh

and slipped the baby inside.

Zeus, the father, had thus become its surrogate father.

Three months later, Hermes, for it was still he,

reopened the thigh of the almighty Zeus.

The newborn was retrieved.

Later, the Romans would say of the abacus

that he was born of the thigh of Jupiter.

Dianysus was thus born twice,

once from the womb of Semele and once

from the thigh of Zeus.

So, his second birth was undoubtedly godly.

Without hesitation, Zeus entrusted the infant to Ino,

the sister of Semele in the hope

that he would grow up safely beside her.

He ordered her to dress the boy in female garments

so that Hera wouldn't recognize him,

but unfortunately, Hera was keeping a close watch.

While Zeus believed he had got away with it, he was wrong.

In revenge, his wife cast a spell on Ino and her husband,

sending them into dementia.

She was about to do the same to the young Dionysus

when Zeus stepped in at the last second

and rescued the child.

Once again, he entrusted him to Hermes

and ordered the messenger to take him to Mount Nysa

in a mountain range at the far end of the Earth.

The young Dionysus was taken in by the nymphs,

who acted as his benefactors.

They became his foster mothers,

generously breastfeeding him and raising him.

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Dionysus already knew that the path leading

to being recognized as a god would be long and arduous,

and he became the wandering god.

One morning, Dionysus made a discovery

that would change the life of mortal man.

He spotted a snake biting into the grapes on a vine.

He, in turn, picked a bunch and squeezed

the fruit between his fingers.

He was astonished to see how much juice flowed out of it.

The idea of growing grapes and transforming

their juice into wine had just come into the head

of the young Dionysus.

He decided to travel the world to inform mortals

of his invention.

(triumphant music)

Dionysus hit the road,

accompanied by and noisy and out-of-the-ordinary retinue,

mostly half-naked women with their hair unfurled,

known as maenads, but also satyrs, non-human creatures

whose penises remained constantly erect.

Their chief was Silenus, the tutor of Dionysus.

Silenus was a remarkable character.

Most of the time, he was blind drunk,

but he was also known for his incredible wisdom.

The procession passed through villages,

towns, and cities, first through Syria

and then Egypt, where he was fondly greeted

by the King Proteus.

There, Dionysus passed on his knowledge about wine.

After that, the procession headed to Thrace.

In Thrace, however, he received a much cooler welcome.

The land was ruled over by King Lycurgus.

Lycurgus looked down on this strange,

effeminate looking young man.

Where is he from, this person who claims to be a god?

And who are these delirious women in his wake?

The stranger had been preceded by a nefarious reputation.

It was said that the moment he entered a city,

the women were suddenly overcome by erotic passion.

They entered into his possession and he led them

into frenetic dances.

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All this was most disturbing to the Thracian king.

Lycurgus immediately had the maenads arrested

and thrown in jail.

Then he set about hunting down Dionysus.

In fear, the young god ran for it,

but when he reached the sea and there was no turning back,

Dionysus flung himself into the waves,

where he would drown, gone forever,

but luckily, Thetis, a sea nymph and goddess of water,

was on hand to comfort him and hide him

down on the seabed.

Dionysus was humiliated.

Nobody had ever treated him the way Lycurgus had.

He had even lost the courage to go and confront his pursuer.

It was then that his grandmother decided

to come to his rescue.

She freed the maenads and cast a spell on Lycurgus.

The king was driven mad and turned on his own son,

smiting him with his ax and chopping up his body

into countless pieces.

Then, as further punishment,

Dionysus rendered the soil of Thrace barren.

This barrenness would last until King Lycurgus was slain.

Without an ounce of guilt, the people of Thrace

dragged Lycurgus to Mount Pangaeus,

bound him to wild horses, and had him torn apart.

Finally, the young Dionysus could resume his travels.

He headed southwards to India.

Zeus had given him a mission, to annihilate the population

which had become impious towards the gods

in preference for their new deities with elephant heads

and numerous arms.

I will punish those who do not respect the gods

on one condition, he told his father,

that afterwards I shall gain access to Olympus.

Dionysus set off, but he didn't even need

to engage in battle.

The inhabitants had already fallen under his spell.

His arrival gave rise to fabulous processions

where he stood in a chariot entwined with vines

and ivy drawn by panthers.

With his faithful maenads and satyrs,

he wet from city to city, accompanied by cheers

and singing and dancing to the sound

of flutes and tambourines.

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His victory was complete,

but there was still one stage left

in the journey of Dionysus.

One city, the most important, remained to be conquered,

Thebes, the city of his birth.

The task that awaited him appeared complicated.

He knew he would be seen as both a stranger

and a native.

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The city was ruled by King Pentheus.

Pentheus represented calm and order,

order that was not to be disturbed.

When he saw women driven into a state of half-naked ecstasy

in the presence of Dionysus, he was shocked.

Women should be at home, cooking and raising their children.

Nothing else should concern them.

And who are these oddly dressed people

speaking in strange, foreign tongues?

They're not Greeks, and in Pentheus' eyes,

anything that wasn't Greek was barbarian.

Barely had Dionysus passed through the walls of Thebes

then he began telling the story of his birth,

revealing to anyone ready to listen

that he was the son of Zeus, and therefore, a god.

Bursts of laughter from the king, his queen, and the people.

What?

This lowly beggar accompanied by his band

of lunatic barbarians is the son of the king

of Mount Olympus?

Dionysus' own aunts, the sisters of Semele,

were the first to scream imposter.

Never could they believe that their own sister, Semele,

was capable of seducing Zeus.

On the contrary, they spread the rumor

that Semele, so as not to reveal the true identity

of the lover who had made her with child,

had pretended to be loved by Zeus,

and that the king of the gods had punished her

with a thunderbolt for her lies.

The misfortunate Dionysus was then chased out of Thebes

under a hail of stones and arrows.

He sought refuge in the woods

of Mount Cithaeron overlooking Thebes.

There, he sat on a rock, his head buried in his hands.

It was only across the seas in the East

where he was adored and considered a god.

Why would Thebes, the city of his mother,

refuse him his rightful welcome?

At dusk, Dionysus gathered his retinue together.

He lit an immense bonfire around which he let flow

springs of wine and began dancing

with the sensual maenads, the pot-bellied satyrs,

and the light-of-foot centaurs.

Then, a amid a cacophony of drums, fifes, and flutes,

he descended to the city of Thebes.

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Dionysus began by driving his aunts to madness,

followed by the wife of Pentheus,

then all the women of Thebes.

Unable to control themselves, they left their homes

half naked, abandoning their husbands and children.

Overcome by ecstasy, delirium, and frenzy,

they started to worship their new god, Dionysus.

Dionysus hailed them and ordered them to join the maenads

on Mount Cithaeron.

There, they could give themselves over to the pleasures

of the flesh and of wine.

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But the revenge of Dionysus was not yet complete.

There remained Pentheus, the king who had humiliated him.

At nightfall, Dionysus disguised himself as a priest

and headed for the palace.

He found Pentheus and told him

of the evening's astonishing events,

and he gradually convinced him to accompany him

to Mount Cithaeron to rescue the womenfolk,

but out of prudence, advised Dionysus, wear a woman's cloak.

Pentheus agreed.

He too wanted to witness the drunken lust

that had taken over his womenfolk

and threatened his very city.

The sensible and virtuous monarch let down his hair

and darkened his eyebrows and eyelashes.

He was already in the clutch of Dionysus.

When they reached Mount Cithaeron,

Dionysus showed the king to a tree

from the top of which he could observe the spectacle

without being seen, but it was too late.

The women, blind, drunk, frenzied, and possessed

had spotted him.

Beneath his disguise, they recognized him as a man.

They attacked, tearing apart his flesh

and ripping off his limbs.

Among them was Pentheus' own mother.

He implored her to recognize her own son, but to no avail.

Caught up in the frenzy, she ripped off

one of his arms, and as the rest of the women

continued to rip off his flesh,

his mother, still failing to recognize her son,

chopped off his head, stuck it on a stake,

and began proudly brandishing her funereal trophy.

When the womenfolk of Thebes came to their senses

and returned to the city, Dionysus was awaiting them.

He stepped forward and spoke.

Citizens of Thebes, I am the greatest challenge

mankind has ever faced.

You have all been entrapped by customs and mores

just as all mortals have been.

You revere order and discipline,

which are naturally indispensable to live peacefully

within the city, but you bury deep inside you

that ounce of difference which both worries you

and excites you at the same time.

I am the other, the outcast, the special one,

and I'm here to reveal that darker side

that resides inside you.

If you reject it like you rejected me

outside your walls, then you will be as lost

as the proud Pentheus.

Your king was lost.

But if you accept these wild forces,

if you let them in rather than repel them,

you will be saved.

My father, the almighty Zeus, sent me to teach you

that true folly isn't what you may think.

Folly is wanting a completely virtuous,

perfectly rational city.

Only the gods live in such perfection.

You mortals must keep your excesses.

Do not admit to reason alone,

do not exclude reason, welcome it,

but also welcome the unforeseen,

the unpredictable which may disturb you at first.

This is the condition

which will guarantee your freedom.

Once all Greece had recognized Dionysus

as a god, he continued in his travels in the islands,

spreading wherever he trod joy and fear

in equal parts.

It was on the shores of the island of Naxos

that the young god first set eyes

on a beautiful young woman who was weeping.

It was Ariadne, daughter of the king of Crete, Minos.

Her lover, Theseus, had just abandoned her.

Moved by her beauty and sadness,

Dionysus took her to Mount Olympus,

and for the very first time,

a god married a mortal in front of the assembled gods.

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The power of Zeus's son was thenceforth

recognized by all.

Dionysus had achieved all he needed to achieve on Earth.

He had finally earned the right to dwell in the sky.

Dionysus, the bastard of Thebes,

the outsider in the city, had to fight hard

to impose his divinity, to convince disbelievers

or eliminate them.

Soon, Dionysus worship

became an official part of Greek life.

In spring and in fall, cities organized grand festivals

in his honor.

These gave rise to an essential Greek art form, theater.

Gradually, epic poems were transposed into theater plays,

staged onsite, dedicated to the god,

which became the famous theaters of ancient Greece.

Actors told in verse of the life and feats

of Dionysus and those of other great heroes of mythology.

Boys played the roles of women.

Characters wore masks.

There was dancing, singing, and drinking.

There were also underground gatherings too,

where the adepts of Dionysus,

wanting to be in communion with their preferred god,

ate the flesh of a sacrificed animal,

the body of the god, and drank wine,

the blood of the god.

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Dionysus was decidedly a very different god.

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