Mixing Religion and Politics in Euripides’ Bacchae

Ann-Marie Knoblauch (Virginia Tech)

In the Bacchae by Euripides the king of Thebes, Pentheus, rejects the divinity of Dionysos, the mysterious god from Asia whose worship appears to threaten his social order, most obviously by transforming the women of Thebes into bacchantes, “leaving home to frisk in mock ecstacies among the thickets of the mountains.” The king and the god are presented in stark contrast to one another. Dionysos is calm and dangerous while Pentheus, as a young king confident in his power, is distrustful and dismissive of the new god, and his only recourse is to confine the god.  As happens in so many Greek tragedies, the knowledge on which Pentheus bases his decisions is shallow and fleeting.  Pentheus is murdered by the Theban bacchantes, most notably his own mother, Agave.

Much like in the story of Dionysos and Pentheus, in today’s world political rhetoric often influences the way in which foreign religions are perceived and received, as they too are seen as threatening to the social order. This paper compares the characters of Pentheus and Dionysos and their posturing and reactions to one another through the lens of modern religious fervor and the (sometimes intentional) misrepresentations that arise on all sides when there is political ground to be lost.  Ultimately, however, it is the women—the bacchantes who willingly follow and the Theban women who act against their will—who best illustrate the realities of worship.  Their actions and reactions are free from the political posturing of Pentheus and Dionysos, and through them (especially the chorus) we learn of the realities of worship.