The Bacchae

Theoxeny is a traditional motif that features a god traveling in human disguise, punishing or rewarding mortals depending on their actions and treatment of the god. In his opening monologue, Dionysus reveals who he is to the attendees of the tragedy and that his intentions are to punish disbelievers. To the Thebans, however, he presents himself as a mortal man from Lydia and priest of Dionysus who has brought the god’s rites west. No one in the play is aware of his identity, not even the Bacchants who have traveled with him from the east, and he remains in this disguise until the end of the play.

The Bacchae is the only tragedy that is known to feature a god in disguise for the duration of the play. Dionysus hints that he is the god who he claims to serve, but he stops short of saying it explicitly until he has exacted his punishment of Pentheus and Agaue.

The thyrsus was typically a wand or staff crafted from fennel, wound with ivy and leaves, and topped with a pinecone. Featuring vegetation associated with