Dionysus: Greek God of Wine and Fertility

Dionysus Greek god of fertility

Dionysus is one of the most popular ancient Greek gods both today and in ancient times. We associate him with wine, theater, and “the bacchanalia,” aka rich Roman orgies. In academic circles, the role he played in Greek mythology was complex and sometimes contradictory, but his followers played crucial roles in the evolution of Ancient …

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Ancient Greece Timeline: Pre-Mycenaean to the Roman Conquest

Ancient Greece Timeline: Pre-Mycenaean to the Roman Conquest 1

Flourishing more than 3,000 years ago (c. 1,000 BC to c. 300 BC), ancient Greece, thanks to its many contributions to human culture, was one of the most successful ancient civilizations in history. And it remains a model civilization even today. However, the history of ancient Greece is not entirely rosy. While committed to intellectual …

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Adonis: The Greek God of Beauty and Desire

Adonis

The name “Adonis” has long been associated with the idea of beauty and with Classical myth. His legend, however, starts long before our present conceptions of the ancient world. Phoenicia, a land roughly equivalent to modern-day Lebanon, was a farming community. Its people lived by the seasonal calendar, feeding themselves with the result of difficult …

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