Who is Dionysus?

Many of the ancient gods are often misidentified misunderstood or just blatantly  lied about. The reasons for this are numerous but that is a topic for another day. Hopefully in this post I can debunk some of the common misconceptions surrounding the god Dionysus and provide some of my personal insight into the nature of the god Himself.
Dionysus has appeared in the media in countless ways since His worship first began. It is actually quite fitting for the god of theater to be so prominent in the media. However as of late the media has not been too kind to its patron. Shows like TrueBlood make Dionysus out to look like some mad god straight from Tartarus and his Maenads like devil spawn. Another less severe example of the media being harsh to Dionysus would be the Percy Jackson series. Now I will admit that I enjoy these books a lot but I greatly disagree with their portrayal of Dionysus as a short fat man forced into sobriety. Even books about the Gods fail to show Dionysus for what He truly is the lord of liberation.
This idea may seem strange to the novice Hellene or even some well versed Hellenes but the point remains. We always hear about how Dionysus is the nature god of wine and theater. Now these attributes are not wrong but they fail to see Dionysus in the big picture. I am sure we can all agree here that wine frees us from our normal selves but acting in a theater or anywhere for that matter does the same thing.
When I am on stage I am no longer myself. All of my worries and cares and even personality traits disappear as I assume the persona of whatever character I am assigned. This has the same intoxicating ecstatic freedom as any cup of wine. What else is more freeing than to become someone else entirely even if it is for a short time? No longer do you worry about the bills or going to work because you are no longer and you and you no longer have such worries.
Now let's look at nature and how this has to deal with freedom and Dionysus. The freedom the Dionysus brings us can almost be put on a scale very similar to how drunkenness can range from being tipsy to being hammered. Dionysus can give us the creativity to produce great works of art or He can give us the freedom of reverting back to our primal state. This primal state this complete breakdown of social constraints is how Dionysus the god of nature liberates us. This image of Dionysus comes to us in shows like TrueBlood that show Bacchic orgies and the chaos and madness of characters like Maryann. This image is a gross exaggeration of Dionysos Manikos or Dionysus the Mad God. The orgies were a way to wip yourself up in an ecstatic frenzy to experience the god in His true and beautiful form.


I realize this post has touched on a lot of topics that really need further discussion to gain a true understanding but I hope that this has been helpful to you. 


Thank you and Gods bless