Masks of Dionysus

Abstract

ForewordMy goal as editor of the Myth and Poetics series is to encourage work that helps to integrate the critical study of literature with the approaches of anthropology and pays special attention to problems concerning the nexus of ritual and myth. Early volumes in the series set the groundwork for a broadened understanding of the very concepts of myth and ritual as reflected in the specific cultural context of ancient Greek poetics. The emphasis of the present volume, Masks of Dionysus, is not so much on the specifically poetic testimony about this all-important god in the history of Greek civilization. Rather, it is on the sum total of available empirical evidence about Dionysiac Religionsgeschichte, which in turn helps to broaden our perspectives on Dionysiac poetics.The contributors to this volume have paid special attention to the diversity of the Dionysus figure in the history of Greek religion. The more we understand the rich varieties of Dionysiac myth and ritual, as they show, the more we can appreciate the complexity of Dionysiac poetics, with Euripides' Bacchae in the forefront. Thanks to Masks of Dionysus, the literary dimension of the Dionysus figure becomes even more interesting than it would be if only the literary evidence were examined, as is the case in most other works on this elusive but compelling god.

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