Speaker 1: Oh hi, hello nerds. This is let's talk about myths baby,
Speaker 1: and I'm your host live she whose love of Euripides
Speaker 1: grows greater every day. He is so cool and interesting
Speaker 1: and I love him desperately. Enter this re airing episode
Speaker 1: plus at times really well with next week's. As always,
Speaker 1: I do my best to limit re airs. But frankly,
Speaker 1: as I've mentioned, I'm going to be travel ng and
Speaker 1: I've spent the last many many weeks writing like fifteen
Speaker 1: thousand words per week in order to prepare episodes in advance.
Speaker 1: But there were just too many episodes needed, and I
Speaker 1: only have so much time in the day. So instead,
Speaker 1: I decided to take advantage of the love I have
Speaker 1: for Euripides in this moment, the love spurred on by
Speaker 1: Alcestis and by my conversation with Ellie Mack and Roberts,
Speaker 1: and to share that love in the form of this reairing.
Speaker 1: Because what is better than Euripides is back guy, Absolutely nothing,
Speaker 1: That's what. And thus here I am with those two
Speaker 1: episodes in one somehow from all the way back already.
Speaker 1: How has it been that long? Time? Is a flat circle?
Speaker 1: I'm putting both parts of this play two episodes into one,
Speaker 1: so that I'm not re airing twice for you, but
Speaker 1: you get it all. But because of that, I won't
Speaker 1: bog you down with more of an intro. Let's dive
Speaker 1: right back into Euripides is bloody, it most visceral, and
Speaker 1: perhaps his most iconic tragedy, the back Eye. This is
Speaker 1: episode sixty one, Punishing Pentheus. The frantic and violent women
Speaker 1: of Euripides is Back Eye, Part one. Dionysus Bacchus, as
Speaker 1: he's often called everyone's favorite drunken god, Many different women
Speaker 1: of mythology are credited with being his mother, depending on
Speaker 1: where you look. Some say it's a woman named Dione,
Speaker 1: some io, even Persephone and Demeter can be claimed as
Speaker 1: Dionyse's mother. But of course the most common story is
Speaker 1: the one I told you so so many episodes ago now.
Speaker 1: But let's just recap it, shall we, because it's been
Speaker 1: a while. Cadmus and Harmonia, King and Queen of Thebes,
Speaker 1: and two of my all time favorite characters of all
Speaker 1: of Greek mythology, have many children together. One is named Emily,
Speaker 1: which means moon. Her story, as so many are, is
Speaker 1: intertwined with the sexual escapades of Zeus. He comes upon Semily,
Speaker 1: and as is his way, he wants to have sex
Speaker 1: with her, so they start a so called affair, when
Speaker 1: I hope is consensual, but it isn't clear in the
Speaker 1: source I'm reading now, and although important, this really isn't
Speaker 1: about that part. It's about the child they have. When
Speaker 1: Hara finds out that Zeus and Semily have been together,
Speaker 1: she does, as Hara often does. She looks to punish
Speaker 1: the woman in whatever way she can. I often paint
Speaker 1: Hara as being particularly awful for how she handles these things,
Speaker 1: but I do think we also have to realize that
Speaker 1: it's likely all she could do to take out her
Speaker 1: hurt and her rage. If you're married to the king
Speaker 1: of the gods, there isn't much you can punish him with.
Speaker 1: But I imagine you'd feel as though you simply must
Speaker 1: punish someone. There's no divorce in ancient Greece, let alone
Speaker 1: the mythology, and Zeus is going to continue to do
Speaker 1: what he does. Haro needs a release somehow, and sadly,
Speaker 1: it ends up targeting these women all too often. Harro
Speaker 1: comes upon Semily, who is six months pregnant, disguising herself
Speaker 1: as a neighbor woman. This strange woman convinces Semile to
Speaker 1: request something of this mysterious man she's been having a
Speaker 1: relationship with. You see, he'd been disguising himself every time
Speaker 1: he'd seen Semily. She didn't know much about him, and
Speaker 1: this neighbor woman makes a good point. She has the
Speaker 1: right to ask him to reveal himself. She is, after all,
Speaker 1: pregnant with his child. Semile does this. She asks her
Speaker 1: lover to reveal himself, and though he refuses at first,
Speaker 1: Zeus does eventually reveal himself to Semily. There are variations
Speaker 1: on how and why he does, because he knows full
Speaker 1: well what will happen. But he does, and Semily either
Speaker 1: burst into flames or is hit with a lightning bolt
Speaker 1: because a mortal cannot look at the true godly form
Speaker 1: of an Olympian, or well, one of those things happens.
Speaker 1: Semily dies, but hermis saves her unborn child and sews
Speaker 1: him into Zeus's thigh, so the baby we can continue cooking,
Speaker 1: because that's Greek mythology. Eventually the child is born of Zeus,
Speaker 1: and this child is Dionysus or Bacchus as he's also called.
Speaker 1: Sometimes This means that Dionysus is attributed with being only
Speaker 1: the child of Zeus because he's the one who births him.
Speaker 1: But of course that's patriarchal bullship. He's the child of Semily,
Speaker 1: the mortal child of Cadmus and Harmonia, and of Zeus,
Speaker 1: the man who fox literally everything up. It isn't enough
Speaker 1: for Hara that Semily has died because of her. This
Speaker 1: child is still an issue. So when Dionysius is born,
Speaker 1: Harra calls upon some of the Titans. I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard to track chronology here, so I don't
Speaker 1: know if these are Titans before they're imprisoned, or if
Speaker 1: it's just ones who didn't meet with Zeus's wrath. Either way,
Speaker 1: she calls on some Titans. Dionysius is born, horned and
Speaker 1: crowned with writhing snakes, and he's able to transform himself.
Speaker 1: Dionysus isn't your standard child, or even your standard god baby.
Speaker 1: Dionysus is something else. This has shown throughout his stories,
Speaker 1: but most obviously in the way he's born. Not everyone
Speaker 1: has horns and a crown of snakes. The Titans take
Speaker 1: baby Dionysus, and despite everything special about this child, they're
Speaker 1: still able to rip him to shreds. Where the blood falls,
Speaker 1: a pomegranate tree sprouts, and these ripped up shreds are
Speaker 1: placed in a cauldron. But before the Titans can do
Speaker 1: anything further or call upon Harrah to do whatever it
Speaker 1: is she's planned next, Raya Zeus's mother comes upon what's
Speaker 1: happening and takes the pieces of baby Dionysus and puts
Speaker 1: them back together, bringing him back to life. He's then
Speaker 1: given to Persephone for protection. She brings him to a
Speaker 1: king and queen Athamus, and I know there he's to
Speaker 1: be raised. The women slaves to be disguised as a
Speaker 1: girl himself, all in an attempt to keep him from
Speaker 1: being found by Hara, But of course she isn't easily deceived.
Speaker 1: Harra finds out about this, and she drives Athams and
Speaker 1: I know mad, causing Athamas to kill his own son,
Speaker 1: thinking he's a stag in the forest. The childhood and
Speaker 1: even young adulthood of Dionysus is full of dramatic stories.
Speaker 1: There are more, even but we only to save those
Speaker 1: for another day. Dionysius is fascinating because he's one of
Speaker 1: the few gods who actually goes through childhood. Many of
Speaker 1: the others are born into adulthood or were simply never
Speaker 1: told about what they experienced as children, leading us to
Speaker 1: believe they're fairly benign childhoods if they happened at all.
Speaker 1: But not Dionysus. Let's now take a moment to talk
Speaker 1: a bit about Greek drama. It's not only important to
Speaker 1: this story because what I'm about to tell you is
Speaker 1: a Greek tragedy, no, also because everything about Greek drama
Speaker 1: was in dedication to the very god I've just told
Speaker 1: you about. Dionysius is the god of wine, revelry, and theater.
Speaker 1: Every year the Athenians held the Great Dionysia, a festival
Speaker 1: of theater. It was held in the spring, and while
Speaker 1: ultimately a festival devoted to theater, it was also incredibly political.
Speaker 1: The Athenians prided themselves on their democracy and their theater,
Speaker 1: and all of the latter was for Dionysus. The festival
Speaker 1: always began with a procession for the god. There was
Speaker 1: libations and sacrifices, and a statue of Dionysius was installed
Speaker 1: in the theater called the Theater of Dionysius on the
Speaker 1: slopes of the Acropolis. I've been to the room that's magnificent.
Speaker 1: The tragedies were performed over three days, with three poets
Speaker 1: each contributing three plays. Each would also contribute a stater play.
Speaker 1: There were judges, and the dramatists were awarded first, second,
Speaker 1: and third place. If I could choose to go back
Speaker 1: in time, and could only pick one place and one
Speaker 1: time to go in the whole of human history, I
Speaker 1: would go back to one of these festivals. We have
Speaker 1: so little left from what they did, these events, but
Speaker 1: my god, they must have been so incredible. Just imagine
Speaker 1: what you'd be witnessing in this ancient world. The stage direction,
Speaker 1: the props on stage, some of the things they used
Speaker 1: to bring people in from above. The actors were, of
Speaker 1: course all men, but they also wore masks variations on
Speaker 1: what we now know of the masks of comedy and tragedy,
Speaker 1: you know, the happy and the sad. Those concepts are
Speaker 1: based on Greek drama. Imagine those masks, the stories being
Speaker 1: told on the stage, the choruses, the singing, because much
Speaker 1: of it was sung anyway I could go on. It
Speaker 1: must have been unbelievable. Now, with this background in Greek drama,
Speaker 1: and how the plays were performed. Let me now tell
Speaker 1: you about a particular play, the one we're here for,
Speaker 1: by my favorite Greek dramatist Euripides, and which was a
Speaker 1: favorite of none other than one of Rome's more famously
Speaker 1: horrific emperors, Nero. Nero loved this play. He who played
Speaker 1: the fiddle while Rome burned, says a lot about what's
Speaker 1: to come. I'd say. Our play opens in Thebes, in
Speaker 1: front of the palace the Cadmion, founded by Cadmus and Harmonia.
Speaker 1: The city is now run by cadmus grandson, it's new king, Pempheus.
Speaker 1: Cadmus is still living, but he's given the kingship to
Speaker 1: his grandson. Dionysus appears. He explains that he's arrived here
Speaker 1: in Thebes. He's a god disguised as a man. He's
Speaker 1: speaking to the audience, but also to no one. He
Speaker 1: stands in front of a smoldering tomb, the tomb of
Speaker 1: his own mother Semile, still smoking from her death at
Speaker 1: the hands of Zeus, though as Dionysus rightly points out,
Speaker 1: the death was brought on by Hara alone in her
Speaker 1: rage and jealousy. Dionysus explains where he's come from, what's
Speaker 1: led him here to Thebes. He's traveled the world, he tells.
Speaker 1: He's been to Persia and Arabia, to the Lydians and
Speaker 1: the Phrygians, all of Asia Minor. He's traveled spreading his
Speaker 1: Bacchic rights and traditions. In Anne Carson's version, Dionysus explains
Speaker 1: who he is. He says he's not a god or
Speaker 1: a ghost, not a spirit, an angel, principle, or element.
Speaker 1: He explains that there isn't a word for it in English,
Speaker 1: that the Greeks said damon. Dionysus has quote set Asia
Speaker 1: dancing by bringing his mysteries to the continent. But now
Speaker 1: here in Thebes, he's introducing his mysteries and rights to
Speaker 1: Greece for the first time. He's come to thrill. Quote
Speaker 1: here's what you'll need, a fonn scan athirsis and absolute submission.
Speaker 1: My mother's sisters are the reason I'm here, Dionysius explains.
Speaker 1: They deny that I'm a child of Zeus, that my
Speaker 1: mother Semily was with the King of the Gods. They
Speaker 1: say that she was seduced by only some mortal and
Speaker 1: that she lied and said it was Zeus to distract
Speaker 1: from her transgressions. My mother's sister say this about her,
Speaker 1: and they say it was all devised by my grandfather.
Speaker 1: Cat miss my aunt's gloat, telling everyone who will listen
Speaker 1: that this is the reason my mother was killed by Zeus,
Speaker 1: because she claimed to have been with him. This is
Speaker 1: why I'm here. Dionysius explains why I have driven these
Speaker 1: women from their homes and into the mountainous forests around Thebes.
Speaker 1: I've driven them mad. They danced through the forests in
Speaker 1: a frenzy. All these women of Thebes, this city must
Speaker 1: learn that they have no idea what it means to
Speaker 1: be initiated into the back. I rights that they have
Speaker 1: no idea what my bacchanals entail. I'm here to defend
Speaker 1: my mother, to speak on her behalf as her godson
Speaker 1: of Zeus, or as Anne Carson translates, He's here to
Speaker 1: have the people of the quote call me the son
Speaker 1: of Zeus and call me a damon. This is how
Speaker 1: the character of Dionysus opens euripides back eye. He's a
Speaker 1: god on the stage from the start. I think it's
Speaker 1: also important to note the difference in Dionysius Versus the
Speaker 1: other children Zeus has with mortals. His other children, if
Speaker 1: they're godly at all, are demigods, heroes with minimal powers.
Speaker 1: If any, Dionysus is a full blown god, one who
Speaker 1: eventually takes his place amongst the Olympians. He's one of
Speaker 1: the most widely worshiped gods, one of the most important Olympians.
Speaker 1: Yet he's the son of a mortal. It's a fascinating differentiation. Also,
Speaker 1: as Emily Wilson notes in the introduction to her translation,
Speaker 1: and we know how I feel about her, Dionysius is
Speaker 1: reach in terms of worship and daily life in ancient
Speaker 1: Greece was far greater than the other Olympians. His cult
Speaker 1: of worship connected with women and the poor more than
Speaker 1: any other. Because the wine, partying, the frenzy, dancing with
Speaker 1: some thing everyone could experience. It was, as Emily Wilson explains, quote,
Speaker 1: the most widely available route the Greeks had towards out
Speaker 1: of self experience. Of course, for the same reason and
Speaker 1: his connection to the other to the East, the so
Speaker 1: called barbarians, he was also dangerous to the patriarchy, to
Speaker 1: the status quo, and to ancient Greek society. Dionysus continues
Speaker 1: his speaking to the audience, but again also to no one.
Speaker 1: Now the city of Thebes has Pentheus as its king.
Speaker 1: Cadmus has given it up to his grandson, a man
Speaker 1: who was against me, as a god, who doesn't include
Speaker 1: me and his prayers or libations or sacrifices. This is
Speaker 1: why I'm here to prove to the city of Thebes
Speaker 1: and it's king, that I am a god. And he continues,
Speaker 1: If the Thebans try to remove their now backai women
Speaker 1: from the forests, I will go to battle with them,
Speaker 1: with my main ads by my side. Dionysus leaves, returning
Speaker 1: to his followers, those who came to Thebes with him,
Speaker 1: and those he's collected from Thebes itself. In his wake,
Speaker 1: his chorus of backins more followers, saying about the God,
Speaker 1: his history, how he brought them to where they are.
Speaker 1: When the chorus has finished, Tyreseius, the blind prophet we
Speaker 1: know from so many other stories mostly taking place in Thebes,
Speaker 1: enters the stage. He's dressed as one of Dionysius back
Speaker 1: in his main ads, with a fawn skin over his
Speaker 1: shoulders and a thesis. The ceremonial red wand he asks
Speaker 1: for Cadmus to be called to him to be told
Speaker 1: Tyreseius is looking for him. Cadmus arrives. He's dressed the
Speaker 1: same way. He explains, they've agreed to do this together,
Speaker 1: to promote these Dionysian rites to where the costume of
Speaker 1: the gods together. He is my grandson, after all. Cadmus
Speaker 1: ads how amazing it is to feel young. Cadmus explains,
Speaker 1: the costumes they've done for Dionysus have brought them youth again.
Speaker 1: Tyreseus confirms he feels the same way. These old men
Speaker 1: are young. The two men prepare to leave Thebes to
Speaker 1: find their way to Dionysus and his maynads in the
Speaker 1: forested mountains outside of Thebes. They're the only ones from
Speaker 1: the city planning to join the gods. They both note,
Speaker 1: the only ones with any sense the god will lead
Speaker 1: us to where they are, Tyreseus says, and Cadmus tells
Speaker 1: him he will act as the eyes since Diresus can't see.
Speaker 1: But before they can leave, Pentheus arrives. Cadmus sees him coming.
Speaker 1: He's rushing. He seems excited. At first, he doesn't see them.
Speaker 1: He's distracted. He has a rant to give about the
Speaker 1: women of thebes, how they've run off to worship this
Speaker 1: false god, the strange man who's arrived from the east,
Speaker 1: saying he's some god, some damon called Dionysus. All these
Speaker 1: women are doing is drinking wine and slinking off with men.
Speaker 1: It's a disgrace all for this fake god and his
Speaker 1: fake ritual. It's impossible. Pentheus says, there is no god. Semily,
Speaker 1: my aunt was killed by Zeus for her lies, and
Speaker 1: her child was killed with her. Pantheus explains that he's
Speaker 1: already locked up some of the women who abandoned their
Speaker 1: homes to worship this god in the woods. They're being
Speaker 1: watched in the city's prisons. Others, though, he's still trying
Speaker 1: to capture, like his own mother a Gavy and his
Speaker 1: aunt's I know, in Autunoi there in the woods somewhere,
Speaker 1: worshiping this nonsense god from the east, this foreigner. Finally
Speaker 1: he sees Cadmus and Tyreseus. He's surprised, but he finds
Speaker 1: it comical, these old men dressed up as worshippers of
Speaker 1: this strange new god. What are you doing? He asks,
Speaker 1: You're trying to placate this nonsense. You're trying to feel
Speaker 1: young again. Must be you, Tyreseus, who has convinced my
Speaker 1: grandfather to do this. Let me translate this a bit.
Speaker 1: The biggest concerned Pantheus has with the importation of these
Speaker 1: back rights into Thebes is that the women have been
Speaker 1: drinking a lot, and that in that intoxication, they've found
Speaker 1: a new kind of freedom. They're not being confined to
Speaker 1: their homes, something that was incredibly freeing for ancient Greek
Speaker 1: women because that's where they were all the time. They're
Speaker 1: out in the woods with their friends and lots and
Speaker 1: lots of wine. They're being free with their sexuality. It's
Speaker 1: a bachnal and it's threatening to the men in charge
Speaker 1: to have their women finding this type of freedom, any
Speaker 1: type of freedom to just do whatever the hell they
Speaker 1: want outside of the home where they're not being controlled.
Speaker 1: Pentheus is willing to risk this being a real and
Speaker 1: true God that he's not worshiping appropriately just to defend
Speaker 1: his own power and masculinity. He must be a false God,
Speaker 1: because a real God wouldn't give women any this kind
Speaker 1: of freedom of their sexuality. Tyreseus is measured in his response,
Speaker 1: he's trying to help Pentheus. You have no idea how
Speaker 1: big and important this god will become in Greece. Tyreseus
Speaker 1: tells the king, just as Demeter feeds us with dry food,
Speaker 1: keeps us aloe five, this god, Dionysus feeds us in drink.
Speaker 1: So the god who invented our wine that frees us
Speaker 1: from sadness and brings us sleep at night, there's no
Speaker 1: other cure for what we humans face. Just wine, wine
Speaker 1: brought to us by this god, Dionysus. Wine is super
Speaker 1: important to you, guys. And that's why I'm enjoying a
Speaker 1: nice glass of red as I record this episode, because
Speaker 1: how could I possibly tell this story without it. Taresus
Speaker 1: expands upon the power and importance of Dionysus. Beyond the
Speaker 1: vitality of wine, There's a bit more. These back rights
Speaker 1: also bring prophetic abilities, he tells Pentheus. When the god
Speaker 1: comes upon a person, they're able to see the future
Speaker 1: things they couldn't see without him. Taresius has more to
Speaker 1: tell about just how wide reaching the power of Dionysus
Speaker 1: will become throughout Greece. Teresius is, after all, a off
Speaker 1: it himself and a famous one. He explains the Dionysius
Speaker 1: will be worshiped throughout, including a Delphi itself. He's trying
Speaker 1: to help Pentheus to convince him to worship this god
Speaker 1: as he should, not to continue to deny his existence
Speaker 1: in the character of the god's mother. It's a dangerous
Speaker 1: game that Pentheus is playing. You should worship him as
Speaker 1: the god he is. Tyresus continues, But either way, Cadmus
Speaker 1: and I will be doing just that. We've dressed in
Speaker 1: the costume of the bacchants. Will properly worship this god
Speaker 1: and give him the reverence and respect he deserves. Cad misagrees,
Speaker 1: reminding Pentheus of what happened to his cousin acting on
Speaker 1: when he didn't properly revere a god, Artemus. He was
Speaker 1: torn apart by his own dogs. But Pentheus isn't listening.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to hear what these men are telling him.
Speaker 1: He calls upon the Thebans to find this man who's
Speaker 1: wandering around spreading the news of this mysterious god, who
Speaker 1: Pentheus says looks like a girl. Tyrasus and cad misrealized
Speaker 1: there isn't anything more they can do to convince Pentheus
Speaker 1: of something he doesn't want to be convinced of, so
Speaker 1: they leave, noting that they will do their best to
Speaker 1: convince the god not to punish all the Thebans for
Speaker 1: Pentheus's actions. Meanwhile, the chorus sings of these decisions by
Speaker 1: the three men, and once again of the story of Dionysus.
Speaker 1: They call upon gods and sing of Dionysus and the
Speaker 1: bacchic rights that he's just brought to Greece. Pentheus's guards
Speaker 1: have found Dionysius. They bring in the God, who's not
Speaker 1: bothered at all, explaining it wasn't hard to find him,
Speaker 1: nor to tie him up. He just held out his
Speaker 1: hands and said, let's find it. Take me. They've brought
Speaker 1: Dionysus to Pentheus, but they also have to tell him
Speaker 1: that all the other women he'd captured, well, they've gotten away.
Speaker 1: Their shackles simply fell off, and the prison doors just
Speaker 1: opened all on their own, the guards tell pentheus Us.
Speaker 1: After a little frustration about what he's lost, Pentheus examines
Speaker 1: this man, this seeming mortal, who's brought these back rights
Speaker 1: to thebes from a far off land. Well, he says,
Speaker 1: you're not bad looking to a woman, that is, he
Speaker 1: makes sure to add something will find more and more
Speaker 1: obvious here is that Pentheus is a bit repressed, either
Speaker 1: in his sexuality or gender or both. Where do you
Speaker 1: come from? He asks, Dionysus, How did you learn these rights?
Speaker 1: Dionysus tells him that he comes from the east, from Lydia,
Speaker 1: the city of Sardis, and that it was Dionysus himself
Speaker 1: who taught him these rights, the son of Zeus. Remember,
Speaker 1: he's disguised himself as a mortal. Here is there a
Speaker 1: Zeus from where you come from that makes new gods?
Speaker 1: Pentheus asks no. Dionysus response, it's the same Zeus as here,
Speaker 1: the one who lay with Semile, he makes sure to add.
Speaker 1: Pentheus continues to interrogate him about how he knows these rights,
Speaker 1: what the rights are all about, how he supposedly learn
Speaker 1: earned them from Dionysus himself. He doesn't want to believe
Speaker 1: any of it, of course, but Dionysus, disguised as this mortal,
Speaker 1: holds true to his story. Is Thebes the first place
Speaker 1: you've brought these rights? Pentheus asks next, all of the
Speaker 1: barbarians know them now, Dionysus says an answer. By this,
Speaker 1: he means that he's taught his rights to all of
Speaker 1: the East, everywhere in that region that isn't Greek. As
Speaker 1: I've mentioned yell before, barbarian doesn't mean what we use
Speaker 1: it to mean now. It simply means people that aren't Greek,
Speaker 1: typically to the east, because that's the region the Greeks
Speaker 1: knew of where non Greeks lived, So Dionysus means that
Speaker 1: he's taught everyone else before finally bringing his rights to
Speaker 1: the Greeks. None of this serves to convince Pentheus of anything, though,
Speaker 1: He continues his interrogation and threatens Dionysus with whatever he
Speaker 1: can think of, before finally locking him away for infecting
Speaker 1: the women of Thebes with this so called madness that
Speaker 1: is really just a bit of agency. As Dionysus is
Speaker 1: locked away in the palace's prison, his chorus of Backin
Speaker 1: sings once more about their God. Hearing them, he calls
Speaker 1: out for their help. The earth shakes on his request,
Speaker 1: shaking the palace and threatening to bring everything down, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't. Instead, Semele's tomb flares up the chorus of
Speaker 1: backins Panics, but before long Dionysus himself, though still disguised
Speaker 1: as this mortal, walks calmly from the palace. He tells
Speaker 1: the chorus how he freed himself with the help of
Speaker 1: the god Dionysus, who tricked Pentheus into believing he was
Speaker 1: tying up this man, when really he was tying up
Speaker 1: a bull. The fire at Semily's tomb, Dionysus explains, was
Speaker 1: also the work of the god, and it distracted Pentheus,
Speaker 1: and he fled from where he brought Dionysus to be
Speaker 1: tied up and locked away. So many lies did the
Speaker 1: god put into Pentheus's head that he exhausted himself wielding
Speaker 1: his sword in defense of his palace and himself, and
Speaker 1: instead tore his own palace to the ground in his confusion. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: I Dionysus, as this mortal continues, walked calmly and freely
Speaker 1: from the palace, and here I am as Dionysus is
Speaker 1: explaining this to his followers. Pentheus once more exits the palace.
Speaker 1: He's looking for his prisoner, before realizing there he is
Speaker 1: free and not even trying to get away. They argue
Speaker 1: how this is even possible. Pentheas still refusing to believe
Speaker 1: there's a god involved. Dionysius really doesn't care what Pantheas says.
Speaker 1: At this point, He's sick of this man and his
Speaker 1: inability to believe in what is right in front of him.
Speaker 1: Before Dionysus is too fat up though, a messenger arrives
Speaker 1: with news of the women of Thebes. The bacchants up
Speaker 1: in the mountains, I've seen the women in the woods,
Speaker 1: he explains. There are three groups of them, led by
Speaker 1: her mother Agavi and her sisters. I know in a
Speaker 1: ton of we they were peaceful when I first saw
Speaker 1: the um, he explains, not drunken like you've said, and
Speaker 1: not flaunting or throwing about their sexuality like you've warned
Speaker 1: us about, Pentheus. They were just lying on the grass,
Speaker 1: quite calmly, serenely even. But the messenger continues, when your
Speaker 1: mother Agavey heard the sounds of cattle nearby, she stood
Speaker 1: up and awoke the rest of the women to do
Speaker 1: the same. This is where things get good. The women
Speaker 1: that leapt up at a Gove's call were old and young,
Speaker 1: married and not They let their hair loose down their shoulders,
Speaker 1: flowing freely. They tightened up their fawn skins around themselves.
Speaker 1: Some more snakes wrapped around their bodies, licking at their cheeks.
Speaker 1: Some held animals of all sorts, even wolf pups, in
Speaker 1: their arms. The new mothers in the group nurse to
Speaker 1: these animals with their own milk. Some use their thirsty
Speaker 1: to stab into the earth or into rocks, creating streams
Speaker 1: of water and even wine that erupted so that they
Speaker 1: could drink from them. Others dug into the ground and
Speaker 1: drank the milk that poured out as they did. Honey
Speaker 1: dripped from other thirsty. They had everything. The messenger finishes
Speaker 1: this part of the story by telling Pentheus that if
Speaker 1: he'd seen it for himself, with this messenger just witnessed,
Speaker 1: he'd be treating this god with all the respect he
Speaker 1: could muster, rather than trying to imprison his follower. He
Speaker 1: explains that they'd been trying to hunt for these women
Speaker 1: on Pentheus's orders. When Agavy had come upon him and
Speaker 1: attempted to have the other women worked together to tear
Speaker 1: him to pieces. He was able to escape, if only
Speaker 1: just when we'd escaped the messenger continues, we watched as
Speaker 1: the women and the girls turned their attention to the
Speaker 1: cows and the bowls of our herd, one by one,
Speaker 1: tearing them all to bloody shreds before our eyes. Then
Speaker 1: the women turned on the nearby village, taking on the
Speaker 1: armed men of the village. Without any weapons of their own,
Speaker 1: they took the children away with them and escaped every
Speaker 1: defense the villagers had. Even fire didn't burn the women.
Speaker 1: Women quote, did these things two men? The messenger finishes
Speaker 1: telling his story to Pentheus by once more emphasizing that
Speaker 1: they must worship this god for what he is. His
Speaker 1: power has been proven. Plus, he says, what would we
Speaker 1: have without wine? Without wine, we wouldn't have Aphrodite in
Speaker 1: the sex she brings us. Without wine or sex? What
Speaker 1: is the point the god Dionysus has returned to Thebes.
Speaker 1: Of course, he's not telling anyone that he's the god.
Speaker 1: For all they know, this man is a priest, a
Speaker 1: devotee of Dionysus, the one who's bringing the god to Thebes,
Speaker 1: here to convince the people of Dionysus's importance, how vital
Speaker 1: it is that they worship him. Dionysus has already convinced
Speaker 1: the women to do exactly that. Whether he's convinced them
Speaker 1: or they're under a little bit of a spell, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit unclear. The spell will come in later.
Speaker 1: He has a whole slew of followers, though, maynads or bacchants,
Speaker 1: whichever you prefer to call them. These women out in
Speaker 1: the forested mountains, having a good old bachnal, drinking wine,
Speaker 1: hanging out, really enjoying themselves. Sometimes they rip cows to shreds.
Speaker 1: You know how it goes. Pentheus, though current king of Thebes,
Speaker 1: is not convinced. He's stubborn and doesn't want to be
Speaker 1: told that the women can be right about anything. No,
Speaker 1: he doesn't believe that Dionysus is a rightful god. He
Speaker 1: wants to remove all the main ads from the mountains,
Speaker 1: imprison them in Thebes, and stop this worship in its tracks,
Speaker 1: even when a messenger arrives to tell him what the
Speaker 1: women have been up to to explicitly convince him that
Speaker 1: he must worship this god. Not even when his own
Speaker 1: grandfather Cadmus and Tyreseus the Blind Prophet come to convince him. No,
Speaker 1: Pentheus isn't going to be convinced of dionysus Is legitimacy.
Speaker 1: This is episode sixty two, Ripping your family to shreds
Speaker 1: Euripides is back Eye, Part two. The messenger has come
Speaker 1: to Pentheus tells him all he knows about this new god,
Speaker 1: Dionysus and the women that have left the city to
Speaker 1: follow him, in addition to those that arrived with him,
Speaker 1: and Pentheus remains in disbelief. Like I said, he just
Speaker 1: can't be convinced. When the messenger finishes his story, finishes
Speaker 1: trying to convince Pentheus that Dionysus is incredibly powerful, he
Speaker 1: isn't a god to be ignored. Pentheus then notes only
Speaker 1: that the women's actions are the real problem, that they
Speaker 1: must all be captured and imprisoned, that he won't be
Speaker 1: treated this way by women. Meanwhile, Dionysus, though in disguise,
Speaker 1: is still there, and he too has tried convincing Pentheus,
Speaker 1: though he's sick of it now. He simply warns him
Speaker 1: against removing the women from the mountains where they're now
Speaker 1: wholly to the god Dionysus. It will only serve to
Speaker 1: anger the god even more. Pentheus is getting more and
Speaker 1: more angry, though he's blinded by it. At this point,
Speaker 1: he notes allowed that instead of sacrificing to the god,
Speaker 1: he'll sacrifice the women themselves, that they deserve it. This
Speaker 1: is quite significant because human sacrifice was not a thing
Speaker 1: in ancient Greece. Euripides is making the point that Pentheus
Speaker 1: is losing his humanity. He's gone too far as he
Speaker 1: tries to deal with Dionysus and his main ads. He's
Speaker 1: becoming a tyrant, if not worse. But he isn't beyond
Speaker 1: saving yet. Dionysus offers him the chance to make things right,
Speaker 1: to redeem himself for how he's chosen to handle this
Speaker 1: thing he sees as a threat. He tells Pentheus that
Speaker 1: he won't be able to defeat these women, that their
Speaker 1: wands will defeat the bronze of the soldiers weapons. Pentheus
Speaker 1: thinks that's laughable, so Dionysus offers to bring the women
Speaker 1: to Pentheus so that he may back his threats directly,
Speaker 1: but Pentheus only sees this as Dionysus mocking him, so instead,
Speaker 1: Dionysius offers to take Pentheus to see the women. This
Speaker 1: Pentheus is into Dionysus offers to bring Pentheus to the women,
Speaker 1: and Pentheus absolutely wants to go. He tells Dionysus that
Speaker 1: he'd give an awful lot to see these women in
Speaker 1: their new place in the mountains. Penthesis motivations here are interesting.
Speaker 1: Is he afraid of the women, intimidated, jealous, interested, He's
Speaker 1: so many things here. He wants to lock them up,
Speaker 1: but it's not entirely clear why, except that they found
Speaker 1: this new kind of freedom that doesn't involve men. Of course,
Speaker 1: this would be threatening in itself, but Pentheus is also
Speaker 1: very obviously fascinated by these women, and that's what seems
Speaker 1: to be taking over here. Dionysus can't help but ask
Speaker 1: why Pentheus is suddenly so into seeing these women in action,
Speaker 1: when just moments ago all he could think about was
Speaker 1: imprisoning them. I want to see them drunk, he replies.
Speaker 1: It would be so shocking, so awful, women drunk the horror. Okay,
Speaker 1: out of those last two bits, Dionysis rightly confirms that
Speaker 1: Pentheus would like to see something he's just said would
Speaker 1: very much offend him. Yes, that's right, is the reply.
Speaker 1: Provided I can hide in the trees and avoid their notice.
Speaker 1: You won't be able to hide. They'll find you. Dionysus counters, M,
Speaker 1: you're probably right. Why don't I lead you there? Dionysius proposes,
Speaker 1: do you want to try? Yes, Pentheus replies, getting more excited.
Speaker 1: Please take me there. I can't wait. This is when
Speaker 1: one starts to question Pentheus and his intentions. Here, Dionysus says,
Speaker 1: handing Pentheus a piece of clothing. Put on this dress.
Speaker 1: Dionysus explains that the women will kill Pentheus if they
Speaker 1: discover a man has infiltrated them, so we must disguise
Speaker 1: himself as one of the women. This continues, the costume
Speaker 1: getting more and more elaborate. Dionysus provides Pentheus with a dress,
Speaker 1: a wig, and all the trappings of the other main ads.
Speaker 1: While excited at first, Pentheus becomes a bit wary as
Speaker 1: the details keep getting added. I can't dress as a woman,
Speaker 1: he says. Finally, but Dionysus is adamant. The women will
Speaker 1: kill you if you fight them, he says. Dionysus explains
Speaker 1: that he'll bring Pentheus to the women via secret pathways,
Speaker 1: So the Pentheus isn't seen, and eventually Pentheus leaves the stage,
Speaker 1: entering the palace, where he explains that maybe he'll go
Speaker 1: inside and arm himself so he can go up against
Speaker 1: the main Ads alone, or maybe he'll go inside and
Speaker 1: do as Dionysius suggests instead, dressing up as one of them.
Speaker 1: When Pentheus is gone, Dionysus lets loose his plan. He's
Speaker 1: speaking to the chorus the back into those women he's
Speaker 1: had with him all along, these foreign women who traveled
Speaker 1: to Thebes with Dionysus for the express purpose of spreading
Speaker 1: his godliness. But of course he's still in disguise as
Speaker 1: not the god. So he speaks to Dionysus himself this disguise,
Speaker 1: Dionysus calling on the God. Now it's time for him
Speaker 1: to do the work. Drive Pentheus mad, Dionysus asks of
Speaker 1: his god self. If he's sane, he'll never go along
Speaker 1: with it, Never disguise himself as a woman to sneak
Speaker 1: up upon the manads in the mountains. No drive him mad.
Speaker 1: I want him to be laughed at by all the thebans.
Speaker 1: He deserves it, after all the threats he's made to
Speaker 1: the main ads to the god Dionysus himself. I'll get
Speaker 1: him in the dress, and in it he'll go to
Speaker 1: his death at his own mother's hand. Then he'll see
Speaker 1: the true god, Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semile. After
Speaker 1: a while, after the chorus has sung their ode, Dionysus
Speaker 1: calls into the palace, calling out, Pentheus, let me see you,
Speaker 1: He calls out, let me see you, dressed as a
Speaker 1: frenzied maynad, just the same as your mother and aunt.
Speaker 1: So Pentheus exits the palace. He's dressed up as the
Speaker 1: women in the mountains, with all the trappings of the
Speaker 1: main ads he's so recently tried to lock away. He
Speaker 1: looks just like his own mother and his aunt, who
Speaker 1: have been off in the forest getting drunk on wine.
Speaker 1: The issue here seems unclear. I don't think that it's
Speaker 1: necessarily that he'd be laughed at for dressing this way.
Speaker 1: Perhaps it is, I mean, this is a dark paid triarchy.
Speaker 1: But it's also that the women would have control over
Speaker 1: Pentheus dressed up as one of them. When Pentheus is outside,
Speaker 1: he's seeing double. Not only that. He asks Dionysus if
Speaker 1: he's grown horns you look like a bowl now, he says,
Speaker 1: or did you always? The god Dionysus is working his
Speaker 1: magic on Pentheus just as planned. The God is near. Dionysus,
Speaker 1: in disguise, tells Pentheus, he's on our side now. Dionysus
Speaker 1: helps Pentheus adjust his outfit. A lock of hair out
Speaker 1: of place here, a bit of dress adjustment there. You'll
Speaker 1: see me as a friend when you see that the
Speaker 1: main Ads are perfectly sane, Dionysus tells Pentheus, if perhaps
Speaker 1: a bit ominously. Pentheus's attitude changes more and more as
Speaker 1: he and Dionysus discussed the plan. He becomes more enamored
Speaker 1: with the idea of the main Ads and of dressing
Speaker 1: up like one of them. What they're doing up in
Speaker 1: the mountains, the free him and power they have, it's infectious.
Speaker 1: He begins to get a bit envious, but all the same,
Speaker 1: he still plans to hide and spy on the main Ads,
Speaker 1: at least at first. He's still a little afraid of them.
Speaker 1: Not helped by Dionysius pointing out how important it is
Speaker 1: that Pentheus not show the women who he really is
Speaker 1: under the disguise, his ego begins to grow, believing he
Speaker 1: can see these women what they're doing in seclusion where
Speaker 1: they believe no one's watching. He thinks it will make
Speaker 1: him more impressive, more powerful, more manly. Even he starts
Speaker 1: to plan the triumphant return to Thebes after he's seen them.
Speaker 1: How he'll parade himself through this city, having experienced the
Speaker 1: backick rights of the now famous maynads of Dionysus, and
Speaker 1: come back to tell the tale this part, Dionysus doesn't love.
Speaker 1: He's tolerating Pentheus because he has a plan, but he's
Speaker 1: getting annoyed, to say the least. But Pentheus is off
Speaker 1: in his own little world than his own mind. Now,
Speaker 1: even Dionysus tries to imply, if not outright, tell Pentheus
Speaker 1: what he has in store for him. I'll bring you
Speaker 1: out to see them, he says. But someone else will
Speaker 1: bring you back my mother, Pentheus replies, The main ads
Speaker 1: will make entertainment of you. Dionysius tells him he will
Speaker 1: be carried away in your mother's arms. To all this,
Speaker 1: Pentheus keeps interrupting. He doesn't understand what Dionysus is saying,
Speaker 1: or he thinks he does, but he's very much misunderstanding.
Speaker 1: You're spoiling me, is his final reply to Dionysus's comment
Speaker 1: about being carried away in his mother's arms. Dionysius says,
Speaker 1: in response, quote A kind of spoiling, well, I deserve it,
Speaker 1: is Pentheus's reply. If he only fully understood what he
Speaker 1: was saying, he does deserve it, what's coming to him,
Speaker 1: what Dionysus has in store. Pentheus exits the stage. Then,
Speaker 1: but the chorus sings about what's happening, though we in
Speaker 1: the audience don't see it. Run go to the mountains,
Speaker 1: they sing. We're the daughters of Cadmus, danced together for
Speaker 1: their rituals. Drive them to madness against this man dressed
Speaker 1: as a woman, who spies on the women as they dance,
Speaker 1: hidden away in the trees. His mother will get him first,
Speaker 1: will spot him where he spies. She'll bring the others.
Speaker 1: Who is this man watching us? Following us? She won't
Speaker 1: know who he is, will even question who the man's
Speaker 1: mother could be, not a human mother, She will accuse.
Speaker 1: The chorus sings of death, how it doesn't wait for excuses.
Speaker 1: Honor the gods, they sing, Let justice kill the man
Speaker 1: with no God, no law, no righteousness. The chorus sings
Speaker 1: to Bacchus, to Dionysus, asking him to come to them
Speaker 1: to ensnare this quote, maynad hunter give him over to
Speaker 1: the women who worship you, to your main ads, to
Speaker 1: their back hick rights. Finally, a messenger arrives. He tells
Speaker 1: the chorus that Pentheus is dead. The messenger is distraught,
Speaker 1: mourning his king. The chorus, meanwhile, are thrilled, much to
Speaker 1: this messenger's dismay. They couldn't be happier, and they tell
Speaker 1: him that quote. The wicked man is dead. He died
Speaker 1: on his wicked quest. Tell us how did he die,
Speaker 1: they asked the messenger. So the messenger tells the story
Speaker 1: where they went and what they did when Pentheus exited
Speaker 1: the stage. Last, we went deep into the mountains, he says,
Speaker 1: following the path. Finally we came upon them, the women,
Speaker 1: the main ads in the forest. They were making their wands,
Speaker 1: singing their back hick songs, a whole group of women.
Speaker 1: But Pentheus couldn't see them. He told us he needed
Speaker 1: to get up higher into the trees to get a
Speaker 1: better look the stranger, he says, referring to Dionysus in disguise.
Speaker 1: He did something magical. Then he reached up and pulled
Speaker 1: the highest branch of a pine tree down. He settled
Speaker 1: Pentheus on the branch and let go. The branch sprung back,
Speaker 1: bringing Pentheus high into the sky. Perched atop the highest
Speaker 1: tip of this tree. But from the highest point of
Speaker 1: the tree, Pentheus could easily be seen by the main ads. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: the stranger had disappeared, and the voice of Dionysus calls out, ladies.
Speaker 1: He called, here is the man who laughed at us,
Speaker 1: who mocked our sacred rituals. For a moment, the women
Speaker 1: don't know where to look, but finally a gavy Pentheus's
Speaker 1: mother sees him first, and then the rest see him
Speaker 1: in this tree. They throw rocks at him, but they
Speaker 1: keep missing. Finally, again, led by a gavvy, the women
Speaker 1: get together at the trunk of the tree and they
Speaker 1: bring the tree down. Ah the power of women and
Speaker 1: a nice glass of wine unstoppable. So Pentheus is on
Speaker 1: the ground with his mother above him. Frantic she's not herself,
Speaker 1: he tries to show her who he is. He takes
Speaker 1: off his disguise, calling out to his mother, it's me.
Speaker 1: Pentheus calls, it's your son. Please don't kill me. He
Speaker 1: calls to her, but she can't see it. She can't
Speaker 1: really see anything. Dionysius has a Gavy's mind completely. She
Speaker 1: doesn't know who is there or what she's doing to him.
Speaker 1: She's described as foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolling
Speaker 1: around in their sockets. She is not herself. Agavy rips
Speaker 1: out her son's shoulder, tears his arms straight out of
Speaker 1: the socket. Pentheus's aunt, I know is that his other arm,
Speaker 1: tearing away the flesh. Autonomy, his other aunt and the
Speaker 1: other maynads grasp at him, taking handfuls and pulling flesh
Speaker 1: tears off in chunks. Their nails are covered in blood. Slowly,
Speaker 1: Pentheus is ripped to shreds by his mother a Gavy,
Speaker 1: his aunt's I know, and Autonomy, and the rest of
Speaker 1: the women of Thebes, driven mad by Dionysus in his
Speaker 1: rage against Pentheus. Pentheus's body is strewn about the grass
Speaker 1: of the forest, pieces torn away, barely anything bigger than
Speaker 1: Pentheus's head, which is mother. Agave stumbles upon after the frenzy.
Speaker 1: She takes it and fixes it to the top of
Speaker 1: her thyrsis, her wand her symbol as a back end
Speaker 1: of Dionysus. Agave runs through the mountain, leaving behind her
Speaker 1: sisters with the other main ads, before she arrives in
Speaker 1: thebes still with the head of her son. On the
Speaker 1: end of her thyrsis, she calls to Dionysus in her victory.
Speaker 1: They've won. She says, quote, you shared the hunt with me,
Speaker 1: you share the prize. The chorus sings of Dionysus's success
Speaker 1: of the death of Pentheus before a Gavy herself is
Speaker 1: on stage and speaking with the chorus. She has her prize,
Speaker 1: and she's excited to show these other main ads, these
Speaker 1: women who have followed Dionysus to thebes Loo. She says,
Speaker 1: I caught this lion cub all on my own. She
Speaker 1: holds out Pantheus's head. Where did you get it? They
Speaker 1: asked the mountain. She says, okay, they're on who killed it?
Speaker 1: They asked, I did? She says, I won the prize,
Speaker 1: but all the daughters of Cadmus helped in the hunt.
Speaker 1: The chorus continues to press Agave to test what she
Speaker 1: knows about what she's done, but she thinks it's an
Speaker 1: animal she's caught. She points to its young, soft hair.
Speaker 1: She praises Dionysus, master hunter, and the rest of the
Speaker 1: main ads and how he told them what to do.
Speaker 1: She asks for praise of the chorus, and they give
Speaker 1: it to her, but they ask about her child. Pentheus says, yes,
Speaker 1: he'll praise her for this hunt too. A Gavy returned
Speaker 1: from her hunt holding the head of her dead son
Speaker 1: on the end of her thirstis is so excited, so
Speaker 1: excited to show off her prize to the chorus and
Speaker 1: to the people of Thebes, and so she does, still
Speaker 1: thinking she's killed this animal. So proud of herself for
Speaker 1: killing this animal, she calls to the people of Thebes,
Speaker 1: telling them how she did it. How she and the
Speaker 1: other daughters of cad Miss killed the beast without the
Speaker 1: weapons men use, without javelins or nets. No, she says,
Speaker 1: we did it with just our nails are sharp pointed nails.
Speaker 1: The deed is ours. I caught this beast with my
Speaker 1: own hands. We tore its limbs apart with our own hands,
Speaker 1: she tells the people of Thebes proudly. Where is my father?
Speaker 1: She asks slaves, She says, go get Cadmus and Pentheus,
Speaker 1: my son, where is he? He must nail this lion's
Speaker 1: head up there on the palace, on the freeze, this
Speaker 1: prize on display for everyone to see. Finally, Cadmus arrives
Speaker 1: on stage. Slaves are with him carrying a corpse on
Speaker 1: a stretcher, though it's covered with the sheet. It's the
Speaker 1: body of poor Pentheus. Cadmus explains to the audience. I
Speaker 1: had to search for the pieces, looking long and hard.
Speaker 1: There were so many scattered so far apart. He's heard
Speaker 1: about what his daughters did, he says, before he had
Speaker 1: left the main ads and returned to thieves with Tyreseus,
Speaker 1: before any of this had taken place, But he heard
Speaker 1: about it, so he went back up into the mountains
Speaker 1: to bring down the body of his grandson of Pentheus.
Speaker 1: There he saw Tonyi and I know, still in a frenzy,
Speaker 1: and he heard about a Gavi too, how she'd gone
Speaker 1: mad and returned to thebes. Then he sees her he
Speaker 1: hadn't before. Cad misses his daughter a Gavy. He knows
Speaker 1: what she's just done, though it isn't clear if he's
Speaker 1: seen the head on. Her thirstis quite yet a Gavy, though,
Speaker 1: is still very much under dionysius spell, and she's proud
Speaker 1: of what she's just accomplished, thinking she's taken down a
Speaker 1: lion with her bare hands. You must be so proud
Speaker 1: of your daughter's father, she tells Cadmus when he sees her.
Speaker 1: I've left behind the loom. I've done greater things. I've
Speaker 1: hunted with my own hands. She's so proud for doing
Speaker 1: something that women didn't do, something meant for men. It's tragic, really,
Speaker 1: it would be such a feat for her if it
Speaker 1: was an animal she hunted, but it wasn't. Now she
Speaker 1: shows her father the head on the thirstis proudly. It's
Speaker 1: her trophy for the hunt. Wouldn't you like to hold it?
Speaker 1: She asks, being unknowingly morbid. I'll hang it up in
Speaker 1: your house. Cadmus doesn't quite know how to handle this.
Speaker 1: He sees what she's really holding. He tells his daughter
Speaker 1: he must weep for her and for himself, that Zeus
Speaker 1: has destroyed them all. Agavy responds, saying quote old men
Speaker 1: are always grumpy, and that she hopes her son will
Speaker 1: grow up good at hunting, taking after his huntress mother.
Speaker 1: She tells Cadmus that it's his job to give her
Speaker 1: some good advice, and wouldn't someone go get her son anyway?
Speaker 1: Just beyond tragic At this point, as Euripides tends to do,
Speaker 1: he's drawing out the tragedy, the pain, and the suffering.
Speaker 1: A Govy goes on and on about her son, about
Speaker 1: her accomplishments in hunting, all the while the audience is
Speaker 1: watching her, knowing what she's done, what she's holding in
Speaker 1: her hands. They have to just wonder when she'll realize. Cadmus,
Speaker 1: to his credit, realizes that she has no idea what
Speaker 1: she's done. You'll feel grief beyond all other grief when
Speaker 1: you realize. He tells her. Look up at the sky.
Speaker 1: He instructs, stare at it for a moment. She does this,
Speaker 1: and when she looks back down, her expression is altered.
Speaker 1: Now he asks, do you still feel it? A Govy's
Speaker 1: mind is readjusting slowly. She doesn't realize anything at first,
Speaker 1: but then she acknowledges she does feel things changing a little.
Speaker 1: So Cadmus quizzes her on her life, who she married,
Speaker 1: what she named her son. Finally, he whose head do
Speaker 1: you hold in your hands? A lion's head, She replies,
Speaker 1: look at it again, he asks carefully. Cad Mus honestly
Speaker 1: is handling this brilliantly. He's my favorite for a reason.
Speaker 1: His daughter has just committed one of the most atrocious
Speaker 1: acts imaginable, But he cares more about getting her back
Speaker 1: to herself so she can understand than punishing her. He
Speaker 1: knows she'll punish herself enough when she knows the truth,
Speaker 1: and now she does. She looks at the head in
Speaker 1: her hands closer carefully. Then she says that quote, I
Speaker 1: see horror, agony, I see my ruin. Finally she knows
Speaker 1: she's holding her own son's head, but she doesn't know
Speaker 1: how or why who killed him. She asks, how did
Speaker 1: his head get in my hands? Cad muss blunt, though
Speaker 1: he does tell her in the most caring way he can.
Speaker 1: You killed him, he replies. Finally, you and you're sters.
Speaker 1: He tells her that they were possessed, that they'd been
Speaker 1: made maynads. He explains that Dionysus had been insulted and
Speaker 1: that's why he'd done it. He explains that Dionysus had
Speaker 1: been insulted by her and her sisters, that they didn't
Speaker 1: believe he was the son of Semeile, that's why he'd
Speaker 1: done it. Then he shows her where the rest of
Speaker 1: Pentheus is on the stretcher. He's brought in with the slaves.
Speaker 1: Cadmus laments his family the horror they've seen cursed, his
Speaker 1: only male relative torn apart by the boy's own mother,
Speaker 1: Cadmus's daughter, on the same mountain where his grandson Acteon
Speaker 1: was torn apart by his own dogs after he spied
Speaker 1: on Artemus bathing. Yeah, they're all related. This founding family
Speaker 1: of Thebes is more than a little cursed. Semily killed
Speaker 1: by Zeus after sleeping with him. Acteon torn apart by dogs,
Speaker 1: Pentheus torn apart by his own mother. Finally, Dionysus reappears,
Speaker 1: but he isn't in disguise. Now this is the des
Speaker 1: X mckinna of the play God in the Machinery. Dionysus
Speaker 1: appears from the palace roof. They're always up high. The
Speaker 1: Greeks had a whole stage set up for this, The
Speaker 1: plays were written for it, and the theaters made for
Speaker 1: these moments when the gods appear from above. He's there
Speaker 1: to finalize this curse on Cadmus's house, you and your
Speaker 1: wife Harmonia will become serpents, he tells Cadmus. He tells
Speaker 1: of a prophecy that Cadmus and Harmonia will drive an
Speaker 1: ox cart with a vast army. They'll sack cities. But
Speaker 1: when you reach Delphi, that's where you'll find yourselves doomed,
Speaker 1: never to return home. Your wife is the daughter of Aries,
Speaker 1: and because of that you'll be protected and will live
Speaker 1: forever amongst the gods. I'm telling you this as a
Speaker 1: son of Zeus, Dionysus tells everyone below. If you hadn't
Speaker 1: refused to see me for what I am, you could
Speaker 1: have had me as an ally Instead of this. Cadmus
Speaker 1: and Agavey say their goodbyes. They lament their fates, but
Speaker 1: what can they do. They have to be exiled from thebes,
Speaker 1: even if a god hadn't just arrived to tell them
Speaker 1: exactly that. They leave, each exiting at different sides of
Speaker 1: the stage. Dionysus as the god and the machinery, is
Speaker 1: brought upwards off the stage in a way. The Greeks
Speaker 1: had full mechanisms in place in their theaters to bring
Speaker 1: the gods in and out, as if by some godly magic,
Speaker 1: this play, this playwright, Euripides, he has my heart, truly.
Speaker 1: His plays are so incredible, so visceral. I'll take this
Speaker 1: opportunity to once again recommend you listened to the Medea
Speaker 1: episode of Deviant Women that I'm on That play too
Speaker 1: is Euripides, and we give him due credit. It's very interesting.
Speaker 1: His works are brilliant, the most violent and tragic, and
Speaker 1: honestly the most dramatic in the true sense of the word.
Speaker 1: He is an icon. Euripides had died before this play
Speaker 1: was able to be staged. He'd been living in Macedonia,
Speaker 1: and he died there. A relative of his found the
Speaker 1: play and if ageniad Alice, another of his plays and
Speaker 1: his things after he died, and they staged the play
Speaker 1: at the next year's festival in Athens. They say that Sophocles,
Speaker 1: himself and near death by that time, wore a black
Speaker 1: cloak of mourning to the festival for Euripides. He wore
Speaker 1: it when he watched this play being staged for the
Speaker 1: first time. Euripides was awarded first place posthumously. Quite the
Speaker 1: way to go out a farewell performance by one of
Speaker 1: Greece's most incredible play rights, one who wasn't nearly as
Speaker 1: appreciated then as he is now. He only won first
Speaker 1: place four times. This was one of them. Everything that
Speaker 1: makes his work my favorite and a favorite of us
Speaker 1: today is what made him a little too much for
Speaker 1: the judges at the the patrical festivals that were staged
Speaker 1: every year in Athens in honor of Dionysus. Nerds. As always,
Speaker 1: thank you for listening. This is one of my all
Speaker 1: time favorite plays. I think about it all the time,
Speaker 1: particularly after last year when I spoke with Emma Pauli
Speaker 1: about the idea of a non binary reading of the
Speaker 1: back eye, both in the character of Dionysus and Pentheus.
Speaker 1: Fucking fascinating. Emma is amazing, but also just man, I
Speaker 1: am am so into Thebes as a location, so into
Speaker 1: the idea that Athenians used Thebes as this way to
Speaker 1: air their grievances, to look at city functions without specifically
Speaker 1: looking at Athens. It's also fascinating. Fucking love Greek tragedy,
Speaker 1: as I have said so very very many times recently,
Speaker 1: and Euripides, he just has my heart. So go ahead
Speaker 1: and re listen to that episode from last year with
Speaker 1: Emma Pauli. If you're interested. They are brilliant, completely brilliant. Um.
Speaker 1: But also I do have some new things in the
Speaker 1: works for June, so stay tuned. Next week I'll be
Speaker 1: looking into the story of Pentheus as grandparents, my favorite
Speaker 1: characters of all Greek mythology ever, the subjects of my
Speaker 1: deepest obsession. So stay tuned. Let's talk about myths. Faby
Speaker 1: is written and produced by me Live Albert Michaylis Smith
Speaker 1: is the Hermes to my Olympians and handles so many
Speaker 1: podcasts related things, taking on more all the time, research
Speaker 1: for a new and upcoming series Who, among so many
Speaker 1: other things. She is indispensable. Stephanie Folly works to transcribe
Speaker 1: the podcast for YouTube captions and accessibility. She has so helpful.
Speaker 1: We have an intern this month. What's the funk? How
Speaker 1: cool is that? Grace Roby hasn't started by the time
Speaker 1: I'm recording this. I'm so sorry, Grace, but I am
Speaker 1: certain she's going to be so helpful working on lots
Speaker 1: of different things for the podcast. You'll hear more soon enough.
Speaker 1: The podcast is hosted and monetized by a cast. I
Speaker 1: am LIUV and I just so so so love this ship.