''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
, written by the
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
playwright
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...
during his final years in
Macedonia, at the court of
Archelaus I of Macedon
Archelaus I (; grc-gre, Ἀρχέλαος ) was a king of the kingdom of Macedonia from 413 to 399 BC. He was a capable and beneficent ruler, known for the sweeping changes he made in state administration, the military, and commerce. By the t ...
. It premiered posthumously at the
Theatre of Dionysus
The Theatre of Dionysus (or Theatre of Dionysos, el, Θέατρο του Διονύσου) is an ancient Greek theatre in Athens. It is built on the south slope of the Acropolis hill, originally part of the sanctuary of Dionysus Eleuthereus (Di ...
in 405 BC as part of a
tetralogy
A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- '' tetra-'', "four" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedie ...
that also included ''
Iphigeneia at Aulis
''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι, Īphigéneia en Aulídi; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripide ...
'' and ''
Alcmaeon in Corinth
''Alcmaeon in Corinth'' ( grc, Ἀλκμαίων ὁ διὰ Κορίνθου, ''Alkmaiōn ho dia Korinthou''; also known as ''Alcmaeon at Corinth'', ''Alcmaeon'') is a play by Greek dramatist Euripides. It was first produced posthumously at the ...
'', and which Euripides' son or nephew is assumed to have directed. It won first prize in the
City Dionysia festival competition.
The tragedy is based on the Greek myth of King
Pentheus of Thebes and his mother
Agave
''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...
, and their punishment by the god
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...
(who is Pentheus's cousin). The god Dionysus appears at the beginning of the play and proclaims that he has arrived in Thebes to avenge the slander, which has been repeated by his aunts, that he is not the son of Zeus. In response, he intends to introduce Dionysian rites into the city, and he intends to demonstrate to the king, Pentheus, and to Thebes that he was indeed born a god.
[Murray Gilbert. ''Euripides and His Age''. Oxford University Press. 1965. ] At the end of the play, Pentheus is torn apart by the women of Thebes and his mother Agave bears his head on a pike to her father
Cadmus.
[Euripides. Vellacott, Philip, translator. ''The Bacchae and Other Plays''. Penguin Books. 1954. . p. 193.]
''The Bacchae'' is considered to be not only one of Euripides's greatest tragedies, but also one of the greatest ever written, modern or ancient. ''The Bacchae'' is distinctive in that the chorus is integrated into the plot and the god is not a distant presence, but a character in the play, indeed, the protagonist.
Various interpretations
![Bacchai by Euripides IMG 1594 (6992792114)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Bacchai_by_Euripides_IMG_1594_%286992792114%29.jpg)
''The Bacchae'' has been the subject of widely varying interpretations regarding what the play as a whole means, or even indeed whether there is a “moral” to the story.
The extraordinary beauty and passion of the poetic choral descriptions indicate that the author certainly knew what attracted those who followed Dionysus. The vivid gruesomeness of the punishment of Pentheus suggests that he could also understand those who were troubled by religion.
At one time the interpretation that prevailed was that the play was an expression of Euripides’ religious devotion, as though after a life of being critical of the Greek gods and their followers, the author finally repented of his cynicism, and wrote a play that honors Dionysus and that carries a dire warning to nonbelievers.
Then, at the end of the 19th century the opposite idea began to take hold: it was thought that Euripides was doing with ''The Bacchae'' what he had always done, pointing out the inadequacy of the Greek gods and religions.
[Winnington-Ingram, R. P. ''Euripides and Dionysus, an Interpretation of the Bacchae''. Bristol Classical Press. 1997. ]
Background
The Dionysus in Euripides' tale is a young god, angry that his mortal family, the royal house of
Cadmus, has denied him a place of honor as a deity. His mortal mother,
Semele
Semele (; Ancient Greek: Σεμέλη ), in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.
Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from ...
, was a mistress of
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D ...
; while pregnant she was killed by
Hera, who was jealous of her husband's affair. When Semele died, her sisters said it was Zeus' will and accused her of lying; they also accused their father, Cadmus, of using Zeus as a coverup. Most of Semele's family refused to believe Dionysus was the son of Zeus, and the young god was spurned by his household. He traveled throughout
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
and other foreign lands, gathering a cult of female worshipers, the
Maenads
In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...
. At the play's start he has returned, disguised as a stranger, to take revenge on the house of Cadmus. He has also driven the women of Thebes, including his aunts, into an ecstatic frenzy, sending them dancing and hunting on
Mount Cithaeron
Cithaeron or Kithairon (Κιθαιρών, -ῶνος) is a mountain and mountain range about sixteen kilometres (ten miles) long in Central Greece. The range is the physical boundary between Boeotia in the north and Attica in the south. It is mai ...
, much to the horror of the young
Pentheus, king of Thebes who also is Dionysius' cousin. Complicating matters, Pentheus has declared a ban on the worship of Dionysus throughout Thebes.
Plot
The play begins before the palace at Thebes, with Dionysus telling the story of his birth and his reasons for visiting the city. Dionysus explains he is the son of a mortal woman, Semele, and a god, Zeus. Some in Thebes, he notes, don't believe this story. In fact, Semele's sisters—Autonoe, Agave, and Ino—claim it is a lie intended to cover up the fact that Semele became pregnant by some mortal. Dionysus reveals that he has driven the women of the city mad, including his three aunts, and has led them into the mountains to observe his ritual festivities. He has disguised himself as a mortal for the time being, but he plans to vindicate his mother by appearing before all of Thebes as a god, the son of Zeus, and establishing his permanent cult of followers.
Dionysus exits to the mountains, and the chorus (composed of the titular Bacchae) enters. They perform a choral ode in praise of Dionysus. Then Tiresias, the blind and elderly seer, appears. He calls for Cadmus, the founder and former king of Thebes. The two old men start out to join the revelry in the mountains when Cadmus’ petulant young grandson Pentheus, the current king, enters. Disgusted to find the two old men in festival dress, he scolds them and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone engaging in Dionysian worship, including the mysterious "foreigner" who has introduced this worship. Pentheus intends to have him stoned to death.
The guards soon return with Dionysus himself in tow. Pentheus questions him, both skeptical of and fascinated by the Dionysian rites. Dionysus's answers are cryptic. Infuriated, Pentheus has Dionysus taken away and chained to an angry bull in the palace stable. But the god now shows his power. He breaks free and razes the palace with an earthquake and fire. Dionysus and Pentheus are once again at odds when a herdsman arrives from the top of Mount Cithaeron, where he had been herding his grazing cattle. He reports that he found women on the mountain behaving strangely: wandering the forest, suckling animals, twining snakes in their hair, and performing miraculous feats. The herdsmen and the shepherds made a plan to capture one particular celebrant, Pentheus' mother. But when they jumped out of hiding to grab her, the Bacchae became frenzied and pursued the men. The men escaped, but their cattle were not so fortunate, as the women fell upon the animals,
ripping them to shreds with their bare hands. The women carried on, plundering two villages that were further down the mountain, stealing bronze, iron and even babies. When villagers attempted to fight back, the women drove them off using only their ceremonial staffs of fennel. They then returned to the mountain top and washed up, as snakes licked them clean.
![Pompeii - Casa dei Vettii - Pentheus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Pompeii_-_Casa_dei_Vettii_-_Pentheus.jpg)
Dionysus, still in disguise, persuades Pentheus to forgo his plan to defeat and massacre the women with an armed force. He says it would be better first to spy on them, while disguised as a female Maenad to avoid detection. Dressing Pentheus in this fashion, giving him a thyrsus and fawn skins, Dionysus leads him out of the house. At this point, Pentheus seems already crazed by the god's power, as he thinks he sees two suns in the sky, and believes he now has the strength to rip up mountains with his bare hands. He has also begun to see through Dionysus' mortal disguise, perceiving horns coming out of the god's head. They exit to Cithaeron.
A messenger arrives to report that once the party reached Mount Cithaeron, Pentheus wanted to climb an evergreen tree to get a better view and the stranger used divine power to bend down the tall tree and place the king in its highest branches. Then Dionysus, revealing himself, called out to his followers and pointed out the man in the tree. This drove the Maenads wild. Led by Agave, his mother, they forced the trapped Pentheus down from the tree top, ripped off his limbs and his head, and tore his body into pieces.
After the messenger has relayed this news, Agave arrives, carrying her son's bloodied head. In her god-maddened state, she believes it is the head of a mountain
lion. She proudly displays it to her father, Cadmus, and is confused when he does not delight in her trophy, but is horrified by it. Agave then calls out for Pentheus to come marvel at her feat, and nail the head above her door so she can show it to all of Thebes. But now the madness begins to wane, and Cadmus forces her to recognize that she has destroyed her own son. As the play ends, the corpse of Pentheus is reassembled as well as is possible, and the royal family is devastated and destroyed. Agave and her sisters are sent into exile, and Dionysus decrees that Cadmus and his wife
Harmonia
In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; grc, Ἁρμονία /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Rome, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythology), Concordia. Her Greek op ...
will be turned into snakes and leads a barbarian horde to plunder the cities of Hellas.
Modern productions
Dramatic versions
*
Joe Orton's play
The Erpingham Camp
''The Erpingham Camp'' (1966) is a 52-minute television play by Joe Orton, which was later performed on stage.
The play was originally produced by Associated-Rediffusion for inclusion in the ''Seven Deadly Sins'' series, representing pride. Dire ...
(television broadcast 27 June 1966; opened at the
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
on 6 June 1967) relocates ''The Bacchae'' to a British
holiday camp
A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with term ...
. An author's note states: "No attempt must be made to reproduce the various locales in a
naturalistic manner. A small, permanent set of Erpingham's office is set on a high level. The rest of the stage is an unlocalised area. Changes of scene are suggested by lighting and banners after the manner of the
Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's
histories."
[Orton, Joe. 1976. ''The Complete Plays''. London: Methuen. p. 278. .]
* In 1970,
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...
filmed
Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner is University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and editor of ''TDR: The Drama Review''.
Biography
Richard Schechner received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1956, a ...
's dramatic re-envisioning of the work, ''
Dionysus in 69
''Dionysus in '69'' is a 1970 film by Brian De Palma, Robert Fiore and Bruce Rubin. The film records a performance of The Performance Group's stage play of the same name, an adaptation of ''The Bacchae''. It was entered into the 20th Berlin In ...
'', in a converted garage.
*
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...
adapted the play as ''
The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite'' with the British
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...
in London in 1973, incorporating a second chorus of slaves to mirror the civil unrest in his native
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
.
*
Caryl Churchill and
David Lan
David Lan is a South African-born British playwright, theatre producer and director and a social anthropologist.
Career
Born in Cape Town, he trained as an actor and gained a BA at the University of Cape Town. He has lived in London since 197 ...
used the play as the basis of their 1986
dance-theatre
The German Tanztheater ("dance theatre") grew out of German Expressionist dance in Weimar Germany and 1920s Vienna. The term first appears around 1927 to identify a particular style of dance emerging from within the new forms of 'expressionist da ...
hybrid ''
A Mouthful of Birds
''A Mouthful of Birds'' is a 1986 play with dance, written by Caryl Churchill and David Lan, with choreography by Ian Spink. Drawing its themes from '' The Bacchae'' of Euripides, it is a meditation on possession, madness and female violence. ...
''.
* In 1989
Costas Ferris
Costas Ferris ( el, Κώστας Φέρρης; born 18 April 1935) is a Greek film director, writer, actor, and producer. He wrote the lyrics of Aphrodite's Child's album ''666''. His 1983 film ''Rembetiko'' won the Silver Bear at the 34th Berlin ...
adapted ''The Bacchae'' for his film ''Oh Babylon'' and retells it in a more modern guise.
*
Andre Gregory related in ''
My Dinner With Andre'' that he put on a production at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
and campaigned to have a real cadaver's head used for Pentheus', but the actress playing Agave refused.
* ''The Bacchae 2.1'', a theatrical adaptation set in modern times, was written by
Charles Mee and first performed in 1993.
* Swedish director
Ingmar Bergman directed ''The Bacchae'' three times: as an opera (1991) for the Royal Swedish Opera, as a film (1993) for Sveriges Television, and on stage (1996) for the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. These three versions received great acclaim amidst some mixed reviews.
![Thebacchae1997](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Thebacchae1997.jpg)
* In 1997,
Brad Mays
Brad Mays (born May 30, 1955) is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California.
Background and education
Mays was raised in the Edinburg section of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, attending the ...
directed his own adaptation of the play at The Complex in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, where it broke all box office records and was nominated for three
LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...
s: for Best Direction, Best Musical Score and Best Production Design. Because it featured levels of violence and nudity rare for even experimental theater, it was widely discussed in print, and even videotaped for the
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
's
Billy Rose Theatre Collection
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Met ...
in New York. The production was eventually made into an independent
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
which featured Will Shepherd – the Pentheus of
Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner is University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and editor of ''TDR: The Drama Review''.
Biography
Richard Schechner received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1956, a ...
's ''
Dionysus in '69
''Dionysus in '69'' is a 1970 film by Brian De Palma, Robert Fiore and Bruce Rubin. The film records a performance of The Performance Group's stage play of the same name, an adaptation of ''The Bacchae''. It was entered into the 20th Berlin In ...
'' – as Cadmus. Both the stage and film versions were produced by Mays' wife,
Lorenda Starfelt
Lorenda Starfelt (January 11, 1955 – March 16, 2011) was an independent film producer, as well as a committed political activist and blogger who notably dug up president Barack Obama's birth announcement in an August 1961 edition of ''The Ho ...
.
* On 20 April 2003
BBC Radio 3 premiered the
radio play
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
''Dionysos'' – a ninety-minute drama based on ''The Bacchae'' – written by
Andrew Rissik
Andrew Rissik (born 23 April 1955) is a British scriptwriter, journalist and critic best known for the BBC Radio 3 trilogy, ''Troy'' and the five-part thriller serial for Radio 4, ''The Psychedelic Spy''. He was theatre critic at ''The Independe ...
and starring
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...
, with
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
as Cadmus and
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in ''On H ...
as Agave. It was repeated on
BBC Radio 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British Digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio broadcasting, radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a ...
in May 2008.
* In 2004, KneeHigh Theatre company toured a reinvented version of The Bacchae as "A contemporary postmodern folk tale", directed by Emma Rice.
* In 2007,
David Greig wrote an adaptation of ''The Bacchae'' for the
National Theatre of Scotland
The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...
starring
Alan Cumming as
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...
, with ten soul-singing followers in place of the traditional
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( grc-gre, χορός, chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collect ...
. A critically praised run at
New York's
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...
Rose Theater
The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577), and the theatre at Newington Butts (c. 1580?) – and the first of several playhouses to be situated in B ...
followed the premiere in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
![Dionysos Summons the Bacchae in MacMillan Films Staging](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Dionysos_Summons_the_Bacchae_in_MacMillan_Films_Staging.jpg)
*
Luigi Lo Cascio
Luigi Lo Cascio (born 20 October 1967) is an Italian actor. He won the David di Donatello as best actor for his starring role in ''I cento passi''. In 2012, he debuted as film director and writer with '' La città ideale''.
Filmography
*2000: ' ...
's multimedia adaptation ''La Caccia'' (The Hunt) won the Biglietto d' Oro del Teatro prize in 2008. The free adaptation combines live theater with animations by Nicola Console and Desideria Rayner's video projections. A revised 2009 version went on tour with original music by
Andrea Rocca.
* In 2008, James Thomas directed Peter Arnott's faithful and audience-friendly translation of ''The Bacchae'' as part of MacMillan Films series on Greek drama. The production featured Mia Perovetz as
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...
, a traditional
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus, or simply chorus ( grc-gre, χορός, chorós), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collect ...
with Morgan Marcum as the chorus leader and the dance choreography of Angessa Hughmanick.
*In 2017,
Madeleine George's adaptation ''Hurricane Diane'' premiered at
Two River Theater
Two River Theater is a professional, not-for-profit, regional theater company producing plays and educational programs for audiences from central New Jersey and beyond. It is located in Red Bank, New Jersey, on the peninsula between the Navesink ...
. ''Hurricane Diane'' places the narrative in Monmouth, New Jersey, where Dionysus becomes Diane, a butch landscaper who schemes to install permaculture gardens in suburban backyards, and convince four women to start a "mystery cult" in order to regain her powers and fight climate change.
*In 2020, the Classics department of
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
performed a version of ''The Bacchae'' in its original ancient Greek in combination with Aristophanes' ''
The Frogs
''The Frogs'' ( grc-gre, Βάτραχοι, Bátrakhoi, Frogs; la, Ranae, often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in ...
'', created by David Bullen and entitled ''Dionysus in the Underworld'' for their annual Greek play, which is the only production of Greek drama in the UK staged annually in the original language.
Operatic versions
* In 1941–1944,
Giorgio Federico Ghedini
Giorgio Federico Ghedini (11 July 189225 March 1965) was an Italian composer. In addition to orchestral works, in 1949 he premiered a one-act opera based on the American novella ''Billy Budd'' by Herman Melville.
Life
Ghedini was born in Cuneo i ...
composed an opera in Italian based on ''The Bacchae'' and called ''Le Baccanti'', with libretto by playwright and screenwriter
Tullio Pinelli
Tullio Pinelli (24 June 1908 – 7 March 2009) was an Italian screenwriter known for his work on the Federico Fellini films ''I Vitelloni'', ''La Strada'', '' La Dolce Vita'' and '' 8½''.
Biography
Born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, Pinelli beg ...
. It debuted at
La Scala in Milan on February 22, 1948. It was revived in Milan in 1972.
*
Harry Partch
Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...
composed an opera based on ''The Bacchae'' titled ''
Revelation in the Courthouse Park
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Background
Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on th ...
''. It was first performed in 1960, and a recording was released in 1987.
* Another opera based on ''The Bacchae'', called ''
The Bassarids
''The Bassarids'' (in German: ') is an opera in one act and an intermezzo, with music by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, after Euripides's ''The Bacchae''.
The conflict in the opera is between hu ...
'', was composed in 1965 by
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...
. The libretto was by
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
and
Chester Kallman
Chester Simon Kallman (January 7, 1921 – January 18, 1975) was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for collaborating with W. H. Auden on opera librettos for Igor Stravinsky and other composers.
Life
Kallman was born in ...
.
*
John Buller composed an opera ''Bakxai'' (The Bacchae) which was produced at the English National Opera in London in 1992. The Libretto was in ancient Greek.
*
Georgia Spiropoulos
Georgia Spiropoulos ( el, Γεωργία Σπυροπούλου) (born in Greece, 1965) is a composer, who studied piano, harmony, counterpoint and fugue in Athens. At the same time, she studied jazz piano and worked as an instrumentalist and ar ...
composed a solo opera for performer, electronics and lights calle
Les Bacchantes The work premiered at
Ircam
IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...
during the 2010 Agora Festival, starring
Médéric Collignon
Médéric Collignon (born 6 July 1970 in Villers-Semeuse, Ardennes) is a French people, French jazz vocalist, cornettist and saxhorn player.
He learnt to play the trumpet at the age of five, became a pupil at the Conservatoire de Charleville-Mé ...
.
*
Karol Szymanowski's second opera ''
King Roger
King Roger (Polish: , Op. 46) is an opera in three acts by Karol Szymanowski to a Polish libretto by the composer himself and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, the composer's cousin. The score was finished in 1924. The opera received its world premiere on ...
'' is based on ''The Bacchae''.
*
Daniel Börtz
Daniel Börtz (born 8 August 1943) is a Swedish composer, born in Hässleholm.
He studied composition under Hilding Rosenberg, Karl-Birger Blomdahl and Ingvar Lidholm. Among his works are the operas ''Bacchanterna'' (1991), ''Marie Antoinette'' ...
' opera ''Backanterna'' (Swedish for the Bacchae) is based on ''The Bacchae''. The opera premiered at the
Royal Swedish Opera in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in 1991. The music was used in
Ingmar Bergman's 1993 TV opera film.
Musical versions
*
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
's "Hymn to Dionysus" (Op. 31, No. 2) is a setting for female voices and orchestra of the
parodos A parodos (also parode and parodus; grc, πάροδος, 'entrance', plural ), in the theater of ancient Greece, is a side-entrance to the stage, or the first song that is sung by the chorus at the beginning of a Greek tragedy.
Side-entrance to ...
from ''The Bacchae'' in the translation by
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...
. It was composed in 1913 and premiered in 1914.
* In Fall 2007, Prospect Theater Company put on ''The Rockae'', a rock musical adaption of the show written by
Peter Mills & Cara Reichel
* In Summer 2009, the Public Theater (of New York City) produced a version of ''The Bacchae'' with music by
Philip Glass.
* In Fall 2013, the
Globe Theatre produced a musical adaptation of ''The Bacchae'', ''
The Lightning Child'', written by
Ché Walker. Music was scored by
Arthur Darvill
Thomas Arthur Darvill (born 17 June 1982) is an English actor. He is known for portraying Rory Williams, a companion of the Eleventh Doctor in the television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2012), as well as Rip Hunter in ''Legends of Tomorrow'' ...
.
Film versions
* In 1961 Italian filmmaker
Giorgio Ferroni
Giorgio Ferroni (12 April 1908 – 1981) was an Italian film director.
Life and career
Giorgio Ferroni was born in Perugia on 12 April 1908. Ferroni began his career in film with short documentaries during World War II
World War ...
directed his own adaptation of the tragedy as ''
Le baccanti
''The Bacchantes'' ( it, Le baccanti) is a 1961 adventure-fantasy film directed by Giorgio Ferroni. It is loosely based on the Euripides' tragedy ''The Bacchae''.
Plot
Thebes, the birthplace of Dionysus (born from the union between the god Ze ...
'', with French actor
Pierre Brice
Pierre-Louis Le Bris (6 February 1929 – 6 June 2015), known as Pierre Brice, was a French actor, best known as portraying fictional Apache-chief Winnetou in German films based on Karl May novels.
Life and films
Brice was born in Brest, Brit ...
as Dionysus, Italian actors
Alberto Lupo
Alberto Lupo (byname of Alberto Zoboli; 19 December 1924 – 13 August 1984) was an Italian film and television actor best known for his roles in swash-buckling and actions films of the 1960s.
Lupo starred in films such as ''A 008, operazione ...
and
Miranda Campa
Miranda Campa (31 January 1914 – 7 May 1989) was a Swiss-born Italian actress and voice actress.
Life and career
Born Liliana Campa Capodaglio in Geneva, the nephew of actors Pio Campa and Wanda Capodaglio, Campa studied acting at the ...
respectively as Pentheus and Agave, Finnish actress-dancer
Taina Elg
__NOTOC__
Taina may refer to:
People Women
* Taina Asili (), Puerto Rican musician, filmmaker and activist
* Taïna Barioz (born 1988), French alpine skier
* Taina Bien-Aimé, Swiss social activist
* Taina Bofferding (born 1982), Luxembourgish po ...
as Dirce, and Russian actor
Akim Tamiroff as Tiresias. American choreographer
Herbert Ross
Herbert David Ross (May 13, 1927 – October 9, 2001) was an American actor, choreographer, director and producer who worked predominantly in theater and film. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
He is known for directing ...
directed the bacchantes' dance sequences.
* In 1970 American filmmaker
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...
and theater director
Richard Schechner
Richard Schechner is University Professor Emeritus at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and editor of ''TDR: The Drama Review''.
Biography
Richard Schechner received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1956, a ...
filmed the stage adaptation ''
Dionysus in '69
''Dionysus in '69'' is a 1970 film by Brian De Palma, Robert Fiore and Bruce Rubin. The film records a performance of The Performance Group's stage play of the same name, an adaptation of ''The Bacchae''. It was entered into the 20th Berlin In ...
'', performed by members of
The Performance Group, an experimental theater group in New York that would later become
The Wooster Group
The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group (1967–1980) during the period from 1975 to 1980, an ...
.
*
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
lists at least five adaptations made for television.
Significant quotations
:Dionysus: "It's a wise man's part to practise a smooth-tempered self-control."
:Dionysus: "Your
entheus'name points to calamity. It fits you well." (The name "Pentheus" derives from πένθος, ''pénthos'', grief)
:Messenger: "Dionysus' powers are manifold; he gave to men the vine to cure their sorrows."
:Dionysus: "Can you, a mortal, measure your strength against a god?"
:Dionysus: “It hurts you to kick against the goad
ricks
Ricks may refer to:
People
* Andre Ricks (born 1996), American basketball player
* Bob Ricks (21st century), American police chief
* Christopher Ricks (born 1933), British literary critic and scholar
* Doug Ricks, American politician and membe ...
”
Religious significance
Greek theater was a form of religious expression and worship. ''The Bacchae'' re-enacts how Dionysus had come to be a god. In ancient Greek theatre, "role-playing is a well-known feature of ritual liminality."
[Lada-Richards, Ismene. Initiating Dionysus: Ritual and Theatre in Aristophanes' Frogs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. 159-164. Print.]
As an actor, religious worship is a direct experience. The actor would have experienced a "stepping out" of himself to become a representation of Dionysus. As a spectator, the experience comes from what is acted onstage, arousing emotions that sympathize with Dionysus. Collectively, through Dionysiac acting, there is a reintegration of the "other" into the "self," that is to say that Dionysus has been accepted and will be worshipped by the Greek people.
Comparative analysis
Jesus's interrogation by
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
from
The Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
has been compared to Dionysus' interrogation by King Pentheus regarding his claim to divinity.
Dramatic structure
In the play's climactic plot construction, Dionysus the protagonist instigates the unfolding action by simultaneously emulating the play's author, costume designer, choreographer and artistic director.
Helene P. Foley, writing of the importance of Dionysus as the central character and his effect on the play's structure, observes: "The poet uses the ritual crisis to explore simultaneously god, man, society, and his own tragic art. In this protodrama Dionysus, the god of the theatre, stage-directs the play."
At the play's start, Dionysus' exposition highlights the play's central conflict: the invasion of Greece by an Asian religion.
Criticism
Until the late 19th century, the play's themes were considered too gruesome to be studied and appreciated. It was
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...
's "
Birth of Tragedy" in 1872 that re-posed the question of Dionysus's relation with the theatre and awakened interest in ''The Bacchae''. In the 20th century, performances became quite fashionable—particularly in opera, due in part to the dramatic choruses found throughout the story. In 1948, R.P. Winnington-Ingram said of Euripides' handling of the play: "On its poetical and dramatic beauties, he writes with charm and insight; on more complex themes, he shows equal mastery." Recent criticism has been provided by
P.E. Easterling, ''et al.'' in ''The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy.''
Influences
''The Bacchae'' had an enormous impact on
ancient literature
Ancient literature comprises religious and scientific documents, tales, poetry and plays, royal edicts and declarations, and other forms of writing that were recorded on a variety of media, including stone, stone tablets, papyri, palm leaves, and ...
, and its influence can be seen in numerous Greek and Roman authors. It seems to have been one of
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
's favorite tragedies. Beyond antiquity, dramatists and filmmakers of all ages have been greatly impacted by it. The tragedy's influence can be seen in the writings of
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
, as well as
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
's 1912 novella ''
Death in Venice
''Death in Venice ''(German: ''Der Tod in Venedig'') is a novella by German author Thomas Mann, published in 1912. It presents an ennobled writer who visits Venice and is liberated, uplifted, and then increasingly obsessed by the sight of a Poli ...
'' and Oliver Stone's 2004 film ''
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
''. The Renaissance Venetian painter Titian may have illustrated the arrest of Bacchus in his painting "Il Bravo" in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum. (Source:Nine reasons why Titian's "Il Bravo" should be re-titled "The Arrest of Bacchus"by Sutherland, Bruce D., Published in: Venezia Cinquecento 3.1993(1994), 6, 35-52, an image of this painting can be seen on WikiArt.)
In popular culture
Donna Tartt
Donna Louise Tartt (born December 23, 1963) is an American novelist and essayist.
Early life
Tartt was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta, the elder of two daughters. She was raised in the nearby town of Grenada. Her fa ...
's 1992 novel ''
The Secret History
''The Secret History'' is the first novel by the American author Donna Tartt, published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 1992. Set in New England, the campus novel tells the story of a closely knit group of six classics students at Hampden Colleg ...
'' is about six students of classical languages who go in search of the rapture described by Euripides in ''The Bacchae''.
Translations
*
Theodore Alois Buckley
Theodore Alois William Buckley (1825–1856) was a translator of Homer and other classical works.
In 1852 Buckley published the book "''The great cities of the ancient world in their glory and their desolation''". This book depicts stories, descri ...
, 1850: prose
*
Henry Hart Milman
Henry Hart Milman (10 February 1791 – 24 September 1868) was an English historian and ecclesiastic.
Life
He was born in London, the third son of Sir Francis Milman, 1st Baronet, physician to King George III (see Milman Baronets). Educa ...
, 1865: verse
*
Edward P. Coleridge
Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”.
History
The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
, 1891: prose
*
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...
, 1911: verse
*
Arthur S. Way
Arthur Sanders Way (13 February 1847 – 25 September 1930), was a classical scholar, translator and headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, Australia.
Arthur Way, son of the Rev. William Way and his wife Matilda, ''née'' Francis,
was b ...
, 1912: verse
*
D. W. Lucas, 1930: prose
*
Philip Vellacott
Philip Humphrey Vellacott (16 January 1907 – 24 August 1997) was an English classical scholar, known for his numerous translations of Greek tragedy.
He was born at Grays, Essex and educated at St Paul's School, London and Magdalene College, Ca ...
, 1954: prose and verse
*
F. L. Lucas, 1954: verse
*
Henry Birkhead
Henry Birkhead (1617?–1696) was an English academic, lawyer and Latin poet. He is now known as the founder of the Oxford Chair of Poetry.
Life
Birkhead was born in the parish of St. Gregory, near St. Paul's Cathedral, London. His parents ...
, 1957: verse
*
William Arrowsmith
William Ayres Arrowsmith (April 13, 1924 – February 21, 1992) was an American classicist, academic, and translator.
Life
Born in Orange, New Jersey, the son of Walter Weed Arrowsmith and Dorothy (Ayres) Arrowsmith, William grew up in Wellesle ...
, 1958: verse
*
Moses Hadas Moses Hadas (June 25, 1900, Atlanta, Georgia – August 17, 1966) was an American teacher, a classical scholar, and a translator of numerous works from Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and German.
Life
Raised in Atlanta in a Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Je ...
and John McLean, 1960: prose
*
Paul Roche
Donald Robert Paul Roche (26 September 1916 – 30 October 2007) was a British poet, novelist, and professor of English, a critically acclaimed translator of Greek and Latin classics, notably the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristop ...
, 1969: verse
*
Geoffrey Kirk
Geoffrey Stephen Kirk, () was a British classicist who served as the 35th Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge. He published widely on pre-Socratic philosophy and the work of the Greek poet Homer, culminating in a six-volu ...
, 1970: prose and verse
* Robert Bagg, 1978: verse (as ''The Bakkhai'')
*
Michael Cacoyannis
Michael Cacoyannis ( el, Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης, ''Michalis Kakogiannis''; 11 June 1922 – 25 July 2011), sometimes credited as Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriots, Greek Cypriot theatre and film director, writer, produce ...
, 1982: verse
* Matt Neuberg, 1988: verse
*
Arthur Evans
Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on ...
, 1988, prose and verse, as ''The God of Ecstasy'' (
St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...
)
*
Nicholas Rudall
D. Nicholas Rudall (1940, in Llanelli, Wales – 19 June 2018) was a Welsh professor of classical languages and literature as well as humanities and Ancient Mediterranean history at the University of Chicago. He specialized in Greek drama, and tr ...
, 1996
*
Richard Seaford
Richard Seaford is a British classicist. He is professor emeritus of classics and ancient history at the University of Exeter. His work focuses on ancient Greek culture, especially that of ancient Athens.
Career
Seaford has published widely on ...
, 1996: prose
*
Daniel Mark Epstein, 1998;verse
*
Paul Woodruff
Paul Woodruff (born 1943) is a classicist, professor of philosophy, and dean at The University of Texas at Austin, where he once chaired the department of philosophy and has more recently held the Hayden Head Regents Chair as director of Plan II H ...
, 1999: verse
*
Reginald Gibbons
Reginald Gibbons (born 1947) is an American poet, fiction writer, translator, literary critic. He is a Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University. Gibbons has published numerous books, as well as poems, short stori ...
, 2000: verse
*
James Morwood
James Henry Weldon Morwood (25 November 1943 – 10 September 2017) was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics,Harrow School Register 2002 8th edition edited by S W Bellringer & published by T ...
, 2000:
* David Franklin, 2000: prose
*
Ian C. Johnston, 2003: verse
*
Colin Teevan
Colin Teevan (born 1961 in Dublin) is an Irish playwright, radio dramatist, translator and academic.
Teevan has premiered works in the National Theatres of Ireland, Scotland and the Royal National Theatre in London, He has been a regular collabo ...
, 2003: verse (as "Bacchai")
* George Theodoridis, 2005: prose
* Michael Valerie, 2005: verse
* Michael Scanlan, 2006: verse (La Salle Academy: Providence, RI)
*
Graham Kirby, 2009: verse (
The Scoop
The Scoop is an outdoor amphitheatre situated on the south side of the River Thames near Tower Bridge in London, located next to City Hall, providing seating for approximately 800 people. Designed by Townshend Landscape Architects, it is a venue ...
)
*
Che Walker, 2013: play with songs as ''
The Lightning Child''
*
Robin Robertson
Robin Robertson (born in 1955) is a Scottish poet.
Biography
Robertson was brought up on the north-east coast of Scotland, but has spent most of his professional life in London. After working as an editor at Penguin Books and Secker and Warb ...
, 2014: verse
*
Anne Carson
Anne Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor.
Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across the Unit ...
, 2015: verse (as ''The Bakkhai'')
*
David Stuttard, 2016: verse
*
Emily Wilson, 2016: verse
* Emma Pauly, 2019: prose and verse
* Brian Vinero, 2020: verse
See also
*
Apollonian and Dionysian
The Apollonian and the Dionysian are philosophical and literary concepts represented by a duality between the figures of Apollo and Dionysus from Greek mythology. Its popularization is widely attributed to the work ''The Birth of Tragedy'' by Fr ...
Notes
References
* Damen, Mark L. and Rebecca A. Richards. 2012. "'Sing the Dionysus': Euripides' Bacchae as Dramatic Hymn." ''American Journal of Philology'' 133.3: 343–369.
* Foley, H. P. 1980. "The Masque of Dionysus." ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 110:107–133.
* Friedrich, R. 1996. "Everything to do with Dionysos? Ritualism, the Dionysiac, and the Tragic." In ''Tragedy and the Tragic: Greek Theatre and Beyond.'' Edited by M. S. Silk, 257–283. Oxford: Clarendon.
* Friesen, C. J. P. 2015. ''Reading Dionysus: Euripides’ 'Bacchae' and the Cultural Contestations of Greeks, Jews, Romans, and Christians'' Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
* Morwood, James, ed. and trans. 2000. Euripides: Bacchae and Other Plays. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
* Perris, Simon. 2016. ''The Gentle, Jealous God: Reading Euripides’ 'Bacchae' in English.'' Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
*
Rehm, Rush. 1992. ''Greek Tragic Theatre.'' Theatre Production Studies ser. London and New York: Routledge. .
* Roncace, Mark. 1997. "The Bacchae and Lord of the Flies: A Few Observations with the Help of E.R. Dodds." ''Classical and Modern Literature'' 18.1: 37–51.
* Seaford, R. 1981. "Dionysiac Drama and the Dionysiac Mysteries." ''Classical Quarterly'', 31.2: 252–275.
* Segal, C. P. 1997. ''Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides’ Bacchae''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
* Stuttard, David. ed. 2016. ''Looking at Bacchae.'' London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
* Teevan, C. 2001. "Bacchai". Oberon books.
* Thumiger, C. 2006. "Animal World, Animal Representation, and the "Hunting-Model": Between Literal and Figurative in Euripides' "Bacchae"." ''Phoenix'', 60(3/4), 191–210.
* Thumiger, Chiara. 2007. ''Hidden Paths: Self and Characterization In Greek Tragedy: Euripides' Bacchae.'' Institute of Classical Studies: London.
External links
*
*
The Internet Classics Archive – ''The Bacchantes'' by Euripides*
The Performance History of the ''Bacchae''.
The Bacchae (in Greek and English) at Perseus Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacchae
Plays by Euripides, Bacchae, The
Theban mythology
Culture of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
Dionysus
Plays set in ancient Greece
Greek plays adapted into films
Plays adapted into operas
Plays based on classical mythology