| Birth of Dionysus (Zagreus, Bacchus, Bromius) |
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Gods/Goddesses Index
- From a union between Persephone and Zeus in serpent form sprang the horned god Zagreus. Jealous Hera persuaded the Titans to attack the infant god as he looked into a mirror. Not only did they tear him to pieces, but the Titans ate him --all but his heart which Athena rescued. From this organ the rest of the god was resurrected.
- In another version Semele is impregnated by drinking a preparation made from the heart of Dionysus who had been torn to pieces by the Titans.
- [3.4.3] But Zeus loved Semele and bedded with her unknown to Hera. Now Zeus had agreed to do for her whatever she asked, and deceived by Hera she asked that he would come to her as he came when he was wooing Hera. Unable to refuse, Zeus came to her bridal chamber in a chariot, with lightnings and thunderings, and launched a thunderbolt. But Semele expired of fright, and Zeus, snatching the sixth-month abortive child2 from the fire, sewed it in his thigh. On the death of Semele the other daughters of Cadmus spread a report that Semele had bedded with a mortal man, and had falsely accused Zeus, and that therefore she had been blasted by thunder. But at the proper time Zeus undid the stitches and gave birth to Dionysus, and entrusted him to Hermes. And he conveyed him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to rear him as a girl.
- Apollodorus 3.4.3
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