No other god of the Greeks is as widely present in the monuments and
nature of Greece and Italy, in the sensuous tradition of antiquity, as
Dionysos. In myth and image, in visionary experience and ritual
representation, the Greeks possessed a complete expression of
indestructible life, the essence of Dionysos. In this work, the noted
mythologist and historian of religion Carl Kerényi presents a historical
account of the religion of Dionysos from its beginnings in the Minoan
culture down to its transition to a cosmic and cosmopolitan religion of
late antiquity under the Roman Empire. From the wealth of Greek
literary, epigraphic, and monumental traditions, Kerényi constructs a
picture of Dionysian worship, always underlining the constitutive
element of myth.
Included in this study are the secret cult scenes of the women's
mysteries both within and beyond Attica, the mystic sacrificial rite at
Delphi, and the great public Dionysian festivals at Athens. The way in
which the Athenian people received and assimilated tragedy in its
immanent connection with Dionysos is seen as the greatest miracle in all
cultural history. Tragedy and New Comedy are seen as high spiritual
forms of the Dionysian religion, and the Dionysian element itself is
seen as a chapter in the religious history of Europe.