Dionysos is the Greek god of the grape-harvest and winemaking, of the
growth and fertility of vegetation - especially orchards and vineyards -
and, lastly, of insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity
and theatre. Because of his links to plant growth, he also became
associated with death, resurrection and regeneration. He was also known
as Bákkhos to the Greeks, a name adopted by the Romans as Bacchus. The
focus here is on the links between Dionysos' cult and the perennial
human preoccupations of drugs, sex and ecstasy.