Reading Dionysus Euripides’ Bacchae and the Cultural Contestations of Greeks, Jews, Romans, and Christians

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Dionysus comes in many forms. His arrivals are attended with conflicts and often result in the transformation of civilization. Preface………………………………………………………………………... V Note on Abbreviations and Translations…….…………………………..... XII Introduction……...……………………………………….…………………… 1 Part I – Preliminaries: Themes and Trajectories……...……………. 5 Chapter 1 – Characterizing an Uncharacteristic God……...……………….. 6 1.1 Maenadism and Other Forms of Madness……………………............. 8 1.2 Liberation in Life and Death………………….…………………….... 10 1.3 Religious Violence and Imperial Conquest……………..…………… 12 1.4 Dionysus between Religious Liberty and Political Authority in Alexandria and Rome ……………………………………….....…. 14 1.5 Dionysus and the Jews: Conflicts and Conflations………………….. 17 1.6 Dionysus and the Christians: Sharing Sacred Wine…………………. 19 1.7 Conclusions…………………………………………………………… 23 Chapter 2 – Tragic Texts and Contexts……………………………………... 25 2.1 The Theater and Its God……………………………………………... 25 2.2 Tragedy as Political Discourse from Polis to Empire……………….. 29 2.3 The Theater among Jews and Christians: Patterns of Resistance and Ambivalence……………………….….... 32 2.4 Tragic Imitations: Jewish and Christian Experiments with Exodus and Passion…………………………………………….. 36 2.5 Conclusions…………………………………………………………… 39 Chapter 3 – Reading Euripides’ Bacchae: Some Meanings and Effects…… 40 3.1 The Bacchae as Metatragedy: Theorizing a Stranger’s Identity…….. 40 3.1.1 A Divine Disguise……………………………………………... 41 3.1.2 Pentheus as Spectator …………………………………………. 44 3.2 Religious Reversals: Problematizing Myth and Ritual……………… 46 3.2.1 Dionysiac Lusis ……………………………………………….. 47 3.2.2 The Divine Madness of Maenads and Prophets ………………. 50 3.2.3 Violence and Sacrifice ………………………………………… 53 3.3 Foreign as Indigenous: Introducing “New” Gods and Constructing Others…………………………………………….. 55 3.4 Conclusions……………………………………………………...…… 56 Chapter 4 – Textual Sparagmoi: Receiving Euripides’ Bacchae…………… 57 4.1 Reception and Dialogues of Difference……………………………… 57 4.2 Receiving Euripides: Cultural and Ideological Factors……………… 59 4.3 The Bacchae’s Ancient Audience……………………………………. 62 4.4 Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Reception………………... 66 4.5 Conclusions…………………………………………………………… 69 Part II – Identifying with Dionysus: Effects of Imperial Self-Representation…….……......... 71 Chapter 5 – Dionysus as a Ptolemaic Gentleman in Theocritus, Idyll 26…. 72 5.1 Ptolemy II Philadelphus: Patron of Dionysus and the Theater……… 72 5.2 Theocritus: The Poet and His Patron…………..……………………...75 5.3 Idyll 26: Euripides’ Bacchae Revisited or Revised?........................... 76 5.4 Theocritean Maenads as Imperial Subjects………………………….. 81 5.5 Conclusions………………………………………………………….. 84 Chapter 6 – Philo’s Legatio ad Gaium: Imitating Dionysus and (En)acting Tragedy……………………………..……....... 86 6.1 Being Jewish and Greek in Roman Alexandria………...………….... 87 6.2 Dionysus: A Benevolent or Vindictive God?..................................... 88 6.3 Gaius as Tragic Actor………………………………………………… 90 6.4 Conclusions…………………………………………………………... 93 Part III – Resisting Death: Ambivalence and Afterlife…………. 95 Chapter 7 – Bacchus as Tragic Hero and Stoic Sage in Horace, Epistles 1.16……………………………………… 96 7.1 Dionysus at Rome…………………………………………………… 97 7.2 Euripides’ Bacchae on the Roman Stage and in Imperial Epic……………………………………………….... 98 7.3 Horace: The Poet, the Emperor, and Bacchus……………………… 101 7.4 Horace’s Epistles Book 1: Beyond Rome………………...………… 106 7.5 From Cithaeron to Sabine Estate: Changing Dramatic Identities in Epistles 1.16……………………………………..………….…… 108 7.6 The Bacchae and Ritual Death from the Gold Tablets to Plutarch and Epictetus……………………………………...……. 114 7.7 Conclusions………………………………………………………….. 116 Chapter 8 – Clement of Alexandria on Pleasure and Dying with Euripides’ Bacchae……………………………………… 118 8.1 Clement and the Appropriation of Paideia…………………………. 120 8.2 Dangerous Pleasures: Poetry and Dionysus………………………… 123 8.3 Christ as Dionysiac Mystagogue in Stromateis 4…………………... 128 8.4 Conclusions………………………………………………………….. 132 Part IV – Staging Deliverance: Dionysiac Escape and Divine Vindication…………... 135 Chapter 9 – Eluding the Tyrant in Artapanus’ Moses Fragment and Euripides’ Bacchae………….………………………….. 136 9.1 Artapanus between Judaism and Hellenism………………………… 137 9.2 Getting Moses out of Jail with Euripides’ Bacchae ……………...... 141 9.3 Conclusions…………………………………………………………. 147 Chapter 10 – A God Dismembered or Dismembering? Divine Retribution between Celsus and Origen….………… 149 10.1 Celsus’ Argument from Euripides’ Bacchae ……………………... 150 10.1.1 Christianity and the Roman Empire: The Problem of Cultural Subversion………………………. 152 10.1.2 Jesus among Gods and Heroes: The Problem of Incarnation, Death, and Miracles…………………………. 154 10.1.3 Celsus on Jesus and Euripides’ Bacchae…………………... 161 10.2 Origen’s Response: Death as Divine Virtue…………………..….. 164 10.2.1 Origen on Dionysus, Noble Deeds, and Noble Deaths…… 167 10.2.2 Origen on Jesus and Euripides’ Bacchae………………….. 169 10.3 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 172 Part V – Polemicizing the Other: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Ideological Imagination..175 Chapter 11 – The Wisdom of Solomon and the Canaanite Dionysus……... 176 11.1 Situating the Wisdom of Solomon………………………………… 176 11.2 The Tragic Rituals of the Canaanites……………………………… 178 11.3 Conclusions……………………………….……………………….. 185 Chapter 12 – Dio Chrysostom, the Alexandrian Mob, and Euripidean Maenads…………………………………….187 12.1 Dio Chrysostom: Orator and Empire……………………………… 187 12.2 The Alexandrian Oration: On Performances and Mobs………….. 190 12.3 Alexandrians and the Credibility of Euripides’ Mythology………. 192 12.4 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 196 Part VI – Modifying Madness: Dionysiac Reversals in Judaism and Christianity….. 197 Chapter 13 – Philo of Alexandria’s Religious Ambivalences: (Anti-)Dionysiac Hermeneutics in De ebrietate………..….. 198 13.1 Moses on Wine, Gender, and Dionysus in De ebrietate…………. 199 13.2 Interrogating Hannah’s Sobriety and Femininity…………………. 202 13.3 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 205 Chapter 14 – The Acts of the Apostles and the Rationalization of Inspired Speech…………………………………………. 207 14.1 Acts and the Bacchae: Status quaestionis………………………… 208 14.2 Narrating Madness and Moderation in Acts 26………………….. 213 14.2.1 A Greek Proverb in Hebrew Dialect: Authenticating Divine Discourse in Acts 26:14…………… 213 14.2.2 Persecution and Conversion in Acts 26: Undoing a Dionysiac Paradox……..…………………........ 218 14.3 “Each in Their Own Dialect”: Dionysus and Inspired Speech in Acts 2…......…………………... 221 14.3.1 Drinking Early? Intoxication as Divine Inspiration……..... 222 14.3.2 The Politics of Pentecost: Language and Power in Acts 2…………………………… 228 14.4 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 234 Part V – Polemicizing the Other: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Ideological Imagination..175 Chapter 11 – The Wisdom of Solomon and the Canaanite Dionysus……... 176 11.1 Situating the Wisdom of Solomon………………………………… 176 11.2 The Tragic Rituals of the Canaanites……………………………… 178 11.3 Conclusions……………………………….……………………….. 185 Chapter 12 – Dio Chrysostom, the Alexandrian Mob, and Euripidean Maenads…………………………………….187 12.1 Dio Chrysostom: Orator and Empire……………………………… 187 12.2 The Alexandrian Oration: On Performances and Mobs………….. 190 12.3 Alexandrians and the Credibility of Euripides’ Mythology………. 192 12.4 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 196 Part VI – Modifying Madness: Dionysiac Reversals in Judaism and Christianity….. 197 Chapter 13 – Philo of Alexandria’s Religious Ambivalences: (Anti-)Dionysiac Hermeneutics in De ebrietate………..….. 198 13.1 Moses on Wine, Gender, and Dionysus in De ebrietate…………. 199 13.2 Interrogating Hannah’s Sobriety and Femininity…………………. 202 13.3 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 205 Chapter 14 – The Acts of the Apostles and the Rationalization of Inspired Speech…………………………………………. 207 14.1 Acts and the Bacchae: Status quaestionis………………………… 208 14.2 Narrating Madness and Moderation in Acts 26………………….. 213 14.2.1 A Greek Proverb in Hebrew Dialect: Authenticating Divine Discourse in Acts 26:14…………… 213 14.2.2 Persecution and Conversion in Acts 26: Undoing a Dionysiac Paradox……..…………………........ 218 14.3 “Each in Their Own Dialect”: Dionysus and Inspired Speech in Acts 2…......…………………... 221 14.3.1 Drinking Early? Intoxication as Divine Inspiration……..... 222 14.3.2 The Politics of Pentecost: Language and Power in Acts 2…………………………… 228 14.4 Conclusions………………………………………………………… 234