The Bucket List Book Adventure: Euripides’ Bacchae – Chaos, Faith, and the Search for Wisdom

 The Bucket List Book Adventure: Book 14 – Bacchae

by a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads – Art & Other Odd Adventures

Dear Henry,

Book 14 of the Bucket List Book Adventure, Euripides’ Bacchae, is complete! Let me tell you all about it.

Written near the end of Euripides’ life (c. 484–406 BC), Bacchae was performed posthumously at the Festival of Dionysus in 405 BC, and it won. Of the three great tragedians, I’ve found Euripides to be the darkest. Hippolytus made me whisper “wow,” but Bacchae struck much closer to home.

The play tells the story of Dionysus’ confrontation with Theban King Pentheus, his mother Agave, and his grandfather Cadmus, each of whom had denied the god’s divinity. Dionysus, born of Zeus and the mortal Semele (daughter of Cadmus), was hidden away after his mother’s death, a tragedy caused by Hera’s jealousy, which led Semele to look upon Zeus in his true form.

Now grown and divine, Dionysus returns to Thebes in disguise, accompanied by his ecstatic followers, the Bacchae. When Thebes refuses to honor him, he drives the city’s women into a frenzy, turning them into Maenads who worship wildly on the slopes of Mount Cithaeron.

Pentheus, curious and arrogant, arrests the disguised god, only for Dionysus to destroy the palace with earthquake and fire before luring the king into one of the most chilling downfalls in Greek tragedy. Disguised as a woman to spy on the Bacchic rites, Pentheus is torn to pieces by the very women of Thebes, led by his mother Agave, who believes she’s killed a lion.

Only when Cadmus shows her the truth, that she holds her son’s head, does the horror fully descend. Dionysus, unyielding, banishes Agave and her sisters and transforms Cadmus and his wife into snakes.

Euripides’ lines echo through every age:

“He who speaks wisdom to a fool will be thought a fool itself.”

“To be clever is not to be wise.”

“Happy the man who has escaped storm at sea and found harbor.”

Too often, Dionysus is remembered as the happy god of wine and laughter, the eternal party boy who brings music, joy, and charm. But Bacchae reveals his true nature: a god of chaos, intoxication, and destruction.

That struck deeply for me. I have known people who lived under his influence, people who worshiped the thrill of abandon, who believed ecstasy excused cruelty. Dionysus is the god of my parents, of the man who hit me in “the accident,” and of all the destruction left in that wake.

And perhaps that’s why Bacchae resonated so strongly. It reminded me why I turned away from that chaos and sought the structure and quiet faith of Catholicism. This play didn’t just close a chapter of ancient tragedy; it reaffirmed that leaving that kind of worship behind was the right choice.

Next up: Herodotus’ Histories — and it’s already proving to be quite the journey.

Stay tuned,

xoxo a.d. elliott

*Note* The Bucket List Book Adventure continues on Rite of Fancy — my literary corner of the Take the Back Roads journey.  Come read more reflections on philosophy, faith, and the books that shape the road.

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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia. 

In addition to her travel writings at www.takethebackroads.com, you can also read her book reviews at www.riteoffancy.com and US military biographies at www.everydaypatriot.com

Her online photography gallery can be found at shop.takethebackroads.com

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