2 reviews
This time the presenter, historian Bettany Hughes, travels around Europe and Asia in order to reconstruct the cult of the Greek god Dionysos. Among the topics treated : the birth of tragedy as a theatrical genre, the modern-day survival of certain Greek rites, the age-old origins of wine making plus vineyard cultivation and Mankind's immemorial liking for moments of rapture, oblivion and transcendence. Unsurprisingly, this last ambition overlaps significantly with Mankind's desire to get blotto every now and then.
Some of the objects shown impress through their great age : for instance, the documentary shows an eight-thousand-years-old wine pot, found in Georgia, in the Caucasus. This means that Humanity must have discovered the joys of communal wine-making and, especially, communal wine-drinking early on, possibly around the time when nomadic hunter-gatherers morphed into more sedentary farmers. The roots of civilization may be wetter than many joyless accountants are willing to admit.
"Bacchus uncovered" includes some rarely-seen material, such as a rather unique mosaic found on Cyprus. The mosaic dates back to a time when Dionysos and Christ were battling for primacy in men's hearts. It's a mind-blowingly strange thing which seems to suggest that somewhere around the fourth century Pagans were trying to use Christian iconography against itself. It defies description and, indeed, may have done so even in the fourth century.
People willing to get into the spirit of things can do worse than attack a bottle of good red while watching the documentary. Moreover, viewers capable of reading Dutch should not neglect to read Godfried Bomans' "Kent gij Dionysos ?", with its rather funny classification of drunks. (Bomans distinguished three types, to wit the Promethean, the Dionysian and the "Untergang des Abendlandes" melancholic.)
Some of the objects shown impress through their great age : for instance, the documentary shows an eight-thousand-years-old wine pot, found in Georgia, in the Caucasus. This means that Humanity must have discovered the joys of communal wine-making and, especially, communal wine-drinking early on, possibly around the time when nomadic hunter-gatherers morphed into more sedentary farmers. The roots of civilization may be wetter than many joyless accountants are willing to admit.
"Bacchus uncovered" includes some rarely-seen material, such as a rather unique mosaic found on Cyprus. The mosaic dates back to a time when Dionysos and Christ were battling for primacy in men's hearts. It's a mind-blowingly strange thing which seems to suggest that somewhere around the fourth century Pagans were trying to use Christian iconography against itself. It defies description and, indeed, may have done so even in the fourth century.
People willing to get into the spirit of things can do worse than attack a bottle of good red while watching the documentary. Moreover, viewers capable of reading Dutch should not neglect to read Godfried Bomans' "Kent gij Dionysos ?", with its rather funny classification of drunks. (Bomans distinguished three types, to wit the Promethean, the Dionysian and the "Untergang des Abendlandes" melancholic.)
- myriamlenys
- Mar 17, 2023
- Permalink
"Dionusus is even talked about as transgender."
Oh please stop with the patently forced PC. That is one mention out of literally tens of thousands of mentions of Dionysus. As far as the relief with supposed "possible breasts" a) the experts are not even sure that is Dionysus; and b) because of Greek style and general androgynous portrayal by some Greek artists, one cloud make that claim of any figure, mythological or historic, portrayed more than 50 times in Greek art since one will find some portion that look androgynous. And "transgender" and androgyny are NOT the same thing
oh and Dionysian is a fusion? this is some kind of discovery. What god isn't? Allah is, Christ is, Yahweh is and all the pantheons of the ancient polytheism are.
Hughes' early presentations for example on Helen were passable despite the errors and strange injections of modern sensibilities. But of late she really has gone off the rails.
Oh please stop with the patently forced PC. That is one mention out of literally tens of thousands of mentions of Dionysus. As far as the relief with supposed "possible breasts" a) the experts are not even sure that is Dionysus; and b) because of Greek style and general androgynous portrayal by some Greek artists, one cloud make that claim of any figure, mythological or historic, portrayed more than 50 times in Greek art since one will find some portion that look androgynous. And "transgender" and androgyny are NOT the same thing
oh and Dionysian is a fusion? this is some kind of discovery. What god isn't? Allah is, Christ is, Yahweh is and all the pantheons of the ancient polytheism are.
Hughes' early presentations for example on Helen were passable despite the errors and strange injections of modern sensibilities. But of late she really has gone off the rails.
- random-70778
- Apr 2, 2019
- Permalink