ZEITGEIST: THE MOVIE

child ―Dusares‖ which means ―Only son of the ruler of all.‖ The same thing happens on this same
night in Alexandria, in Petra and also in the city of Elusa. 163
Joseph Campbell confirms this ―celebration of the birth of the year-god Aion to the virgin Goddess Kore,‖
the latter of whom he calls ―a Hellenized transformation of Isis.‖ 164
Virgin Birth: According to the most common tradition, Dionysus was the son of the god Zeus and the
mortal woman Semele. In the Cretan version of the same story, which Diodorus Siculus follows, Dionysus
was the son of Zeus and Persephone, the daughter of Demeter also called Kore, who, as we have seen,
is styled a ―virgin goddess.‖
In the common myth about the birth of Dionysus/Bacchus, Semele is mysteriously impregnated by one of
Zeus‘s bolts of lightning—an obvious miraculous/virgin conception. In another account, Jupiter/Zeus gives
Dionysus‘s torn-up heart in a drink to Semele, who becomes pregnant with the ―twice born‖ god this
way, 165 again a miraculous or ―virgin‖ birth. Indeed, Joseph Campbell explicitly calls Semele a ―virgin‖:
While the maiden goddess sat there, peacefully weaving a mantle on which there was to be a
representation of the universe, her mother contrived that Zeus should learn of her presence; he
approached her in the form of an immense snake. And the virgin conceived the ever-dying, everliving
god of bread and wine, Dionysus, who was born and nurtured in that cave, torn to death as
a babe and resurrected... 166
This same direct appellation is used by Cambridge professor and anthropologist Sir Dr. Edmund Ronald
Leach:
Dionysus, son of Zeus, is born of a mortal virgin, Semele, who later became immortalized through
the intervention of her divine son; Jesus, son of God, is born of a mortal virgin, Mary… such
stories can be duplicated over and over again. 167
In The Cult of the Divine Birth in Ancient Greece, Dr. Marguerite Rigoglioso concludes: ―Semele was also
likely a holy parthenos by virtue of the fact that she gave birth to Dionysus via her union with Zeus
(Hesiod, Theogony 940).‖ 168
These learned individuals had reason to consider Dionysus‘s mother a virgin, as, again, he was also said
to have been born of Persephone/Kore, whom, again from Epiphanius, was herself deemed a ―virgin,‖ or
parthenos, as was the title both in the ancient Greek-speaking world as well as in modern scholarship. In
this regard, professor emeritus of Classics at the University of Pennsylvania Dr. Donald White says, ―As a
title ‗Parthenos‘ was appropriate to both Demeter and Persephone...‖ 169
In any event, the effect is the same: Dionysus is born of a god and a virgin mother.
Miracles: The miracles of Dionysus are legendary, as is his role as the god of wine, echoed in the later
Christian story of Jesus multiplying the jars of wine at the wedding feast of Cana (Jn 2:1-9). Concerning
this miracle, biblical scholar Dr. A.J. Mattill remarks:
This story is really the Christian counterpart to the pagan legends of Dionysus, the Greek god of
wine, who at his annual festival in his temple of Elis filled three empty kettles with wine—no water
needed! And on the fifth of January wine instead of water gushed from his temple at Andros. If we
believe Jesus‘ miracle, why should we not believe Dionysus‘s? 170
Concerning Dionysus‘s miracles, Murdock states:
163 Rahner, 137-138. For a lengthy discussion of this important passage in Epiphanius, which was edited out of the
Migne edition, see Murdock, CIE, 84-88.
164 Campbell, MI, 34.
165 van den Berg, 288.
166 Campbell, MG, 27.
167 Hugh-Jones, 108.
168 Rigoglioso, 95.
169 White, 183.
170 Leedom, 125.