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