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The Roman god Bacchus

The Roman god Bacchus as a Christian icon

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Before the acceptance of Christianity, Roman polytheism was dominant in the western world.  Rome's borders extended as far west as Britain and as far east as modern day Greece and Turkey.  To help ease the transition to Christianity, the Christians cleverly chose to disguise Jesus in such a way as to hide him from the pagans, blending him into the existing society.  By likening his imagery to an already existing Roman god, Christianity found a foothold in the Empire while also protecting its followers from religious treason.  Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and ecstasy, was the Christians' iconographic choice.

Bacchus was the Greco-Roman god associated with mental and physical duality.  His mythology began in Greece, under the name Dionysus, a foreign god joining an already existing civilization (Dionysus and Bacchus are comparable deities, but for the purpose of this article, "Bacchus" will be utilized to discuss the pagan god to avoid confusion).

In Euripides' Bacchae, Bacchus came to Greece from a far off land and shook up the Thracian king with his new religious practices and effeminate ways.  The Bacchanalia, a procession of satyrs and overly drunken women, led to the king's disapproval of Bacchus' religion, eventually resulting in the death of the Thracian king.  Though this particular myth is vastly different from the stories of Jesus, there are similar visual themes the Christians expertly borrowed in their symbolic portrayal of Jesus to aid the Romans in accepting the new religion, allowing it to eventually become the primary faith of the empire.

Bacchus

Bacchus, by Simeon Solomon. c. 1867 (Image Source)

On the surface, the similarities between Bacchus and Jesus are easily evident.  Both gods are first depicted as youthful and feminine.  Bacchus is intended to be androgynous, with long flowing hair and a soft face.  Jesus, however, is in part portrayed young to reveal his innocence, highlighting his purity.  In numerous catacombs in the city of Rome, there are images of the young Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the protector of the lambs of God—the human race.  These early depictions in the catacombs reveal a young—but adult—shepherd, holding a lamb either in his arms or by his side.    

As time goes on, both Bacchus and Jesus begin to age—they start to look more like adult men as their beards grow and their bodies become more muscular, as depicted in ancient artworks.  Both exhibit these older attributes after their particular religious sects have been respected for years.  As Bacchus and Jesus were both new characters in the eyes of the Romans—Bacchus was new to the Greco-Roman pantheon comparatively, and Jesus was the son of the new Christian God—their depictions both began as the youth of the religions, the babes of two very different faiths.  Thus, when their images begin to age, it is symbolic of their wisdom and knowledge as deities, and the admiration they had gained from their followers.

There is also an important similarity between these two figures in that their early imagery reveals that their faiths were initially targeted toward women in the beginning of their worships.  Men were the religious leaders of both societies, and women were commonly ignored or pushed to the side.  To gain a position within the Roman culture, both Bacchus and Jesus had to show a value for women, giving them a voice in the male-dominated world.  The primary worshippers of Bacchus were the Maenads, women who reached a heightened level of ecstasy through excessive drinking.  According to Greco-Roman thought, the drinking allowed the women (and the few men who participated) to achieve a spiritual release they were otherwise not allowed because of the norms of their society.  Religious worship, however, temporarily exempted them from these rules. 

The Bacchanalia

The Bacchanalia: Bacchanal before a Statue of Pan, 1631 – 1633, Nicolas Poussin (Public Domain)

Similarly, Jesus showed an interest in women by taking the time to heal those who otherwise were ignored and exiled.  One of the images found in the catacombs relates to the Woman with the Issue of Blood who was cleansed by Jesus after reaching for his robe, her faith in his power alone healing her.  According to the Biblical account, the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection was a woman, Mary Magdalene, who herself travelled with the twelve apostles.  Both Bacchus and Jesus emphasized the importance of women early in their mythologies by providing women with the attention they desired from their deities right away.  By focusing on women, a large faction of supporters rose around both men quickly, the power of the forgotten ones.  This was a very strong image in both Greco-Roman and early Christian culture, and both were commonly depicted with women in their art.

Christ healing a bleeding woman

Christ healing a bleeding woman, as depicted in the Catacombs of Rome. (Public Domain)

Finally, one of the most pertinent (and evident) artistic similarities between Bacchus and Jesus of Nazareth is their affiliation with wine.  Bacchus' association is most apparent since the primary part of his Bacchanalia is the heavy drinking that elevates the minds of the participants.  In many Greco-Roman depictions of this procession, women are shown heavily drinking with the satyrs—half men and half-goats—nearly falling off their donkeys as they ride through the procession. Jesus, however, is associated with wine in a much more formal manner.  In his art, there are numerous references to the Eucharist, the spiritual and sometimes physical transformation of his blood into wine, and his flesh into bread.  This remains a primary focus of Catholic religious practices.  This is most often depicted in early Christian art as the Last Supper, the final feast before his death, which implies the importance of wine to his followers, just as it was important to those of Bacchus.

Jesus transforms water into wine

Jesus transforms water into wine. Detail of The Marriage at Cana by Marten de Vos, c. 1596 (Public Domain)

The purpose of these correlations between Bacchus and Jesus is not to claim they were the same being or that one was designed in the other's image.  Bacchus remains one of the foremost young gods of the Greco-Roman religion, and Jesus remains the focus of the Christian faith.  The purpose of revealing the artistic resemblances between a pagan god and the son of the Christian God is to show one of the ways in which Christianity came to be accepted two thousand years ago.  In spite of the existing religions, Christianity became one of the three primary religions worldwide, which was made possible because such visual similarities allowed the ancient Christians to hide their new faith from the Romans, thus protecting it from total destruction. 

Featured image: Triumph of Bacchus, oil on canvas by Ciro Ferri, 17th century. Image Source.

By Riley Winters

References

Euripides. The Bacchae (Focus Publishing, Massachusetts, 1998.)

Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art: With Illustrations from Paintings from the Renaissance (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1966.)

Freke, Timothy and Peter Gandy. The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God? (Harmony Books, New York, 2001.)

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology (Warner Books: New York, 1969.)

Henig, Martin. A Handbook of Roman Art: A comprehensive survey of all the arts of the Roman world (Cornell University Press: New York, 1983.)

Jensen, Robert M. Understanding Early Christian Art (Routledge, Kentucky, 2000.)

Mathews, Thomas. The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 1995.)

Rodgers, Nigel. Life in Ancient Rome People and Places (Hermes House: London, 2006.)

Schiller, Gertrud. Iconography of Christian art (Volume 1) (New York Graphic Society, New York, 1971.)

 

Comments

We always appreciate when readers share their thoughts on articles, however, personal attacks or inflamatory criticism is not very constructive. Please do not paint our readers (which includes, obviously, yourself) as ‘small minds that cant think for themselves’. In fact, the more controversial ideas we and our authors present, the more critical thought and debate ensues, and the more the reader’s mind grows and flourishes. 

This is the STUPIDEST ARTICLE I have EVER READ!!, First of all NONE of what you call the Roman Gods have been proven JUST CONJECTURE!! FAKE A FALSEHOOD.. However when you talk about REAL CHRISTIANITY not the Roman Catholic VATICAN B.S., it can be proven by the DEAD SEA SCROLLS so stop spewing you LIES to small minds that cant think for themselves. So just like Satan you mixed the truth with lies to confuse people. Father God the God above ALL GODs I pray in the Sweet name of Jesus that whoever reads this article will see right through the lies. But by this it will prompt anyone who wants to know the real truth to find it. In Jesus name AMEN

Moonsong's picture

What an illuminating article! Great and very interesting theory. This idea never entered my mind (though I was very aware of the Christian’s way of adopting local customs and festivities into their calendar in order to belnd in and be accepted by different cultures. Very well researched.

   

- Moonsong
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A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world ~ Oscar Wilde

Roberto Peron's picture

I don't think the early Christians were trying to diguise Jesus or hide him from the "pagans."  The Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity but also still accepted the Roman pantheon at the same time.  As far as I can see from the historical accounts Jesus was accepted BUT with some modifications by Constantine.  For instance, he told a church council, "I am your ONLY savior."  Constantine also fancied himself as the 13th Apostle.  He also, at times, dictated to the church council and, of course, they accepted his dictates as they knew well what Constantine would do to them if they refused.

But this is not really the major point of this article.  The primary point is women and their liberation.  Jesus was surrounded with women and this becomes evident from the biblical accounts.  Women were important in what was the Christian MOVEMENT (no it did not begin as a religion).  Women play a vital and important role in early Christianity.  Not only was the resurrection discovered by a woman (Mary M.) but after Jesus' death and resurrection it was women who opened up their homes and gave money to the Apostles so they could continue to preach Jesus' message of freedom.  Had it not been for women then Christianity would most likely have died as many movements before it had died.  So where did women get the bad rap?

You can thank the early Roman Catholic Church for that rap.  If you research and read the comments and writings of several of the so called "early church fathers" you get the clear point that they detested women in general.  One wrote that women are the "gateways to hell."  Others wrote that they were "all whores and prostitutes."  And it goes on and on through the centuries.  Disgusting!  And what we ended up with is a MALE dominated church and clergy which we still have today!!  Again, DISGUSTING!!  The fact is the church waged massive attacks against women in the 3rd and 4th centuries and removed WOMEN priests and WOMEN bishops from power which existed in some areas.  And then came the Cathars and we all know what the church did to them.  They held women as equal to men and that was one of their beliefs that so infuriated the Pope.  So the Pope sent in armies of returning Crusaders to silence them forever.  Yet there was a problem.  The soldiers couldn't figure out who was a Cathar and who was a good Catholic.  Ah, but the Pope had a "solution."  His solution?  He instructed the soldiers to, and I quote, "Kill them all and let God sort them out!"  And so it was done!!  And, as they say, the rest is history.

The Pope at the time was Innocent III and he ordered what has come to be known as the Albigensian Crusade.  The Cathars held many Gnostic Christian beliefs and one of those beliefs was the equality of women which went against everything in the Roman Church at the time.  This is NOT an attack on Christianity as it is historical fact.  The history of Christendom is a bloody one and that too is historical fact.  Some theologians and researchers have gone as far as saying Jesus may have had women apostles with him in additon to the 12 male Apostles.  Of course, if he did we will never know as I'm sure that tidbit of history has been scrubbed extremely clean! 

So, here's my point.  Had it not been for WOMEN (ie: Mary Magdalene) we may well have never known about the resurrection as she was the woman who went to the tomb and first discovered it.  Yet, this poor woman was painted as a "whore" by the church!  I think, most likely, she was anything BUT!!

 

 

I have to agree to this. In many classical stories, The daughters of Bacchus were really famous for getting drunk, becoming frenzied and tearing people apart like King Pentheus and Orpheus. And they could get away with doing that because the God in the wine caused them to do it-and most people knew to stay away from there parties if they didnt want to die-. It’s just something that was accepted in the past.  I don’t recall any Christian stories where people got drunk and went after others. 

Both Jesus and Bacchus might have some similar symbols but the meaning behind the symbolism for each seems very differnt. 

 

--Still learning--

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Riley Winters's picture

Riley

Riley Winters is a Pre-PhD art historical, archaeological, and philological researcher who holds a degree in Classical Studies and Art History, and a Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor from Christopher Newport University. She is also a graduate of Celtic and Viking... Read More

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