Bacchae
Background
Bacchae is a tragedy play written by ancient Greek playwright Euripides in the last years of his life and first performed a couple years later at the City Dionysia festival. It is one of the 19 surviving plays written by Euripides and currently is widely performed.
Synopsis
The play begins with Dionysus, the god of theater and wine, arriving at Thebes in disguise, to establish worship to himself at the city. Meanwhile, several followers of Dionysus are performing rituals in the forest. Tiresias, Cadmus, and Pentheus (the king of Thebes and son of Cadmus) discuss the worshiping of a new god in the city, but the lattermost rejects the god's divinity and refuses to worship. Pentheus also demands the priest (who is Dionysus in disguise) and anyone participating in the worship of the new god to be arrested. Despite being put in confinement, Dionysus escapes and burns the place. A messenger alerts Pentheus to the terrors of the god's followers and how the planned arrests were failing, who then requests for Dionysus' appearance. He soon dresses up as a woman and follows the god into the forest to spy on his followers. However, Dionysus reveals himself and Pentheus to the followers, and the king of Thebes was torn apart by the followers. Agave, Pentheus' mother and one of the followers, returns home and brings Pentheus' head, believing it was that of a lion's. Cadmus brings his wife back to reality, making her realize the truth.
Lines 810-842, Bacchae
References
Editors of GreekMythology.com. "The Bacchae." GreekMythology.com, January 30, 2020. https://www.greekmythology.com/Plays/Euripides/The_Bacchae/the_bacchae.html.
Swan, Marissa. "Bacchae." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified July 03, 2018. https://www.worldhistory.org/Bacchae/.
Work, Valerie. "The Bacchae." CliffsNotes, July 7, 2022. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/the-bacchae.