Womenâs Dance for Dionysus: the Godâs Gift

Eva Stehle

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Chapter 3 Womenâs Dance for Dionysus: the Godâs Gift

In: Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

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Eva Stehle

Eva Stehle
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 35â52

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004741966_005

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Abstract

This chapter investigates womenâs informal dancing for the god Dionysus. Despite receiving a significant amount of attention in previous scholarship, this chapter argues that it has been mischaracterized. Similar to other forms of ritualized actions, I argue that womenâs informal dancing for Dionysus had its own logic and goals. This chapterâs ultimate contention is that the women who danced for Dionysus, including those at a bakcheion, experienced a kind of physical liberation by raising their level of physical energy until they âfeltâ the godâs presence urging them on, which, in turn, impelled them to celebrate this quasi-maternal relationship to him. Those who achieved a state of flow, in which their dance responded to his presence, sought out more opportunities for such creative interactions between the self and the god in the performance of dance.

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Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

Models from the Ancient Mediterranean to the Present Day; Essays in Honor of Sarah Iles Johnston

Series:Â Numen Book Series, Volume: 181

Cover Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004741966

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 07 Nov 2025

Subjects
- Religious Studies
  - Comparative Religion & Religious Studies

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Chapter 3 Womenâs Dance for Dionysus: the Godâs Gift

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Navigating the Study of Myth, Ritual, and Belief

Models from the Ancient Mediterranean to the Present Day; Essays in Honor of Sarah Iles Johnston

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Chapter 3 Womenâs Dance for Dionysus: the Godâs Gift