Editing Semele (section)

{{short description|Mother of Dionysus in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Stimula|a synonym of a genus of grass skipper butterflies|Koruthaialos }}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Semele
| deity_of = Princess of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]<br>Goddess of the Bacchic frenzy
| image = Jupiter and Semele by Gustave Moreau.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = ''[[Jupiter and Semele]]'' (1894-95)<br>by [[Gustave Moreau]]
| abode = Thebes, [[Mount Olympus]]
| gender = 
| consort = [[Zeus]]
| parents = [[Cadmus]] and  [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]]
| siblings = [[Autonoë of Thebes|Autonoë]], [[Agave of Thebes|Agave]], [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]] and [[Polydorus of Thebes|Polydorus]]
| children = [[Dionysus]]
| member_of = the Theban Royal Family
| other_names = Thyone
}}

'''Semele''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɛ|m|ɪ|l|i}}; {{Langx|grc|Σεμέλη|Semélē}}), or '''Thyone''' ({{IPAc-en|θ|aɪ|'|əʊ|n|i}}; {{Langx|grc|Θυώνη|Thyṓnē}}) in [[Greek mythology]], was the youngest daughter of [[Cadmus]] and [[Harmonia (Greek goddess)|Harmonia]], and the mother<ref>Although Dionysus is called the son of Zeus (see [http://www.greektheatre.gr/cult.html The cult of Dionysus : legends and practice] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011212745/http://greektheatre.gr/cult.html |date=2007-10-11 }}, [http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Dionysos.html Dionysus, Greek god of wine & festivity], [http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/gods/olympians.htm The Olympian Gods] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002120759/http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/gods/olympians.htm |date=2007-10-02 }}, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20131017093327/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1052.html Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]}}, [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Dionysus.html The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2007], etc.), Barbara Walker, in ''The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets,'' (Harper/Collins, 1983) calls Semele the "Virgin Mother of Dionysus", a term that contradicts the picture given in the ancient sources: [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap20.html Hesiod] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106231049/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap20.html |date=2008-01-06 }} calls him "Dionysus whom Cadmus' daughter Semele bare of union with Zeus", [http://www.greece.com/library/euripidis/bacchantes_06.html Euripides] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724124222/http://www.greece.com/library/euripidis/bacchantes_06.html |date=2008-07-24 }} calls him son of Zeus, [http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.3.third.html#323 Ovid] tells how his mother Semele, rather than Hera, was "to Jove's embrace preferred", [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Aabo%3Atlg%2C0548%2C001&query=3%3A4%3A3 Apollodorus] says that "Zeus loved Semele and bedded with her".</ref> of [[Dionysus]] by [[Zeus]] in one of his many [[origin myth]]s.

Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from the [[Phrygia]]ns.<ref>Martin Nillson (1967).''Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion, Vol I''. C. H. Beck Verlag. München p. 378</ref> These were modified, expanded, and elaborated by the Ionian [[Greeks|Greek]] invaders and colonists. [[Dorians|Doric Greek]] historian [[Herodotus]] (c. 484–425 BC), born in the city of [[Halicarnassus]] under the [[Achaemenid Empire]], who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived either 1,000 or 1,600 years prior to his visit to [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] in 450 BC at the end of the [[Greco-Persian Wars]] (499–449 BC) or around 2050 or 1450 BC.<ref>{{cite book|author=Herodotus|author-link=Herodotus|translator-last=de Sélincourt|translator-first=Aubrey|editor-last=Marincola|editor-first=John|year=2003|orig-year=1954|title=Histories|title-link=Histories (Herodotus)|place=New York|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|edition=Reprint|page=155|isbn=978-0140449082|quote=But from the birth of [[Dionysus]], the son of Semele, daughter of [[Cadmus]], to the present day is a period of about 1000 years only; ...}}</ref><ref>Herodotus, Histories, II, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126;query=chapter%3D%23367;layout=;loc=2.144.1 2.145]</ref> In Rome, the goddess [[#In Roman culture|Stimula]] was identified as Semele.

Semele was the subject of the now lost [[Greek tragedy|tragedy]] by [[Aeschylus]] called ''Semele'' (''Σεμέλη'') or ''Wool-Carders'' (''Ξάντριαι'').<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Aeschylus |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/221175214 |title=Fragments |last2=Sommerstein |first2=Alan H. |date=2008 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-99629-8 |series=Loeb classical library |location=Cambridge, Mass |pages=224 |oclc=221175214}}</ref>