Dionysus and the Pirates

Greeking Out from National Geographic Kids

In this episode of Greeking Out, Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and ecstasy, embarks on a mischievous adventure after being mistaken for a wealthy prince by a group of pirates.

Key takeaways

• Dionysus uses his shapeshifting abilities not just for escape but as playful manipulation of mortal expectations.

Main topics

• Greek mythology
• Shapeshifting

Notable quotes

Guess I'm a hard guy to tie up, he said with a snort.

Conclusion

Dionysus's journey from playful trickster to compassionate companion culminates in a heartfelt

Transcript preview

Speaker 5 (0:00) The stories featured in Greeking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths. This tale features the art of shapeshifting, the grisly death of many greedy pirates, an abandoned princess, and really big cats. Speaker 3 (0:29) If you've been listening to the show for a while now, you probably know that most of the Greek gods are a little, how should I put it, uptight? Let's put it this way. Fun and easygoing aren't exactly the words that come to me when I describe the Greek gods. After all, they're supposed to be powerful like Zeus or intimidating like Hades or wise like Athena. But not all of the gods took themselves so seriously. Some of them. like to cut loose and have a good time every now and then, and when it came to having fun, no one did the job better than Dionysus. Speaker 1 (1:08) Dionysus was the Greek god of many things, including fruitfulness, vegetation, wine, and pleasure. He is known for having lots of fun and traveling with a herd of devoted half-man, half-animal. Exactly. Speaker 3 (1:26) Dionysus was known for his easy breezy, carefree attitude. And over time, he developed the reputation of being Mount Olympus's top party animal. If you wanted to have a wild adventure, you called Dionysus. But he was also a little bit of a trickster. He loved to play pranks on people. And like many of the gods, Dionysus could shapeshift into different forms. Unlike other gods who prefer to change into hawks or bulls or other powerful creatures, Dionysus liked to change into a human. This allowed him to hang out with people and learn more about the mortal world, and it also gave him the opportunity to have lots of fun and get into lots of trouble. As a god, Dionysus attracted a lot of attention, but when he was a mortal, even an incredibly handsome mortal, people were much more willing to relax and let their guard down around him. He got to observe the human race firsthand, and he had a great time attending their parties, spending their money, and eating and drinking all of their delicious foods. I mean, being a human wasn't all that bad, really. Speaker 1 (2:31) Even though we know Dionysus was worshipped in ancient Greece from as early as the 13th century BCE. He was always shown as a foreign god coming to Greece from somewhere else. Speaker 3 (2:47) Oh, that's interesting. I did not know that. Anyway, one morning, after a long night of partying in his human form, Dionysus was taking a leisurely walk by the sea. He was just thinking about how much fun it was to be a human and not be responsible for anything when he saw a ship approaching. Dionysus could tell right away that this was no ordinary ship. Pirates, Dionysus said to himself with glee. Oh, this should be fun. Speaker 1 (3:18) The exact timeline of this adventure is not clear. The oldest historical references to piracy date back to ancient Egypt. Piracy has been a profession for a long time. When Speaker 3 (3:34) the pirates saw Dionysus standing on the shore, he just looked like a normal dude all by himself. Very kidnappable, if you will. They had no idea that they were looking at the god of wine festivities and insanity. He Speaker 1 (3:48) is not the god of insanity. He is the god of ecstasy. Speaker 3 (3:54) Right. Okay, but I kind of thought that meant the same thing. I mean, we normally use ecstasy to mean a state of feeling really good, but its original meaning was kind of like insanity, wasn't it? I mean... The Speaker 1 (4:05) word ecstasy originally meant a wild religious frenzy. or trance-like state brought on by worshipping the gods. Speaker 3 (4:16) Okay, so it's like acting wild but in a religious way in order to honor the gods. Okay, I get it. All right. Speaker 1 (4:22) Dionysus is also the god of big cats. Speaker 3 (4:27) Big cats? You've got to be kidding me. Speaker 3 (4:33) Kitten me. Speaker 1 (4:34) This podcast has too many puns. No more cat puns. Speaker 3