What was Zagreus the god of?

Zagreus was a powerful underworld god closely associated with the wine god Dionysus, Orphism, and hunting. What little is known of Zagreus outside his association with Dionysus comes from fragments of lost works of Greek literature.

How did Zeus and Persephone have the child Zagreus?

Persephone, wife of Hades, is seduced by Zeus, who has taken the form of a dragon. From their intercourse, the child Zagreus was born, and he was taken to the sacred Mount Ida by Zeus.

Zagreus

Server Costs Fundraiser 2024

Help our mission to provide free history education to the world! Please donate and contribute to covering our server costs in 2024. With your support, millions of people learn about history entirely for free every month.

$3926 / $18000

❤ Donate

Definition

In ancient Greek mythology, Zagreus is a god closely associated with the wine god Dionysus, the underworld, and hunting. A son of Zeus and Persephone, he is known in the Orphic tradition as the first incarnation of Dionysus, whilst other stories identify him as the son of Hades or even as Hades himself.

More about: Zagreus

Timeline

c. 1200 BCE
The Median clans are among the Indo-Iranian migrant tribes from Central Asia and/or Caucasus to North Zagros, Iran.
c. 600 BCE
The lost epic poem Alcmeonis is thought to have been penned. It contains the earliest known mention of Zagreus.
c. 200 BCE
Around when Dionysian rites were first performed in Rome, known there as Bacchanalia.
c. 400 CE
Nonnus writes the Dionysiaca, which tells the life of Dionysos. At 48 books and 20,426 lines it is the longest surviving poem from Greco-Roman antiquity.