What are the two cotrasting ideas associated with Dionysus worship?
In the Bacchae by Euripedes (I’ll be very embarrassed if I’m remembering it wrong and it was Sophocles), he portrays the worshippers of Dionysus as living a peaceful, hippie, natural existence out in the forest. The Maenads could scratch the earth with their fingernails and milk or wine would flow out for them to drink, for instance. However, he also portrays them as feral and violent–ripping off Pentheus’ head, for instance.
