ABSTRACT
Outside the royal palace of Kadmean Thebes, a figure speaks: I…am Dionysos, son of the king of gods,… I have come a long way. From Lydia and Phrygia, The lands of the golden rivers, Across the sun-baked steppes of Persia, Through the cities of Bactria, Smiling Arabia, and all the Anatolian coast, Where the salt seas beat on turreted strongholds Of Greek and Türk. I have set them all dancing; They have learned to worship me And know me for what I am: A god. And now, I have come to Greece… Euripides, The Bacchae lines 14–21 (Curry 1981:118–19)
