ABSTRACT
In one of the most striking scenes of Greek drama, King Pentheus of Thebes, after his violent opposition to the arrival of the new Dionysiac cult, is persuaded by Dionysos to appear on stage disguised as a maenad (i.e. a female follower of the god). What I propose is a new interpretation of this scene that tentatively suggests a possible relationship between initiation, identity and psychoanalysis. My concern is not with women (there are no women in the scene, and my other material is also male-centred) but with gender, in particular with the inversion of gender.
