Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews July 2017

Andrew Dalby, The Story of Bacchus

(British Museum Press, 2005)

The Story of Bacchus is a novella-length “biography” of the Greco-Roman God of Wine drawing from the original ancient sources of his mythology. All the major episodes of Bacchus’ life are here – his conception and birth, his upbringing among the nymphs and satyrs, his creation of wine, and his many encounters with mortals. Dalby does a great job of stitching together these separate accounts into a flowing, chronological narrative, and what’s more, he pairs his romantic, and often humorous, re-tellings of the stories with historical analysis and interpretation. One would think that this result in a confused or distracting text, but amazingly it works well. I really enjoyed it, and it certainly made me more interested in this deity. I can imagine it being a source of inspiration and knowledge for any modern-day Maenads!