Dionysus (Greek) / Bacchus (Roman)
God of wine, ecstasy, and individual salvation.
Woodland spirits typically followed Dionysus. Of these, his companions were the Sileni: hairy and drunken (but somehow still intelligent) men, with horse's ears; the others were the satyrs: lustful, horse or goat-like men who were also very drunk. They protected fertility in the soil. His human comrades were women called Maenads.
One tradition states that Zeus had an affair with Semele, a princess of Thebes. She became pregnant with Dionysus. Hera, his wife, got jealous and disguised herself as Semele's nurse. She told Semele to demand that Zeus should show her he was a true god by revealing himself to her in his pure form. The light shriveled her to death, but Zeus saved the unborn Dionysus and stitched him into his thigh until he was ready to be come out into the world.
The festival of Bacchanalia involved people dressing up as characters from their favorite myths. Bacchae, a play by Euripides, was a wild show. Rituals performed in the play were shocking: indecent acts were performed by priestesses, animals were maimed, and there were raucous drunken scenes.
Extra Facts: King Midas
King Midas of Phrygia was the son of a fertility goddess named Cybele, from a Roman mystery cult. Midas' best ability was being able to locate wealth easily, known as the "Midas Touch". One day he returned one of Dionysus' followers, Silenus, to him after he had been found intoxicated by village folk. So thankful was Dionysus that he offered to give Midas whatever he wanted. Midas asked for everything he touched to turn to pure gold. He initially enjoyed the gift; however, when he could not ingest food after it touched his lips, he was told by an empathetic Dionysus to go to the river and cleanse himself. Gold dust was found in the silt of the river afterward. Phrygia was one of the first regions to make gold coins for the Greeks.