Dionysus in Rome

This chapter reviews the evidence for Dionysus' early accommodation in Italy, and presents a series of snapshots involving Dionysian ritual or role-playing from Roman history. It presents a survey of the “reception” of Dionysus in Italy and it is complicated by the fact that the evidence does not enable the determination whether Dionysus was in fact 'imported' from the Greek world onto Italian soil, or how he came to be associated and ultimately identified with the Italic Liber and the Etruscan Fufluns. The main festival celebrated at the Temple of Ceres was the Cerealia, but the earliest fasti (Roman festival calendars), also attest Liberalia for March 17. A sign of Augustine's personal distance from the worship of Bacchus/Liber is that he conflates Liberalia with the more notorious Bacchanalia. Dionysus is a prominent subject of interest for the early Christian fathers owing to his many points of contact with Christ, including their connection with eternal life