Vin og ekstase i svart og rødt. Attiske vaser med Dionysos og menader i norske antikksamlinger (580–430 f.Kr.)

Wine and Ecstasy in Black and Red. Attic vases with Dionysos and Meanads in Norwegian collections. Depictions of Dionysus and his followers the Meanads are the most common images used in Greek Attic vase paintings. Wine-drinking is seen in relationship with the ecstasy of the Maenads and as part of becoming ecstatic. New theoretical perspectives give a fresh understanding of these scenes - suggesting that they portrayed and played an important role in Dionysian ritual and ecstasy. The Meanads achieved ecstasy by drinking wine, seen as a metaphor of the wine god Dionysus, and thus become a part of the god in moments of ecstasy. According to Van Gennep´s rites de passage, the liminal phase was an essential part of religious rituals, and the article concludes that it is the liminal phase of reaching a higher level - being at one with the divine - that is depicted in the selected vases. It is also suggested that, while drunk, the men of the symposium felt the same connection with the divine as the Maenads did during their ecstatic experiences. Ethnographic parallels show how these rituals were carried out, and indicate the symbolic role of Maenads in the rituals of the symposium. Pieces from Norwegian collections are revealed as relevant and representative examples of Dionysian iconography