Pentheus (King)
heroKing of Thebes who denied Dionysus's divinity and was torn apart by his own mother and aunts in a Bacchic frenzy.
The Myth
His own mother ripped his head off — thinking he was a lion. Pentheus refused to accept that his cousin Dionysus was a god and tried to imprison him. Dionysus broke free effortlessly and lured Pentheus to spy on the Maenads by offering to dress him as a woman. Hidden in a tree on Mount Cithaeron, Pentheus was spotted. Dionysus pointed him out, and the maddened women — led by his mother Agave and aunt Ino — tore him limb from limb in sparagmos. Agave carried his head back to Thebes on a thyrsus, proudly displaying her lion kill until the madness cleared. Euripides's Bacchae is built around this scene.
Parents
Echion, Agave
Symbols
Fun Fact
Euripides wrote the Bacchae while in exile in Macedonia — it was performed posthumously.
Explore Further
Agave
heroMother of Pentheus and daughter of Cadmus who tore her own son apart while possessed by Dionysian...
Dionysus
godGod of wine, ritual madness, and theatrical performance. Dionysus was the only Olympian born of a...
Dionysus Eleuthereus
godAn epithet of Dionysus as the Liberator, worshipped at the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens where the...
Ino
heroTheban princess who raised the infant Dionysus, was driven mad by Hera, and leaped into the sea to...
Actaeon
heroActaeon was a master hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked — she transformed him into a...
Dionysia
conceptThe major Athenian festival honouring Dionysus, featuring dramatic competitions that gave birth to...
Dionysus Zagreus
godOrphic form of Dionysus, the divine child torn apart by Titans whose heart was saved to allow his...
Mount Ida (Crete)
placeMount Ida was the highest peak in Crete, home to the cave where the infant Zeus was hidden from his...
Mount Ida (Troy)
placeMount Ida near Troy was the mountain from which the gods observed the Trojan War and where Paris...
Mount Olympus (Sacred)
placeThe highest mountain in Greece and mythological home of the twelve Olympian gods, whose...
Mount Parnassus
placeMount Parnassus was the mountain above Delphi sacred to Apollo and the Muses — the symbolic home of...
Thebes
placeThebes was the great city of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus who sowed dragon teeth, and the setting for...