Pentheus

...He was persecuted by Lycurgus, king of the Edones, in Thrace, and was hindered by all sorts of obstacles in Greece, but all of these were futile resistances to his divine power. Euripides' tragedy, The Bacchanalia (performed in 405 B.C.), depicts the events that occurred when he came to Thebes, where his cousin Pentheus ruled. According to the tragedy, the women of Thebes, including the king's mother, Agauē, joined the frenzied followers, dancing wildly through the mountains and fields, waving torches and thyrsos (a stick wrapped in ivy and with a pine cone at the end). When Pentheus, who refused to acknowledge his divinity, tried to stop them, he was torn to pieces by his mother on the mountains of Cithaeron. Having thus established his divinity throughout the world, he is said to have brought his mother, Semele, back from the underworld and ascended with her to heaven, where he joined the Olympian gods.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Pentheus" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…途中，トラキアでエドネス族の王リュクルゴスに迫害されたのを皮切りに，ギリシアの各地で妨害を受けたが，それらはいずれも彼の神威の前には空しい抵抗にすぎなかった。エウリピデスの悲劇《バッコスの信女》(前405上演)は，彼が従兄ペンテウスPentheusの治めるテーバイに来たときのできごとを描いたもので，それによれば，王の母アガウエAgauēをも含むテーバイの女たちが狂乱の信者の仲間に加わって，松明やテュルソスthyrsos(蔦（つた）を巻き，先端に松笠をつけた杖)を振りまわしつつ山野を乱舞し，陶酔の極に達するや，野獣を引き裂いてくらうなどの狂態を示すに及んだとき，彼の神性を認めようとしないペンテウスは，これを阻止せんとして，かえって母親たちにキタイロンの山中で八つ裂きにされたという。このようにしてみずからの神性を世界中に認めさせたあと，彼は冥府から母セメレを連れ戻して彼女とともに天に昇り，オリュンポスの神々の仲間入りをしたとされる。…

※「Pentheus」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

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