Bakkos

The frenzy he induces is bakkheia. His thyrsus, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents.As the liberator of souls - his wine, music and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful.During the Bacchanalian mysteries, self-control is jettisoned as participants revel in the wonders of the natural world. Particularly for those on the fringes of society, such ritualised revelry offers a means of temporarily escaping the rigid prescriptions of everyday life.Bakkos is the protector of those who do not belong to conventional society and he thus symbolizes the chaotic, dangerous and unexpected; everything which escapes human reason and