Bacchae by Euripides

This is an ancient Greek tragedy in which the god Dionysus is a central character. It won first prize at the City Dionysia festival competition in 405 BC. The play explores themes of ecstasy, madness, and the limits of human control against the will of the gods.

Dionysus himself begins the play, introducing himself to the audience and re-telling the story of his birth, which confirms him to be the son of Zeus and Semele (a fact disputed by some in the city of Thebes, particularly Semele's descendants, the royal house of Cadmus). He has developed a strong cult of worshippers in Thebes and plans to disguise himself as a mortal to prove himself a god to Pentheus, the king of Thebes. Pentheus attempts to clamp down on the cult's worship of Dionysus, but Dionysus (disguised as a mortal foreigner) convinces Pentheus to first disguise himself as a woman to watch the cult practice its rituals in the woods. The cultists, frenzies under the influence of Dionysus, mistake Pentheus for a wild animal and brutally murder him. Even Pentheus' own mother Agave, one of the cultists, is unaware amidst the frenzy that she has murdered her son. She brings Pentheus' severed head to her grandfather Cadmus, who brings her to see the damage that has been done--all because they refused to acknowledge Dionysus as a god.

In this dale we can observe some themes it shares in common with other ancient Greek myths, such as divine retribution, the dangers of unchecked arrogance, and the clash between order and chaos. It delves into the consequences of denying the gods and the primal forces inherent in human nature, ultimately serving as a cautionary tale about the limits of human control in the face of divine will. It remains a poignant examination of the complexities of faith, reason, and the innate drives that define humanity.