Apollo and Dionysus

God of Order, God of Chaos

Another immortal son of Zeus who forever remained a young man was Dionysus, god of wine, transformation, masks, and theater. Whereas Apollo was always depicted as a paragon of athletic fitness, Dionysus came to be depicted as softer and more voluptuous, often with grapes in his hair, as befits his perpetual revelry, with his female followers called Maenads (“Maddened Women”). The philosopher Plato in his old age reflectively joins the two gods and the Muses as gods who accompany our mortal dancing: “The gods, in pity for us, have granted to us as fellow dancers Apollo and the Muses, and with them a third, Dionysus.” Apollo’s dances are ordered, Dionysus’ are wild.

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