Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Zagreus,
the son of Zeus. He was destined to become the next king of the Cosmos,
eventually replacing his father, this evidenced by Zeus seating Zagreus on
his throne and arming him with lightning, the most powerful weapon in all of Greek mythology,
Zeus having laid low countless foes with the searing destruction of his smoking bolts.
Zagreus is not a prominent figure in mainstream Greek mythology, and his existence is
predominantly associated with Orphism, a religious movement that provided an alternative belief
system in Ancient Greece. While some aspects of Zagreus' story occasionally overlap with
traditional Greek myths, his importance is almost entirely exclusive to Orphic beliefs and texts.
First, we’re going to get into what Orphism is: when it started, why Orpheus is the primary
prophet, and what the core beliefs are. Second, we’re going to explore the story of Zagreus:
his birth, the lofty aspirations his father had for him, and his horrific death. And finally,
we’re going to wrap the video up with the birth of Dionysus, the God Zagreus became after his heart
was saved and used to impregnate a mortal woman. Alright, let’s get into it.
Orphism is a religious movement and belief system that emerged in ancient Greece around the sixth
century BC, offering its followers hope for salvation and the prospect of an afterlife
that was more paradisiacal than the gloom of Hades’ realm. It is named after the mythical
musician and poet Orpheus, who was said to have ventured into the underworld and returned to
the mortal plane, thus piercing the veil and coming back changed, now endowed with profound
knowledge about the spiritual essence of humans and the path to salvation. The Orphic teachings,
which are preserved in fragments and referenced by ancient authors such as Plato, provide a unique
perspective on the nature of the human soul and its relationship with the divine, emphasizing the
need for inner transformation and purification in order to achieve spiritual liberation.
Orpheus, a paragon of poetic prowess and musical mastery, became the primary prophet of Orphism,
in large part, because of his love for Eurydice, a beautiful nymph. They fell deeply in love and were
married, but their happiness was short-lived. Eurydice was bitten by a snake and died,
leaving Orpheus heartbroken. Refusing to accept her death, he decided to descend
into the underworld to bring her back to life. With his lyre, Orpheus charmed Hades, the god of
the underworld, and his wife, Persephone, with his enchanting music. Moved by his sorrow and
his music, they agreed to release Eurydice, on one condition: Orpheus couldn’t look back at her
as they ascended to the land of the living. If he did, Eurydice would be lost to him forever.
As they journeyed back, Orpheus, filled with anxiety and doubt, could not hear Eurydice's
footsteps behind him. Just before they reached the surface, he could no longer resist the urge to
look back, only to catch a glimpse of Eurydice before she vanished, this time for eternity.
Orpheus was left to wander the earth, playing his mournful music, until he met his own tragic end.
Orpheus' descent into the underworld and his quest to bring Eurydice back established him as
the prophet of Orphism. His journey was seen as an initiation into the divine mysteries,
granting him profound knowledge about life, death, and what came after the
plunge of the great unknown was taken. As a result, the followers of Orphism
believed that Orpheus was uniquely qualified to share this knowledge, offering guidance on
how to achieve spiritual transcendence and escape the cycle of reincarnation.
At the core of Orphism is the belief that humans possess a divine spark, inherited from the god
Zagreus, who was devoured by the Titans. This divine essence is trapped within a Titanic,
or evil, bodily form, accounting for the inherent duality of humanity. The Orphic teachings
emphasize the need to free the immortal soul from the constraints of the physical body, which they
consider to be a tomb. They advocate for a life of ascetic purity, marked by abstention from
animal products, sexual intercourse, and certain foods like beans, this last for unknown reasons.
In addition to promoting a lifestyle of purity and self-discipline, Orphism introduces the concept of
metempsychosis, or the reincarnation of the soul. This belief holds that the souls of the deceased
do not remain in the underworld permanently but are instead reborn in different bodies on Earth.
The cycle of rebirth can only be broken through a rigorous process of purification
and the acquisition of knowledge. Once the soul is liberated from its bodily prison,
breaking the cycle, it can ascend to a higher plane of existence, joining the divine.
Zagreus, sometimes referred to as “the first-born Dionysus, was the son of Zeus and of Persephone,
Zeus’ daughter, the wife of Hades, and the queen of the underworld. Zeus assumed the form
of a serpent, and in this guise, seduced her. Of all the gods in Greek mythology, Zagreus
was unique in that he was Zeus’ heir. Zagreus wasn’t just a god and wasn’t just a son of Zeus,
he was the heir apparent, being groomed by the king of the gods to one day rule the cosmos,
this evidenced by Zeus seating Zagreus on his throne and arming him with lightning bolts,
young boy though he was. As almost always happened,
Hera learnt of her husband's extramarital escapades, and his infidelity infuriated her. This
dynamic (Zeus pursuing other lovers and siring children by them inciting Hera to vengeance) is
most famously instantiated by Heracles, who was the son of Zeus and Alcmene. He was perpetually
persecuted by the goddess, first having a pair of snakes sent to strangle him in his crib,
then being driven mad so that, in this crazed state, he murdered his wife and children.
In the case of Zagreus, Hera made the titans the instruments of her retribution.
She convinced them to sneak into Olympus and kill Zagreus. They made a furtive incursion,
managing to avoid notice on the way in. Still, in order to get close to Zagreus,
they had to distract and disarm him, because despite his age, he still wielded lightning,
the most powerful weapon in Greek mythology. The Titans cunningly disguised themselves with
white chalk, concealing their true identities as they approached their unsuspecting quarry.
Engrossed in innocent play, Zagreus was captivated by an array of toys, which Nonnus, a Greek poet,
describes in his Dionysiaca as including a mirror, knucklebones, a spinning top, and a ball.
By exploiting the allure of these objects, the Titans managed to keep Zagreus oblivious to their
murderous intentions, drawing ever closer. The Titans capitalized on their opportunity
to strike. They attacked the unsuspecting god, brutally dismembering him. Following this gruesome
act, the Titans gathered the remains and prepared them as one would a beast after a successful hunt.
They boiled them, and then they skewered them on spits and roasted them over a fire.
In one version of the myth, the aroma of the roasting meat from Zagreus' dismembered corpse,
which the Titans had cooked and begun to feast on, reached Zeus and alerted him
to the Titans' gruesome gorging. In another account, the goddess Athena became aware of
the Titans' heinous attack and informed Zeus of their actions. Regardless of the version,
Zeus was enraged by what had transpired, and in his mind, only blood could pay for blood.
He unleashed an onslaught of lightning, a display akin to all the sky’s fury converging on a single
point. A great conflagration ensued, and the Titans were utterly incinerated, their number,
once so mighty, reduced to not but ash. Zeus then created humanity from these ashes; and
because Zagreus’ corpse was incinerated as well, humanity inherited the divine essence of Zagreus,
imbuing them with the potential for spiritual growth and enlightenment. At the same time, they
also inherited the wickedness of the Titans, the source of humanity’s darker aspects. Basically,
the immaculate soul was imprisoned within the confines of sinful flesh. This intrinsic dual
nature of humanity forms the basis of the Orphic teachings, which emphasize the importance of
recognizing and transcending the fetters of the flesh to achieve spiritual liberation.
Here’s a passage from Classical Myth that explains this further:
As the story goes on to say, Zeus created human beings from the ashes of the blasted Titans.
For this reason human nature has an evil, Titanic aspect, obvious to all. Because, however,
the flesh of Zagreus, whom the Titans devoured, was mingled with the Titans' ashes, human beings
also contain a divine spark encased in a gross Titanic body. Outside we are Titanic, but within
we are divine. The goal of human striving should therefore be to free the immortal soul from its
bodily prison, a view succinctly expressed in the Orphic slogan "The body is a tomb””.
Amid the chaos, Athena managed to salvage Zagreus' heart, which was still intact,
and she brought it to Zeus. In one version, Zeus uses the heart to create a potion that
he gives to Semele to imbibe; she then conceives Dionysus. In another account,
after receiving the heart from Athena, Zeus consumes it, absorbing Zagreus's essence.
He later impregnates Semele, who gives birth to Dionysus, considered a reincarnation
of Zagreus who manifested from the divine essence of his previous form.
We’re now going to wrap the video up with Zeus’ romance with Semele,
another offense in a litany of adulterous offenses, and one where Here yet again finds
out what happened and exacts her revenge. Zeus was drawn to the beauty of Semele,
the daughter of Cadmus, who was the founder of Thebes. Their passionate affair led to
Semele's pregnancy, which, unfortunately for her, did not go unnoticed by Hera.
Determined to punish Semele for her involvement with her husband, Hera devised a cunning plan.
Disguised as an old woman, Hera befriended Semele and sowed seeds of doubt in her mind
about the true identity of her lover. Semele, now uncertain if the man she had gone to bed with was
indeed the mighty Zeus, asked him to reveal his true divine form as proof of his identity.
Zeus, bound by a promise he had made to grant Semele anything she asked of him, reluctantly
agreed, despite knowing that the sight of his divine glory was a death sentence for mortals.
When Zeus revealed his true form, Semele instantly caught fire and was burnt to a crisp.
Echoing what happened earlier with Zagreus, his heart saved by Athena from the Titan’s
gruesome feast, Zeus managed to save Dionysus’ fetus, sewing into the meat of his own thigh,
which became the surrogate womb where the fetus continued to gestate. Eventually, Dionysus was
born, which, from the Orphic perspective, was like the second coming of Zagreus.
And that’s it for this video. If you enjoy the content,
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