Dionysus & Immortality

My friend LL and I read from the chapter on Dionysus in Mythology by Edith Hamilton and discuss the god of wine, life, and death.  Dionysus is quite feminine – followed by women and opposed by law-giving and -enforcing kings – and teaches liberation and compassion.  From these we draw some comparisons with Buddha and Jesus.  Dionysus also is a nearly-perfect analog with vino – the plant and cultivated drink – that which inspires poetry and crime – and I find the tragedy of that image moving.  Finally, we discuss his worship in fields outside the city and most of all, the theater, through which he lives even to this day.