Greco-Latin mythology has long been the basis of much of mankind’s cultural heritage. Painters have drawn inspiration from its stories, creating numerous works which, as well as being masterpieces, represent our great founding myths. Since the earliest days of Antiquity, wine and religion have been closely connected. Wine has been, and remains, an important element of ritual and sacrificial practices. In Ancient Greece, it was both the object of a cult and a symbol of culture. The famous ‘Mysteries’, celebrated in honor of Dionysus, gave birth to theater. Rome had a more troubled relationship with Bacchus and bacchanals. In Rome, when Dionysus was not assimilated with Liber, the object of an official cult, he was often referred to as Bacchus – another of his Greek names – and the private sanctuaries in which his cult was practiced were called bacchanalia. The bacchanals remain associated with the scandal and repression recounted by Livy. But the cult of the bacchantes was to flourish once again under the Empire.

The gods and goddesses Soma (Vedic), Spendaramet (Armenian), Sabazios (Thrace and Phrygian), Moloch (Syrian), Ammon (Libyan), Oratal (Arab), as well as the Indian Shiva, the Egyptian Osiris, the Babylonian Gilgamesh, the Greek Dionysus, the Etruscan Fufluns, the Italian Liber Pater, Sucellus (Latinised to Silvanus) in Gaul – who the Romans replaced with Bacchus – bear witness to the quest for resurrection and immortality that only divine drunkenness could satisfy. In this way, the cult of the wine god survived into the 17th century.