I. Name

Bacchus is the form the Greek Dionysus took in Rome. The name derives from the Greek epithet Βάκχος which denoted both the ecstatic Dionysus and his follower (fem. βάκχη). The epiclesis denoted a fundamental cultic aspect of the Greek god which had become prominent in Roman cult also, as had been the case in other neighbouring cultures: the Etruscans assimilated it as an epiclesis of their god Fufluns, the indigenous equivalent to Dionysus (Fufluns Paxies) (Cristofani & Martelli 1978), the Lydians, like the Romans, tran…