Spina

This paper presents an iconographical analysis of some Dionysiac women and the related archaeological contexts. The analysis finds an echo in a few verses of Euripidean Bacchae. The exact identity of these women ranges from that of the Nymphs of Nisa and that of the mythical sisters of Semele (Ino, Autonoe e Agaue). The result is the strong attention, paid by Attic painter and by Etruscan client of Attic vases, to the mythical theme of the infancy of Dionysus and particularly to the role of the nurses, which received the baby after his birth from Zeus’ thigh. Many archaeological documents prove the importance of the dramatic and liturgical role of the nurses in the Dionysiac cult in Etruria between 470 and 400 b.C. Very few of Etruscan women identify with these nurses, as we can observe considering their burial contexts. These women, identified with nurses of Dionysus, share with them a destiny of divinity, as well as divine are the Nymphs. Symbols of the acquired divinity are the scenes of the Nymphs making offerings on an altar together with Dionysus and the decorative cycle of the temple A in Pyrgi with the story of deification of Ino/Leucotea.