The Rural Dionysia (also known as the Rustic or Country Dionysia) was observed during the month of Poseideon (December-January). It was a localized festival, taking place in the demes of the surrounding countryside rather than in Athens proper (Parker, Polytheism 100). Like the City Dionysia, the Rural Dionysia often included dramatic competitions. Also featured were a phallic procession (Parker,Polytheism 382) and traditional games—notably, one in which competitors stood on one leg on an inflated goatskin. (Parke 102)
Borghese vase. Detail: Dionysus, Ariadne and dancing satyr. Pentelic marble. Neo-attic work of the second half of the 1st century B.C.E. Inv. No. MR 985 / Ma 86. Paris, Louvre Museum.
The above image shows a maenad leading two young men in an ecstatic procession. The last young man holds a thyrsus as a panther frolics at his feet.
На всех этих изображениях участники процессии идут с запрокинутыми вверх головами. Это - признак экстаза, исступления. Это оначает, что они в состоянии одержимости. Они - "вне себя" и не обладают собственной волей. Их, слепых, но духовно зрячих, ведёт бог Дионис.
