PENTHEUS (king of Thebes)

When the stranger Dionysus arrived in Thebes, Pentheus viewed him with deep suspicion, demanding to know his name, parents, and reason for attending new rites.^9,8 The king ordered his attendants to seize and imprison the stranger, declaring that he would enslave or sell the women accompanying him.^9,10 Pentheus mocked the prophet Tiresias for his blindness and found it absurd that the seer wore fawn-skins and carried a thyrsos.^11,12 He drove away the prophet who made predictions about the coming god, questioning why the men of Thebes were abandoning their warrior duties for these new rites.¹³ The king urged his citizens to remember their dragon lineage and fight the perceived enemy, expressing a wish that Thebes be destroyed by war rather than surrender to the stranger.¹³ He ordered soldiers to gather at the Electran gates to attack the Bacchae and threatened to kill the women in the glens of Kithairon.¹⁴

Dionysus punished Pentheus for his impious actions and insolence by driving him mad, forcing him to wear female attire.^15,16,17,18 Under the god's influence, Pentheus claimed to see two suns and twin Thebes, appearing to flutter as he approached, looking like one of Kadmos' daughters.^19,20,21 He wore raiment kirtled through the belt above the knee and held a beautiful thyrsos, asking whether to hold it in his right or left hand.^22,23,20 Exhausted from fatigue, he dropped his dark sword and ran here and there, calling to slaves to bring water, while stabbing at phantoms in the courtyard.⁷ Pentheus planned to leave the city via deserted roads to avoid being seen by Thebans, carrying only two javelins he had leaned against the mountain.^16,24

To secretly observe the women's Bacchic rites, Pentheus climbed a tall pine tree on Mount Kithaeron, seating himself on the back of an upright branch where he was visible to the Maenads.^1,15,25,16 Agave and her sisters, possessed by Dionysus, mistook him for a lion and killed him with their own hands.^{15,26,27,16,23} The king was torn apart by the Maenads, his body parts scattered across rocks and woods, making them hard to find.^28,29,2,30 His severed head was carried through Kithairon on the point of a thyrsus like that of a lion, while his body was discovered in the folds of the mountain.^30,28,26 Kadmos traced and picked up the remains of Pentheus in the woods, bringing the body back home, while Echion wept over his son.^28,15,3

Pentheus died a miserable and shameful death, suffering punishment for his impiety and disdain toward Dionysus.^2,30,17,18 He was the hope of the family line and supported the house, yet his insolent character and diseased mind led to his destruction by madness.^15,31,32 His palace in Thebes was shaken in ruin, and his home was commanded to be burned, marking the end of his rule.³³