Bacchus

The God of the Wine and the "Liberator," who brings the wild, ecstatic mysteries of the East to the disciplined streets of Rome. His rituals—the Bacchanalia—were so intense that the Roman Senate once tried to ban them, fearing the loss of control. He represents the "Shadow of the State," the necessary release of the repressed spirit through wine, theater, and dance. He is the ivy-crowned king of the vine, the one who reminds us that even an empire needs to lose its mind once in a while to remain sane.