Censoring the Bacchanalia in Rome

Why the Romans went ballistic over the nocturnal rites of Bacchus

The Roman historian Livy records a strange story of sexual licence in book 39 of his history of Rome from its founding (Ab Urbe Condita). The year is 186 BC: a young man fell in love with a prostitute and enjoyed the amour very much. But he fell ill and while convalescing his mother told him that she had taken a religious vow that needed to be fulfilled because a god healed him. The god in question was Bacchus or Dionysus and the young man, Aebutius, agreed. However, a period of ten days of abstinence was required before the ritual so he shared the story with his lover, Hispala, who was seized with a terrible fright and implored him not to go near the rites of Bacchus. She explained that the rituals take place in the darkness of caves and that he would be sexually violated by an indiscriminate group of men and women. She made him swear to her that he would never do it. Returning home, Aebutius informed his mother that he would not be taking part in Bacchic initiation. She and his stepfather were so infuriated that they threw him out of the house.

Dionysus (Bacchus) the seductive god of the Bacchanalia

Aebutius went to his aunt, who was a respectable matron residing on the Aventine hill. She advised him to present himself to the consul Postumius and inform him of what he had heard. The young men did as advised and told the consul, who was alarmed by the news. The consul ascended the Aventine hill with a retinue of his official guards, the lictors, all carrying fasces, bundles of sticks with an axe that symbolized the executive power of the highest office of the Republic. He summoned Hispala, Aebutius’ lover, first and she confessed to having been initiated in the rites while a slave girl many years ago. She revealed to him the names of others who took part. The way she described the events greatly alarmed the consul: