From a piece in the latest issue of Time:
I'm assuming here that the author is referring to the s.c. de bacchanalibus which, in 186 B.C. or thereabouts, suppressed the worship of Dionysus in Rome. But suppression does not equate with "slaughter" and someone really should have checked the evidence on this one. It's readily available on the web, of course, with a nice page at Diotima with translated excerpts from the senatus consultum (the Latin version is available at the Forum Romanum). The relevant description in Livy is also available, with no indication of "slaughter" other than the suicide of some folks for unspecified reasons. I wonder where they got this idea of "slaughter" from ...
So why are we left with such wan and infrequent holidays today? The answer, simply put, is that in one historical setting after another, traditional celebrations were deliberately suppressed. The ancient Roman élite slaughtered worshippers of Dionysus with as much zeal as when, in later years, they went after Christians.
I'm assuming here that the author is referring to the s.c. de bacchanalibus which, in 186 B.C. or thereabouts, suppressed the worship of Dionysus in Rome. But suppression does not equate with "slaughter" and someone really should have checked the evidence on this one. It's readily available on the web, of course, with a nice page at Diotima with translated excerpts from the senatus consultum (the Latin version is available at the Forum Romanum). The relevant description in Livy is also available, with no indication of "slaughter" other than the suicide of some folks for unspecified reasons. I wonder where they got this idea of "slaughter" from ...