Semele
Semele In Greek mythology, daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes, and Harmonia, mother of Dionysus by Zeus. Zeus fell in love with Semele and often visited her. Hera, ever jealous of her husband’s escapades, took the form of Semele’s nurse, Beroe, and convinced the girl to ask Zeus to show himself to her in all his godlike splendor. Zeus agreed to Semele’s wish and appeared amid thunder and lightning. Semele was consumed by flames. Before she died she gave birth to a six month’s child, Dionysus, whom Zeus saved from the flames and hid in his thigh until it was time for the child to be born. When Dionysus was born he raised his dead mother and placed her in the heavens under the name Thyone. Semele is believed to be a form of Selene or Zemelo, a Phrygian earth goddess. She is cited in Homer’s Iliad (book 14), Euripides’ The Bacchae, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book 3) and appears in Handel’s secular oratorio Semele (1744). Jupiter and Semele was painted by Tintoretto.
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante
