The worship of Dionysus was particularly widespread in Macedonia, a fact linked to the intensive cultivation of vines and the production of wine in the wider region, which is evidenced by the god's epithets: makedonikos, patroos, genarches and propator.
The relief ΜΘ 231 is a rectangular marble slab (height 46 cm, width 26 cm and thickness 9 cm), slightly thickerer at its base and with an arched upper end. The fact that it does not bear architectural framing or supporting elements, combined with the irregular shape of its sides and the rough working of the depth, with visible tool-marks, leads to the thought that it was originally larger and was probably reworked in a later phase and embedded in some other structure.
Dionysus is depicted standing, facing forward, as a beardless youth with long hair waving from the temples to the back of the head and fastened at the forehead with a ribbon (mitra). Two spiral curls fall down to the chest, framing his neck. The god wears a short-sleeved tunic (hiton) that forms a long overfold and is belted high, below the chest. A small shawl (himation) is wrapped around his waist and then passes over his raised left arm and falls backwards. On his feet he wears high boots (endromides).
Some important attributes complete the image and characterize the essence of the god: his lowered right hand holds a bunch of grapes and his left rests on a tall torch, reference to nightly rituals. Behind his right leg, appears the forepart of a panther, sacred animal of Dionysus that accompanied him on his many wanderings to teach people the secrets of viticulture.
As we do not have any information about the finding place of the relief, nor does it bare any inscription, its dating to the early imperial years (end of the 1st century BC or first half of the 1st century AD) is based only on its stylistic characteristics.
God of vegetation and fertility, death and rebirth, and especially of wine, ecstatic madness and transformation, Dionysus was loved by all social classes. In Thessaloniki in particular, the worship of the god was one of the oldest and most popular, with organized worship clubs, while one of the three tribes to which the inhabitants of the city belonged, bared his name (Dionysias).
The relief, which is kept in the museum’s storerooms, will soon travel to two museums in China (Sanxingdui Museum and Liangzhu Museum, July 2025 – July 2026) as part of the exhibition "A journey to Ancient Greece".
However, the figure of Dionysus appears everywhere in the museum through artefacts from various periods, with the most impressive being the Derveni krater (late 4th century BC, exhibition “The Gold of the Macedonians”, display case 48), the marble beds from the Macedonian tomb of Potidaea (late 4th century BC, exhibition “Macedonia”, hall 2), a life size statue of the god (2nd century AD, exhibition “Thessaloniki”, hall 3) and the large floor mosaic from a luxurious city residence (200-250 AD, exhibition “Thessaloniki”, hall 1). Finally, a reflection ("idol") of the god, copy of the relief pillars of the “Stoa of Idols” (2nd century AD), that were forcibly removed in 1864 from the area of the ancient agora of Thessaloniki and are currently in the Louvre Museum, welcomes visitors at the portico of our museum.
