Semele. Semele, in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of the Phoenician hero Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.
Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from the Phrygians. These were modified, expanded, and elaborated by the Ionian Greek invaders and colonists.
Herodotus, who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived sixteen hundred years before his time, or around 2000 BCE. In Rome, the goddess Stimula was identified as Semele.
According to some linguists the name Semele is Thraco-Phrygian, derived from a PIE root meaning earth. Julius Pokorny reconstructs her name from the PIE root *dgem-meaning earth and relates it with Thracian Zemele, mother earth.
However, Burkert says that while Semele is manifestly non-Greek, he also says that it is no more possible to confirm that Semele is a Thraco-Phrygian word for earth than it is to prove the priority of the Lydian baki-over Bacchus as a name for Dionysos. In one version of the myth, Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and repeatedly visited her secretly. Zeus' wife, Hera, a goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair
Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele came from the Phrygians. These were modified, expanded, and elaborated by the Ionian Greek invaders and colonists.
Herodotus, who gives the account of Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived sixteen hundred years before his time, or around 2000 BCE. In Rome, the goddess Stimula was identified as Semele.
According to some linguists the name Semele is Thraco-Phrygian, derived from a PIE root meaning earth. Julius Pokorny reconstructs her name from the PIE root *dgem-meaning earth and relates it with Thracian Zemele, mother earth.
However, Burkert says that while Semele is manifestly non-Greek, he also says that it is no more possible to confirm that Semele is a Thraco-Phrygian word for earth than it is to prove the priority of the Lydian baki-over Bacchus as a name for Dionysos. In one version of the myth, Semele was a priestess of Zeus, and on one occasion was observed by Zeus as she slaughtered a bull at his altar and afterwards swam in the river Asopus to cleanse herself of the blood. Flying over the scene in the guise of an eagle, Zeus fell in love with Semele and repeatedly visited her secretly. Zeus' wife, Hera, a goddess jealous of usurpers, discovered his affair
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