er gods was surprised by his arrival. He is clearly both the god of wine and the god of the vine. Dionysus was always on the move, and Dionysus also loved to change form so as to add an element of surprise to his visits. And, unlike Orpheus, Dionysus could wear a mask of any strange power that he chose, so he was never sure whether anyone would recognize him when he went from village to village. The only drawback to wearing these different masks of strange powers was that Dionysus was also never sure whether he would be allowed membership in the race of gods.
Dionysus also got a lot of attention wherever he went. Villagers told many stories about him, and most of the tales were more terrifying than joyful. Many times his arrivals were marked by confusion, hostility, and conflict. Villagers and kings would not recognize him and could accuse him of being a foreigner; sometimes he was rejected outright and other times he was persecuted as a fake god (Detienne, 1989, p. 6). He was almost always called a stranger, even when visiting his birthplace,
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