The tragedy was written in Macedonia and staged in Athens after the death of the poet, along with Iphigenia at Aulis. Although the tragedies were timed to coincide with the festivals of Dionysus, plots associated with this god were developed quite rarely in them (about 20 titles out of 600 preserved). The probable predecessor of Euripides is Aeschylus, who wrote the drama “Pentheus” that has not reached us. The Theban princess Semele, daughter of Cadmus, was the beloved of Zeus. Out of foolishness, she asked the Thunderer to appear in glory and died from his lightning. Zeus saved the premature baby (according to one version, he sewed him up in the thigh and, when the time came, “gave birth”). As born of Zeus, Dionysus, unlike all earthly children of the god, is a deity. His "epiphany" - glorification as a god - began in the East, and from there he came to Greece and carried away women (bacchantes, maenads) in his orgiastic celebrations. Men prevent the “obscene” cult, the main opponents are Pentheus, the king of Thebes and the cousin of Dionysus, as well as the aunts, who are confident that the sister sinned with a mortal and not with God (“they did not recognize their own”). As punishment, Dionysus blinds the king's mind and averts the eyes of his mother and aunts... From antiquity to the present day, debate has continued over whether to consider this tragedy a religious work glorifying the omnipotence of God, or another attack by Euripides against the gods who are amused by the suffering of people.