Apollo and Dionysus at Delphi, Attic vase, fourth century BC. The ecstatic aspect of Apollo’s oracle brought it into natural alliance with the religion of Dionysus, who ruled Delphi during the three winter months while Apollo was away among the Hyperboreans. Even the grave of Dionysus could be seen in Apollo’s precinct. Apollo, shown as a beardless youth with a crown of laurel, bids goodbye to Dionysus, bearded and wearing tragic garb and carrying a special staff (the thyrsus). Beneath them is the Delphic omphalos or navel, said to be the stone that Cronus swallowed instead of Zeus, and behind them a palm tree, a symbol of Apollo. The other figures are maenads and satyrs, followers of Dionysus (for which see Chapter 10). (© The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia) Source: Classical Myth
7th Edition. Barry B. Powell
Collected Works Archive of Bhakti Ananda Goswami 
