There are various other versions of his transgression: The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and pseudo-Apollodoran Bibliotheke state that his offense was that he was a rival of Zeus for Semele, his mother's sister, whereas in Euripides ' Bacchae he has boasted that he is a better hunter than Artemis:

:: for wine was given to men by the son of Semele and Zeus

When Hera learned that Semele, daughter of Cadmus King of Thebes, was pregnant by Zeus, she disguised herself as Semele's nurse and persuaded the princess to insist that Zeus show himself to her in his true form.

Zeus rescued the heart and gave it to Semele to impregnate her ; or, the heart was saved, variously, by Athena, Rhea, or Demeter.

Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through when he realized to his horror that her request would lead to her death.

Semele (;, Semelē ), in Greek mythology, daughter of the Boeotian hero Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mortal mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths.

In Rome, the goddess Stimula was identified as Semele.

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.

Appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that her lover was actually Zeus.

Though the Greek myth of Semele was localized in Thebes, the fragmentary Homeric Hymn to Dionysus makes the place where Zeus gave a second birth to the god a distant one, and mythically vague:

Semele was worshipped at Athens at the Lenaia, when a yearling bull, emblematic of Dionysus, was sacrificed to her.

With Harmonia, he was the father of Ino, Polydorus, Autonoe, Agave and Semele.

Zeus implanted the still-beating heart into the mortal woman Semele, from whom the child was eventually born again, despite Hera's intervention.

Some accounts say that he was reassembled and resurrected by Demeter ; others, that Zeus fed his heart to Semele in a drink, making her pregnant with Dionysus.

Dionysus came to his birthplace, Thebes, where neither Pentheus, his cousin who was now king, nor Pentheus ’ mother Agave, Dionysus ’ aunt ( Semele ’ s sister ) acknowledged his divinity.

His mortal mother, Semele, was a mistress of Zeus, and while pregnant, she was killed because her sisters accused her of lying about her son's paternity and their father Cadmus using Zeus as a cover up.

Pentheus soon banned the worship of the god Dionysus, who was the son of his aunt Semele, and did not allow the women of Cadmeia to join in his rites.

In her mortal self, Ino, the second wife of the Minyan king Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, was one of the three sisters of Semele, the mortal woman of the house of Cadmus who gave birth to Dionysus.

Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, had an end just as tragic as her siblings: Semele died while pregnant with Zeus ' child, killed by her own pride and lack of trust in her lover ; Agave killed her own son, King Pentheus, while struck with Dionysian madness, and Actaeon, son of Autonoe, the third sibling, was torn apart by his own hunting dogs.

Her sisters were Autonoë, Ino and Semele, and her brother was Polydorus.

The latter defines Sparta to be Lacedaemonia Civitas but Isidore defines Lacedaemonia as founded by Lacedaemon, son of Semele, relying on Eusebius.

Jupiter and Semele ( 1894-95 ), by Gustave Moreau

It seems that certain elements of the cult of Dionysos and Semele were adopted by the Thracians from the local populations when they moved to Asia Minor, where they were named Phrygians.

:" For some say, at Dracanum ; and some, on windy Icarus ; and some, in Naxos, O Heaven-born, Insewn ; and others by the deep-eddying river Alpheus that pregnant Semele bare you to Zeus the thunder-lover.

Semele, during her pregnancy with Dionysus, was destroyed by the sight of the splendor of Zeus.

* Lady Una: A cat-eared faerie girl of great beauty who works as a slave for Madame Semele until released by an improbable occurrence that fulfills the conditions of her debt.

The next day in the market, he meets Una, a princess imprisoned by the witch called Semele.

Eccles also wrote an all-sung English opera Semele with text by Congreve, but it was not staged until the 20th century.

* Alcmene, Semele, Alope: Nymphs who were visited by the Olympian gods, they are typical of the old days when the Olympians had free passage through the skies ( lines 558-9 ).

Semele ( HWV 58 ) is a 1743 opera ( initially presented as an oratorio ) in three acts by George Frideric Handel.

His ploy did not delight the organizers of the series, resulting in few performances, and it created a spurious and long-lasting identity for Semele as a concert piece, one championed and " claimed " even today by choral groups.

Semele was staged on four occasions ( 1959, 1961, 1964 and 1975 ) by the Handel Opera Society under Charles Farncombe, and it entered the repertory of the English National Opera ( then Sadler ’ s Wells Opera ) in 1970.

Semele is an opera by John Eccles.

The libretto is by William Congreve, drawing on the Greek myth of Semele.

Eccles's work should not be confused with the 1744 opera Semele by George Frideric Handel, also based upon Congreve's libretto.

Nonnus does not present the conception as virginal ; rather, the editor's notes say that Zeus swallowed Zagreus ' heart, and visited the mortal woman Semele, whom he seduced and made pregnant.

* Handel: Semele ( Battle, Ramey ; Nelson, 1990 ) Deutsche Grammophon

: When he appear'd to hapless Semele ;

There are two Orphic stories of the rebirth of Dionysus, in one of which it is the heart of Dionysus that is implanted into the thigh of Zeus ; the other where he has impregnated the mortal woman Semele resulting in Dionysus's literal rebirth.

In 2003 this included a fully staged version of Semele by John Eccles ; in 2005 a ‘ first ’ Conference on John Eccles ; 2007 focused on The Passions of William Hayes.

* Regis records ; product page for Eccles Semele

Alternatively, Lysithea is another name for Semele, daughter of Cadmos and Harmonia ; sister to Agave, Autonoë, Ino, and Polydorus ; mother of Dionysos by Zeus ( and who became Thyone after being rescued from Hades by her divine son ).