Euripides' play "The Bacchae"

E492385

ancient Greek tragedy play work by Euripides

Euripides' play "The Bacchae" is an ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes the arrival of the god Dionysus in Thebes and the catastrophic consequences of resisting his ecstatic, Bacchic worship.

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All labels observed (5)

Label	Occurrences
Euripides' Bacchae	5
Euripides' play "The Bacchae" canonical	1
EuripidesTheBacchae	1
Euripides’ Bacchae	1
Euripides’ Bacchae (as Semele, later deified)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5089469 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Euripides' play "The Bacchae"
Context triple: [Bacchants, depictedIn, Euripides' play "The Bacchae"]

A. Sophocles’ play "Antigone"
Sophocles’ play "Antigone" is a classical Greek tragedy that explores the conflict between individual moral duty and state law through the story of a young woman who defies a king’s edict to honor her brother with a proper burial.
B. Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex"
Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex" is a seminal ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes King Oedipus’s doomed quest to uncover the truth about his own identity and the source of a plague afflicting Thebes.
C. Euripides’ play "Ion"
Euripides’ play "Ion" is an ancient Greek tragedy that explores themes of identity, divine intervention, and legitimacy through the story of a young man unknowingly born of Apollo and Creusa.
D. Euripides' Phoenician Women
Euripides' *Phoenician Women* is an ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes the conflict between the brothers Eteocles and Polyneices over the throne of Thebes and the devastating consequences for their family and city.
E. Euripides’ play Heracleidae
Euripides’ play *Heracleidae* is an ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes the persecution and eventual deliverance of Heracles’ children as they seek asylum in Athens, highlighting themes of justice, supplication, and Athenian heroism.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Euripides' play "The Bacchae"
Target entity description: Euripides' play "The Bacchae" is an ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes the arrival of the god Dionysus in Thebes and the catastrophic consequences of resisting his ecstatic, Bacchic worship.

A. Sophocles’ play "Antigone"
Sophocles’ play "Antigone" is a classical Greek tragedy that explores the conflict between individual moral duty and state law through the story of a young woman who defies a king’s edict to honor her brother with a proper burial.
B. Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex"
Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex" is a seminal ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes King Oedipus’s doomed quest to uncover the truth about his own identity and the source of a plague afflicting Thebes.
C. Euripides’ play "Ion"
Euripides’ play "Ion" is an ancient Greek tragedy that explores themes of identity, divine intervention, and legitimacy through the story of a young man unknowingly born of Apollo and Creusa.
D. Euripides' Phoenician Women
Euripides' *Phoenician Women* is an ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes the conflict between the brothers Eteocles and Polyneices over the throne of Thebes and the devastating consequences for their family and city.
E. Euripides’ play Heracleidae
Euripides’ play *Heracleidae* is an ancient Greek tragedy that dramatizes the persecution and eventual deliverance of Heracles’ children as they seek asylum in Athens, highlighting themes of justice, supplication, and Athenian heroism.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	ancient Greek tragedy ⓘ play ⓘ work by Euripides ⓘ
adaptedAs	film ⓘ modern stage adaptations ⓘ opera ⓘ
author	Euripides ⓘ
awarded	first prize at the City Dionysia ⓘ
centralTheme	conflict between rational order and ecstatic religion ⓘ divine vengeance ⓘ identity and disguise ⓘ limits of human authority ⓘ madness and possession ⓘ
containsScene	Agave's recognition of Pentheus' head ⓘ Pentheus spying on the Bacchae ⓘ
dateOfFirstPerformance	405 BC ⓘ
depictsEvent	Agave killing Pentheus in a Bacchic frenzy ⓘ arrival of Dionysus in Thebes ⓘ punishment of Pentheus ⓘ
featuresCharacter	Agave ⓘ Cadmus ⓘ Dionysus ⓘ Pentheus ⓘ Tiresias ⓘ
featuresGroup	Bacchae ⓘ Maenads ⓘ
firstPerformedAt	City Dionysia in Athens ⓘ linked to: City Dionysia
genre	tragedy ⓘ
hasChorus	Bacchae from Asia Minor ⓘ linked to: Bacchae
influenced	Roman tragedy ⓘ modern theatre ⓘ psychoanalytic interpretations of myth ⓘ
literaryPeriod	Classical Athens ⓘ
moralQuestion	consequences of denying a god his due honor ⓘ
motif	disguise of a god as a mortal ⓘ omophagia ⓘ sparagmos ⓘ
originalLanguage	Ancient Greek ⓘ
philosophicalReception	discussed in theories of the Apollonian and Dionysian ⓘ interpreted by Friedrich Nietzsche ⓘ
religiousContext	Dionysian cult ⓘ
settingPlace	Thebes ⓘ
structure	episodes ⓘ exodos ⓘ parodos ⓘ prologue ⓘ stasima ⓘ
survivalStatus	extant complete play by Euripides ⓘ
writtenDuring	Euripides' stay in Macedonia ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Bacchants → depictedIn → Euripides' play "The Bacchae" ⓘ

subject linked to: bacchants

Agave → appearsInWork → Euripides' Bacchae ⓘ