Changes

The stories about the god of wine and wine-making held several important concepts in Greek and Roman society. The first was restraint; while wine and celebration were important, it should be done with restraint. Self-control was greatly valued in Classical society. Dionysus taught people that they needed to use wine and other pleasures cautiously. It was perfectly acceptable to have fun, but not too much.  Another important concept promoted in Dionysus's myth was that the gods had to be respected and honored, even if they were seen as alien and threatening. In the Classical world, divinities were worshipped because of their power and not because they were good or noble. Dionysus represented the principle of transformation and transgression. The myths about God were concerned with this concept and could be a positive and a negative thing.  In the stories told about God, the ancients were taught to accept the transformation and danger. Like wine, the god could loosen inhibitions, which could be positive, as was the case with music and celebrations. However, it could also be dangerous and could lead to violence. The fables of Zeus and Semele's son 's fables taught Greeks that they could be inhibited but not too much and that they could transgress but should still respect social norms .<ref>Henrichs, Albert. "Dionysus." In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics. (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015) </ref>. It seems that one  One aspect of Dionysus became more important over time and that he came to be seen as mainly a god of rebirth. This was because he was shown in the myths to have been brought back to life at least twice, once after he was torn apart by the Titans and the other time when he descended into Hades, the realm of the dead, and survived. Because of this, he was believed to possess the secrets of resurrection.  The Bacchic Mystery religion provided rituals that allowed individuals to become initiated into the secret knowledge of Dionysus. The exact nature of this mystery religion is unknown. Those initiated into the cult seemed to have believed that they would be reborn or to go to a paradise after death <ref>Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (eds) The Oxford Classical Dictionary(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015)</ref>.