The School of Rock move Herodotus found the Oracle of Dionysus

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in the land of the Satrians remarkable: “[...] it is a prophetess who utters the oracles, as at Delphi.” Other sources provide evidence of at least two of those oracles which left a mark on world history.

Undoubtedly, the most important record in this regard is Suetonius’ account of the visit paid by the first Roman Emperor’s father to the Temple of Dionysus in the Rhodope. The prophets sat in a roofless oval chamber and, as the Roman historian tells us: ” … When Octavian, father of Augustus, at the head of his army, came upon the Holy Mount of Dionysus, he consulted the oracle about his son, and the prophets said to him that his son was to rule the world, for as the wine was spilt onto the altar, the smoke rose up above the top of the shrine and even unto heavens, as had happened when Alexander the Great himself had sacrificed upon that same altar.”

It is certain then that at least two oracles of momentous significance for human history were uttered in the Holy Mount Rhodope: Alexander was told that he was to conquer Asia, and the Romans, that they were to establish a world empire. Wine and fire were used to deliver the prophecy: wine was spilt onto the altar and the height of its flame signified the prophetic answer. A similar ritual was performed in other Thracian temples of Dionysus, such as the one possessed by the Bisaltians, who divined how rich the harvest would be from the height of the flame on the altar.

Wine and fire were of course the main attributes of Dionysus. The act of winemaking itself was thought of as a symbolic narrative of the God’s life and passions. The crushing of the grapes was an allusion to the Titans’ dismembering of the Thracian Dionysus. Winemaking was a sacrament accompanied by sombre monotonous singing which resembled a lament.

All around Perperikon, thousands of winepresses were cut in the rocks: an intricate network of basins and canals, like blood veins, carried the sacred sap of Dionysus to burn on his altar or fill the goblets during orgiastic revelries in his honour.

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