Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. She helped to raise the infant Dionysus, who was the result of her sister Semele’s fling with Zeus. This ended in such burning passion Semele did not survive it.

Agave went on to marry King Echion and became Queen of Thebes. When Echion died, their son Pentheus inherited the throne and Agave became a Queen Mum. And all went well until a fully-fledged Dionysus came to visit.

He was full of wild and wicked ways, complete with his Cult and Fan Club. Agave joined in with fervid enthusiasm as the crazy ravers danced and did disgusting things on Mount Cithaeron.

Pentheus was very unhappy with his mother’s licentious behavior and refused to join in — even when Agave got the girls (there were lots of girls) to tear his clothes off. With the constant bingeing it all got out of hand and Pentheus ended up in pieces.

Dancing down the road to Thebes with her son’s head on the end of a pole, it slowly began to dawn on Agave that her high spirits could be misconstrued and now might be a good time to do a runner.

Which she did. Well versed in the ways of royalty, she managed to marry another king and put her debauched ways behind her. She even took in her aged parents to prevent them ending up in an Old God’s Home.

She left no forwarding address, but Dionysus was too drunk and debauched to notice anyway.

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Article last revised on September 06, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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