What are the two cotrasting ideas associated with Dionysus' worship?

In the Bacchae by Euripedes (I'll be very embarrassed if I'm remembering it wrong and it was Sophocles), he portrays the worshippers of Dionysus as living a peaceful, hippie, natural existence out in the forest. The Maenads could scratch the earth with their fingernails and milk or wine would flow out for them to drink, for instance. However, he also portrays them as feral and violent--ripping off Pentheus' head, for instance.

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Originally Posted by qwerty321

What are the two cotrasting ideas associated with Dionysus' worship?

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I know one thing newer studies have highlighted an idea that the pictures associated with Dionysus show Demeter holding what was once thought to be stalks of rye, now they think she was holding Passpalum grass. The fungus ergot (claviceps purpurea) which is where they discovered Lysergic Acid Amide, (LSA, which was the chemical they altered to make LSD) grows on rye but has the nasty side effect of making you limbs drop off and babies abort as well as some other scary things. However the type of ergot which grows on Passpalum(claviceps passpali) does not have the nasty side effects, so now they are suggesting that the Dionysian rituals that are meant to alter one forever are a feast of ergot(and not just getting drunk)