The Greek tragedy Bacchae was written by the Athenian playwright Euripides, one of the three great playwrights of classical Greek tragedy. Bacchae was first performed in 405 B.C., a year after his death, and is regarded by many as his masterpiece.

In Bacchae, the god Dionysus arrives in Greece from Asia with the purpose of introducing his orgiastic worship. He is disguised as a young priest from Asia and is accompanied by his female worshippers, who make up the chorus of the play. He initially seeks to be welcomed in Thebes, but the Thebans reject his divinity and refuse to worship him, while Pentheus, the young king of the city, attempts to capture him.

In the end, Dionysus drives Pentheus into madness and leads him to the mountains, where Agave, his mother, and the women of Thebes, in Bacchic ecstasy, dismember him.