Semele

Also known as: Thyone · Family: House of Cadmus · Role: daughter of Cadmus · First appears: Fable 33

In fable 33, Juno, angered by Semele’s involvement with Jupiter, took the form of Beroë and persuaded Cadmus’s unsuspecting daughter to ask Jupiter to appear in the full majesty he showed Juno. Semele first requested a favor without naming it; after Jupiter promised not to refuse, she asked, “Present thyself to me, just such as the daughter of Saturn is wont to embrace thee”.

In fable 34, the unborn Bacchus was taken from Semele’s womb and placed in Jupiter’s thigh. Later, Tiresias predicted that Bacchus, “the son of Semele,” would come, and warned Pentheus of the consequences of refusing him divine honors. In fable 44, Ino is identified as Bacchus’s foster-mother and Semele’s sister.

Relationship record

Life events

• Juno persuades Semele to demand proof of Jupiter’s divine identity.(Fable33)
  • With: Juno
  • “With such words did Juno tutor the unsuspecting daughter of Cadmus.”
• Semele requests a favor from Jupiter without revealing its nature.(Fable33)
  • With: Jupiter
  • “She requested of Jupiter a favor, without naming it.”
• Jupiter promises to grant Semele’s request without denial.(Fable33)
  • With: Jupiter
  • “Make thy choice, thou shalt suffer no denial; and that thou mayst believe it the more, let the majesty of the Stygian stream bear witness.”
• Semele asks Jupiter to appear in the full majesty he shows Juno.(Fable33)
  • With: Jupiter Juno
  • “Present thyself to me, just such as the daughter of Saturn is wont to embrace thee, when ye honor the ties of Venus.”
• Bacchus is removed from Semele’s womb and inserted into Jupiter’s thigh.(Fable34)
  • With: Bacchus Jupiter
  • “The infant, as yet unformed, is taken out of the womb of his mother, and prematurely (if we can believe it) is inserted in the thigh of the father”
• Tiresias predicts Bacchus’s arrival and Pentheus’s violent death for refusing divine honors.(Fable37)
  • With: Tiresias Pentheus Bacchus Agave Autonoë
  • “For soon the day will come, and even now I predict that it is not far off, when the new {God} Liber, the son of Semele, shall come hither. Unless thou shalt vouchsafe him the honor of a temple, thou shalt be scattered, torn in pieces, in a thousand places, and with thy blood thou shalt pollute both the woods, and thy mother and the sisters of thy mother.”

Fable 33

• enemies with Juno “Juno, incensed against Semele for her intrigue with Jupiter, takes the form of Beroë, the more easily to ensure her revenge.”
• courtship with Jupiter “She then lets loose her tongue to abuse. “And what good have I done by railing so often?” said she. “She herself must be attacked {by me}. If I am properly called the supreme Juno, I will destroy her; if it becomes me to hold the sparkling sceptre in my right hand; if I am the queen, and both the sister and wife of Jupiter. The sister {I am}, no doubt. But I suppose she is content with a stolen embrace, and the injury to my bed is but trifling. She is {now} pregnant; that {alone} was wanting; and she bears the evidence of his crime in her swelling womb, and wishes to be made a mother by Jupiter, a thing which hardly fell to my lot alone.”
• with Beroë (Beroë is identified as Semele's nurse.) “She became Beroë[62] herself, the Epidaurian[63] nurse of Semele.”
• parent: Cadmus “With such words did Juno tutor the unsuspecting daughter of Cadmus.”
• with Jupiter (Semele and Jupiter are lovers.) “Juno, incensed against Semele for her intrigue with Jupiter, takes the form of Beroë, the more easily to ensure her revenge.”

Fable 34

• with Jupiter (Jupiter visits Semele.) “Semele is visited by Jupiter, according to the promise she had obliged him to make;”
• child: Bacchus (Semele is the pregnant mother referred to by “she”.) “Bacchus, with whom she is pregnant, is preserved;”

Fable 37

• child: Bacchus “when the new {God} Liber, the son of Semele, shall come hither.”

Fable 38

• child: Bacchus “Bacchus was called Thyoneus, either from Semele, his mother, one of whose names was Thyone,”

Fable 44

• child: Bacchus “Bacchus was the foster-child of Ino, who was the sister of his mother Semele.”
• siblings with Ino “Bacchus was the foster-child of Ino, who was the sister of his mother Semele.”

⭐ Constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.