The Bacchae of Euripides

A god returns to his mother's city to demand recognition of his divinity and to avenge the slander of her birth, provoking a confrontation with the local ruler who refuses the new cult. The god, partly concealed as a mortal, inspires a band of women into ecstatic mountain rites, fracturing civic order and tempting the ruler's curiosity and contempt. Efforts to control or expose the worship lead to escalating madness and a violent, tragic climax in which divine influence and ritual frenzy overturn human authority. The play examines religious ecstasy, identity and disguise, the clash between rational rule and irrational forces, and the consequences of hubris.