Dionysus

As I mentioned in an earlier Blog, I noticed that the Greeks seem to have a god for every distinguishable emotion. I found it interesting when I looked up Dionysus and found that he was considered to be a late comer among the twelve olympians.

"In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (Greek Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; IPA: /ˌdaɪəˈnaɪsəs/), is the god of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival. The geographical origins of his cult were unknown to the classical Greeks, but almost all myths depicted him as having "foreign" origins: typical of the god of the epiphany, the god that comes."

This quote from wikipedia really made me wonder, why is it that Dionysus was the late comer of the gods? Perhaps human beings were hesitant to acknowledge intoxication as a valid, naturally occuring feeling. Maybe they tried to exclude this feeling but realized that the desire for intoxication was not determined by the existence of a god reflecting those values.