Ampelos

According to Greek mythology, one of the satyrs and companion of the wine god Dionysus. During a hunt, Ampelos rides a bull, is thrown off by it and trampled to death. To console Dionysus, Zeus transforms him into a vine. Dionysus first plants the vine in a bird's bone. When this becomes too small, he exchanges it for a lion's bone and finally for that of a donkey. In this way, Dionysus can take the vine with him wherever he goes and spreads it all over the world. Ampelos is the name of ampelography (grapevine science) and a mountain range (Ambelos) on Samos.

The Roman poet Ovid ( 43 BC to 8 AD) describes Ampelos in a Fasti (teaching poem) as the son of a nymph and a satyr who becomes the lover of Bacchus in the Greek countryside of Thrace. When Ampelos climbs a tree to pick grapes from a vine that has grown up there, he falls down and dies. Bacchus then transfers him to heaven as Vindemitor (bear guardian). See also under Wine customs and Wine gods.

To read the full text, you must be a Premium Member of wein.plus. You are currently not logged in to wein.plus. Become a Premium Member or log in with your credentials .

Become a Premium Member of wein.plus

Voices of our members

The glossary is a monumental achievement and one of the most important contributions to wine knowledge. Of all the encyclopaedias I use on the subject of wine, it is by far the most important. That was the case ten years ago and it hasn't changed since.
Andreas Essl
Autor, Modena

Welcome back!

Ampelos

To read the full text, you must be a Premium Member of wein.plus. You are currently not logged in to wein.plus. Become a Premium Member or log in with your credentials .

Voices of our members

The world's largest Lexicon of wine terms.

EVENTS NEAR YOU