Euripides’ play The Bacchae presents an intriguing set of problems for political philosophy to parse. The Bacchae poses several dualisms within the tale of the mysterious stranger Dionysus who drives the women of Thebes into a religious

frenzy and upends the political stability of the polis. Reason is challenged by irrationality. Civil society is confronted by the animalistic and horrendous powers of nature. The supremacy of male power is challenged by the feminine and androgynous.

Yet, these simple dualisms are more complex than they appear on the surface and some work is needed to parse them.

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