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Semele

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
Semele (sĕm`ĭlē), in Greek mythology, mother of Dionysus, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Zeus, who loved her, appeared to her as a man. Semele asked him to come to her in his divine form, but when he did the fire of his thunderbolts killed her. Zeus snatched his unborn son from her ashes and thrust him into his thigh, from which Dionysus was finally born. Later Dionysus rescued Semele from Hades and made her a goddess on Olympus.

Semele

In Greek mythology, a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus. When Semele became the lover of Zeus, Hera was enraged, and she coaxed Semele into asking to see the god in all his splendour. Having promised to grant Semele's every wish, Zeus was forced to comply. The thunderbolts emanating from him destroyed Semele, but Zeus rescued the unborn Dionysus from the ashes. Some stories hold that Dionysus later descended into Hades and brought Semele back to take her place among the immortals.
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Then there was the daughter of Phoenix, who bore me Minos and Rhadamanthus: there was Semele, and Alcmena in Thebes by whom I begot my lion-hearted son Hercules, while Semele became mother to Bacchus the comforter of mankind.
The Iliad by Homer View in context
975-978) And Harmonia, the daughter of golden Aphrodite, bare to Cadmus Ino and Semele and fair-cheeked Agave and Autonoe whom long haired Aristaeus wedded, and Polydorus also in rich- crowned Thebe.
Collection Of Hesiod, Homer and Homerica by Homer View in context
Have we not seen, or by relation heard, In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st, In wood or grove, by mossy fountain-side, In valley or green meadow, to waylay Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene, Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa, Or Amymone, Syrinx, many more Too long--then lay'st thy scapes on names adored, Apollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan, Satyr, or Faun, or Silvan?
Paradise Regained by Milton, John View in context
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