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Theoxeny is a traditional motif that features a god traveling in human disguise, punishing or rewarding mortals depending on their actions and treatment of the god. In his opening monologue, Dionysus reveals who he is to the attendees of the tragedy and that his intentions are to punish disbelievers. To the Thebans, however, he presents himself as a mortal man from Lydia and priest of Dionysus who has brought the god’s rites west. No one in the play is aware of his identity, not even the Bacchants who have traveled with him from the east, and he remains in this disguise until the end of the play.
By Euripides