From a really penetrating book review by David Ulin in, yes, the Los Angeles Times, a fascinating historical idea/fact:
"No one remembers," [author Lawrence Osbourne] tells us, "that Dionysianism was the most popular religion of the late [Roman] empire before the arrival of Christianity. It was Christianity's principal rival…We have even forgotten that Dionysianism was a religion at all."
Book is The Wet and the Dry, by Lawrence Osbourne. Makes one wonder if this "religion" has simply morphed into the wine and spirits culture of today.
Kit Stolz 