In Greek mythology, Semele (Σεμέλη), daughter of Cadmus and
Harmonia, was the mortal mother[1] of Dionysus by Zeus in one
of his many origin myths. (In another version of his mythic
origin, he had two mothers, Persephone and Semele.) The name
"Semele", like other elements of Dionysiac cult (e.g., thyrsus
and dithyramb), is manifestly not Greek[2] but apparently
Thraco-Phrygian;[3] the myth of Semele's father Cadmus gives
him a Phoenician origin. Herodotus, who gives the account of
Cadmus, estimates that Semele lived sixteen hundred years
before his time, or around 2000 B.C.[4]...
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（Σεμέλη), a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, at Thebes, and
accordingly a sister of Ino, Agave, Autonoe, and Polydorus.
She was beloved by Zeus (Hom. Il. 14.323, Hymn. in Bacch. 6,
57 ; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. 2.40), and Hera, stimulated by
jealousy, appeared to her in the form of her aged nurse
Beroe, and induced her to pray Zeus to visit her in the same
splendour and majesty with which he appeared to Hera. Zeus,
who had promised that he would grant her every request, did
as she desired. He appeared to her as the god of thunder,
and Semele was consumed by the fire of lightning; but Zeus
saved her child Dionysus, with whom she was pregnant
(Apollod, 3.4.3; Ov. Met. 3.260, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 179).
Pausanias (9.2.3) relates that Actaeon was in love with her,
and that Artemis caused him to be torn to pieces by his
dogs, to prevent his marrying her. The inhabitants of
Brasiae, in Laconia, related that Semele, after having given
birth to Dionysus, was thrown by her father Cadmus in a boat
upon the sea, and that her body was driven to the coast of
Brasiae, where it was buried ; whereas Dionysus, whose life
was saved, was brought up at Brasiae (Paus. 3.24.3). After
her death, the common account continues, she was led by her
son out of the lower world, and carried up to Olympus as
Thyone (Pind. O. 2.44, Pyth. xi 1; Paus. 2.31.2, 37.5; A
pollod. 3.5.3). A statue of her and her tomb were shown at
Thebes. (Paus. 9.12.3, 16.4.) - A Dictionary of Greek and
Roman biography and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
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