SEMELE  , in

Greek mythology, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and mother of Dionysus by Zeus . It is said that Hera, having assumed the form of Semele's nurse, persuaded her rival to ask Zeus to show himself to her in all his glory . The god, who had sworn to refuse Semele nothing, unwillingly consented . He appeared seated in his chariot surrounded by thunder and lightning; Semele was consumed by the flames and gave birth prematurely to a child, which was saved from the fire by a miraculous growth of ivy which sprang up round the palace of Cadmus . Dionysus afterwards descended to the nether world, and brought up his mother, henceforth known as Thyone (the raging one), to Olympus . Zeus and Semele probably represent the fertilizing rain of spring, and the earth, afterwards scorched by the summer heat . Another tradition represents Actaeon as the lover of Semele, and his death as due to the jealousy of Artemis . A statue and grave were to be seen in Thebes . See Apollodorus iii . 4; Pausanias 24 . 3, ix . 2 .

3;

Ovid, Metam. iii . 26o .