Dionysus — Infancy.

    When she was pregnant with Dionysus (Bacchus), her child by Zeus (Jupiter), Semele prevailed on the god to show himself to her in his true form. The resulting bolt of lightning reduced the girl to ashes, but Zeus sewed the unborn child in his thigh until gestation was complete. Then, for protection from the jealous wrath of Hera (Juno), Zeus had Hermes (Mercury) spirit the infant away into hiding.
    Dionysus was first given to Semele’s sister Ino, wife of Athamas, who disguised him as a girl to escape Hera’s attention. But the goddess was not deceived and contrived to punish Ino and Athamas by driving them mad. Dionysus was then taken to Mount Nysa, where he was reared as a goat by the mountain nymphs; Zeus later rewarded the nymphs by placing them among a group of stars.
    Postclassical representations in the fine arts depict Hermes taking the infant god to the nymphs or Ino caring for him. Some depictions of the infant Dionysus, crowned with vine-leaves and surrounded by bacchantes, prefigure the adult god of wine.