SEMELE.
Daughter of Cadmus, king of Thebes, Semele was seduced by Zeus (Jupiter). When the god’s jealous wife Hera (Juno) heard that Semele was pregnant, she disguised herself as the girl’s nurse, Beroë, and persuaded her to ask Zeus to show himself to her in his true form. Unwillingly, Zeus granted the wish, appearing as a bolt of lightning that killed Semele. Zeus rescued the unborn child, Dionysus (Bacchus), from Semele’s ashes and secreted him in his own thigh, from which the young god was eventually born. When Dionysus reached adulthood, he descended to Hades and brought his mother back to become an Olympian deity.
      
       See also: Dionysus, Infancy.