Dionysius (Bacchus) & the Dionysius Crater - Versailles, France
Posted by: Metro2
N 48° 48.332 E 002° 06.885
31U E 434999 N 5406215
Bacchus...the Roman God of the grape harvest...and decadent living.
Waymark Code: WMD02G
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 10/31/2011
Views: 14
This 1660 marble sculpture is located in the Gardens of the Versailles Palace. It is entitled "Archimole dit aussi Bacchus" or "Archimole otherwise known as Bacchus". It depicts the god of the grape harvest, bearded and bare-chested holding a bounty of grapes in a sagging robe in front of him.
The artist is Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).
Bacchus is known as Dionysius by the Greeks..and Wikipedia's article about him is under that name: (
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Wikipedia (
visit link) has this to say about the lunar crater:
"Dionysius is a lunar impact crater that lies on the western edge of the Mare Tranquillitatis. To the southeast is the crater pair of Ritter and Sabine. Just to the northwest is the system of rilles designated Rimae Ritter. These clefts follow a generally northwest direction.
The rim of Dionysius is generally circular and shows little sign of wear. The crater possesses a small ray system with a radius of over 130 kilometers. The formation has a high albedo and appears bright when the Sun is nearly overhead during a full Moon. It is surrounded by a bright halo, with darker material farther out. Some darker deposits are in the form of relatively rare dark rays."