Dionysos actually shared a number of names with the Jewish God. As mentioned by Plutarch, there was Sabazius and Sabaoth; Euoi and Eloah. The Greek form of Yahweh is IAO, which is similar to both the Dionysian cry "Io!" (Euripides' Bakkhai 671) and Ia'kkhos, the name by which he was known at Eleusis (Herodotus' Histories 65). Yahweh was called El, Lord, just as Dionysos was called Anax, Lord. In Exodus 17:15 Moses erected an altar to Jehovah-Nissi - which sounds like the God from Nysa (a possible entymology of Dionysos as in Homeric Hymn 1.) In Isaiah God is addressed as the Holy One, just as Dionysos is called Hosioter 'He Who Makes Holy' by Pausanias and Plutarch. Yahweh-salom 'The Lord of Peace' is paralleled in Dionysos Eleutherios 'Dionysos Who Frees'. Even God of the Jews - Theos Ioudaioi - has been compared to Oudaios, a follower of Dionysos. (Cladius Iolaus FGH 788 F4)
These parallels continue with the names of Jesus. According to Matthew 1:23, Jesus' name is Emmanuel, meaning 'God is with us'. This is like Dionysos' title Theos Epiphanes - 'God manifest'. Revelation 22:16 names Jesus as the 'bright Morning Star' just as Dionysos is Phanes, the Illuminator. In John 15:1 Jesus is called "the true vine" in an obvious attempt to connect him to Dionysos Ampelios, the God of the Vine.
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