\b0 When \b \ATXht3 Hera\b0 \ATXht0 discovered that Princess\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht11906 Semele\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 of Thebes was expecting\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht8 Zeus\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 ' child she shook with rage and immediately wanted to prevent the birth. Semele had certainly not undergone a divine marriage, for the lord of the gods had united with her in the guise of
a drink, but Hera still demanded her revenge. To show that she was just as capable of playing tricks as her husband, she came down from\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht11507 Olympus\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 \cf7 and, assuming the appearance of Semele's own wet nurse, began t
o instill desires and ambitions in the girl's heart: why did her divine lover not come to her in the same form as he showed himself to Hera? Why could not Semele experience the embrace of a god? Troubled by the urgings of the false wet nurse, the heedles
s maid got Zeus to promise to satisfy one of her desires. When he found out what it was she wanted, he came to see her in his divine form, clothed in lightning. Semele did not survive this sight, but Zeus took up the child,\cf0 \b \cf4 \ATXht10 Dionysus
\b0 \cf7 \ATXht0 , from her womb and concealed him in his thigh, closing it with clasps of silver, until he was ready to be born.
