Wait. Amethyst is a Dionysus thing? heeeyoo accidentally honoring him before I really Got it.

pomegranateandivy:

Yes, let me tell you my favorite story! Alright, so this isn’t a canonical version, it’s my personal cliff notes retelling based on different stories and drawing heavy influence from a 1500s story about Dionysus and Amethyst by

Remy Belleau. But here we go.

Dionysus once was slighted by a human. This human pissed him off somehow, different versions say different things, but I like the version that this human had questioned Dionysus’ divinity and that’s what angered him. So, Dionysus, in a mindless rage, vowed that he would destroy the next human he saw. So he changed shape into a leopard and started down the nearest road, looking for someone to rip to shreds. This young girl who was a devotee to Rhea (or Gaea depending on the version) was walking to her temple, and was the next person in Dionysus’ path. Seeing that Dionysus was about to fall upon this innocent girl, Rhea changed her body to quartz just as Dionysus came over the hill and saw the girl. He was enraged, absolutely furious. He clawed and yowled at the stone girl, beyond anger that Rhea had taken this from him. And when he had worn himself to exhaustion, he looked upon the face of the girl. She was young, and beautiful, and terrified at her last sight of Dionysus in the form of a leopard, charging at her. And the weight of what he almost did, and what did happen because of his actions hit him. He had been about to kill this innocent girl in his anger at another human. He hugged her statue and cried, begging Rhea to change her back. But Rhea couldn’t change the girl back to human again. She’d saved the child from a horrible death, but that was all she was capable of doing. And Dionysus wept and wept, until the clear crystal was stained purple from his tears. And when he dried his eyes and looked upon the girl again, he asked Rhea what the girls name had been, and she told him, “Amethyst.” And Dionysus asked her to put the now purple crystal in the earth, and vowed that any who carried a piece of this girl and her memory would have his blessing and favor.

(Edited to correct information about the source, I had peviously been unaware that this myth was created in the 1500s, I’m such a shit Hellenist)