In one of his fables, Homer narrates that Dionysus, the god of merriment, once chartered a ship from Tyrrhenean seamen to return to Naxos.
Unaware of their passenger’s godly nature, the seamen attempted to mislead him and take him captive.
When Dionysus realized this, he gave them wine to make them drunk. He also transformed the ship’s oars into snakes, while a vine climbed up the mast, its branches laden with grapes.
Terrified by the sudden phenomenon, the seamen scurried into the sea and were immediately metamorphosed into dolphins.
