Dionysos Riding on a Panther: Ultra-Soft Premium Cotton T-Shirt
This design inspired by a floor mosaic found at the House of Masks on the Greek island of Delos. Dionysos was the God of wine and festivals. Dionysos' sacred animals were the panther (leopard), tiger, dolphin, donkeys, bull, and serpent.
It dates to roughly 130-88 BC, which is the late Hellenistic period. The figure riding the panther/leopard is Dionysus, the god of wine. He's holding a tambourine (tympanon) in his left hand and a spear-tipped thyrsus in his right.
I think Dionysus is depicted here with somewhat feminine or androgynous lines.
Why? Just look at the details of his clothing and his delicate facial features, for example. The reason for this (though I should note it's a subject of debate) is as follows: Csapo's 1997 article, 'Riding the Phallus for Dionysus', is a helpful read here. Dionysus isn't just the god of wine; he's also the subverter of the status quo and the established order (the boundaries). Because of this, the inversion of gender roles can be an important key to understanding the Dionysian world.
Getting back to the mosaic: the exact species of the animal is debatable. The safest label for this mosaic is a leopard/panther. Frankly, we don't know whether the artist who made this mosaic - a native of Delos or someone working there - had ever seen a live leopard or panther. But I don't think it's accurate to say that the Greek world only knew this animal as a figment of their imagination during the late Hellenistic period. The leopard/panther had been an established motif in Greek art since much earlier periods; plus, during the Hellenistic age, the Greek world was part of extensive contact networks reaching across Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, and all the way to India.
The mosaic's technique is opus vermiculatum, meaning 'worm-like arrangement'. That's why the mosaic looks much more like a painting than a floor. And it's fascinating.
The years this mosaic was made marked the golden age of Delos. After being declared a free port in 167 BC, the island became one of the most important hubs for Eastern Mediterranean trade. Then, in 88 BC, the fleet of the Pontic king Mithridates VI invaded the island. Ancient sources describe a great catastrophe and massacre.
We designed a t-shirt of this mosaic back in 2022. At the time, it took weeks of Illustrator work. We received messages from a few people who bought it saying they'd wear this t-shirt on their trip to Delos, which was really nice.