In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Methe was the spirit and personification of drunkenness. She entered the retinue of Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

 and was mentioned in association with the god or other companions of his.

The Anacreontea

Anacreontea

Anacreontea is the title given to a collection of some 60 Greek poems on the topics of wine, beauty, erotic love, Dionysus, etc. The poems date to between the 1st century BC and the 6th century AD, and are attributed pseudepigraphically to Anacreon. The collection is preserved in the same 10th...

thus describes the mythological connections of Methe:

"Let us be merry and drink wine and sing of Bacchus

Bacchus

Bacchus is the Roman name for Dionysus, the god of wine and intoxication.Bacchus can also refer to:* Temple of Bacchus, a Roman temple at a large classical antiquity complex in Baalbek, Lebanon...

 . . . thanks to him Methe (Drunkeness) was brought forth, the Charis (Grace) was born, Lype (Pain) takes rest and Ania (Trouble) goes to sleep."

Pausanias mentions a painting of Methe drinking wine in the temple of Asclepius

Asclepius

Asclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...

 at Epidaurus

Epidaurus

Epidaurus was a small city in ancient Greece, at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros : Palaia Epidavros and Nea Epidavros. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epidavros, part of the peripheral unit of Argolis...

, and another one of her offering wine to Silenus

Silenus

In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.-Evolution of the character:The original Silenus resembled a folklore man of the forest with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse...

 in the temple of Silenus at Elis

Elis

Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

.

In Nonnus

Nonnus

Nonnus of Panopolis , was a Greek epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, and probably lived at the end of the 4th or early 5th century....

' Dionysiaca

Dionysiaca

The Dionysiaca is an ancient epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hexameters, the main subject of which is the life of Dionysus, his expedition to India, and his...

, Methe appears as the wife of Staphylus

Staphylus

Staphylus is almost always associated with grapes or wine. In Greek mythology, he was:# The son of wine-god Dionysus and Ariadne. His brothers include Oenopion , Thoas, Peparethus, Phanus and Euanthes . Both Staphylus and Phanus are counted among the Argonauts...

 of Assyria

Assyria

Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...

and mother by him of Botrys. When Staphylus suddenly dies the next morning after a banquet in honor of Dionysus, the god makes Methe's name forever commemorated by naming the state of drunkenness after her, as well as makes Staphylus' and Botrys' names refer to grapes. Later, Methe is mentioned as one of the followers of Dionysus on his Indian campaign.