To wish you a happy New Year, I have chosen this mosaic from Zeugma. It shows Akratos (Akratopotes, Akratopoios)—a daimon (a lesser god, a demigod) and servant of Dionysus, whose particular charge was the drinking of unmixed wine—a practice the Greeks themselves regarded as barbarous, fit for Scythians and Thracians but not for civilised men, who watered their wine like sensible people—together with his companion, one of the three Charites (Graces), by the name of Euphrosyne (also Euphemia or Eutychia), whose name means “good cheer, gladness.”
Akratos is pouring wine for Euphrosyne from a horn of plenty. Wine was held to be the earthly embodiment of Dionysus himself, able to ease suffering and to bring joy. May your own wine tonight be divine, that you may forget every one of your cares; and may it bring you peace, joy, and happiness. May your feast be abundant and merry. May the wishes you make this night come true. Let us rejoice, brethren! A happy New Year to you all!
