Apollonian
and Dionysian are terms for the twin principles which the German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche detected in Greek civilization in his early work Die Geburt
der Tragddie (The Birth of Tragedy, 1872).
He associated the Apollonian
tendency with the instinct for form, beauty, moderation, and symmetry, best
expressed in Greek sculpture, while the Dionysian (or Dionysiac) instinct was
one of irrationality, violence, and exuberance, found in music.