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The Bacchic cult became the target of mass persecution in 186 BCE. According to Livy, the cult permeated all societal boundaries, resulting in the Roman government condemning over seven thousand people. Of the seven thousand, more Bacchants suffered capital punishment than were thrown in jail. This thesis shows how this extreme and violent reaction can be sociologically categorized as a moral panic by using sociologist David Garland’s seven criteria of a moral panic. Highly influenced by Stanley Cohen, the creator of the term moral panic, the criteria of Garland are examined in detail to prove that the persecution of 186 was, indeed, a moral panic. In order to strengthen the argument and connection to moral panic studies, the Bacchic cult persecution is compared side-by-side with the witch hunts in Europe during the 14th-17th centuries. The criteria necessary for categorization as a moral panic are present in both violent reactions, even though they are centuries apart. That is, both persecutions involve concern, hostility, consensus, disproportionality, volatility, and a moral dimension that is symptomatic of a larger problem. For a moral panic to be set into motion, the conditions need to allow for the panic to engulf the general public, and 186 provided such an opportunity. The violent reaction toward Bacchants happened due to a hidden political agenda which included many factors: concern regarding foreign influences in Italy, shift of public support to newly victorious generals, changes in aristocracies throughout Italy due to Hannibal’s destruction a few years prior, evolution of the role of women, fracturing within the Senate, and a desire to expand political power to other areas within Italy. False accusations that preyed upon deep-seated fears of the foreign cult were hurled against the Bacchants, a group which provided the perfect scapegoat. By creating a moral panic, the Roman government was able to work the public into a frenzy so that it could justify the violent suppression of the cult, thereby reestablishing its dominance and addressing all political concerns that had arisen in the decades prior to 186.