In Nietzsche's philosophy, the Apollonian and the Dionysian is a philosophical and literary dichotomy, based on certain characteristics of Ancient Greek mythology. It is the concept of a duality proposed by Nietzsche on his interpretation of the Greek figures of Apollo and Dionysus and their meaning, projected onto the world of the arts. It is not a question, then, of the significance that the Greeks, in Ancient Greece , gave to the relationship between these figures; but from an interpretation of the significance that they gave to such a relationship that Nietzsche elaborates.
The Apollonian-Dionysian distinction is for Nietzsche about a duality that is opposed and complementary at the same time, of special penetration in the world of Literature and the arts, and especially in that of the performing arts. Nietzsche develops it in his book The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, in which Apollo represents through beauty the elevated, the rational; while Dionysus, god of the grape harvest, of wine, would represent the earthly, unleashed sensuality. Two figures that are supposed to be antagonistic, but two concepts inherent to life and essential in all dramatic creation.