Pentheus soon banned the worship of the god Dionysus, who was the son of his aunt Semele, and forbade the women of Cadmeia to partake in his rites.

An angered Dionysus caused Pentheus' mother Agave and his aunts Ino and Autonoë, along with all the other women of Thebes, to rush to Mount Cithaeron in a Bacchic frenzy.

Before or possibly after Pentheus was killed, his wife gave birth to a son named Menoeceus, who became the father of Creon and Jocasta.

His guards instead arrest Acoetes of Maeonia, a sailor who confirms the divinity of Bacchus and tells how the crew of his ship ended up being turned into dolphins after trying to kidnap the young god.

In Oppian's version, Dionysus's female followers ask the god to transform them into leopards, and he grants their request, while simultaneously changing Pentheus into a bull.

King Pentheus appears in Bacchae, a classical Meitei language play based on the ancient Greek tragedy of the same title.

In the play, as distinct from the original tragedy, King Pentheus is portrayed as a small community, whose chances of survival is highly unpredictable and doubtful, affected by the massive globalization results of the developed countries (depicted by God Dionysus).