(Ἐλευθερεύς), a surname of Dionysus, which he derived either from Eleuther, or the Boeotian town of Eleutherae; but it may also be regarded as equivalent to the Latin Liber, and thus describes Dionysus as the deliverer of man from care and sorrow. (Paus. 1.20.2, 38.8; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 101.) The form Eleutherius is certainly used in the sense of the deliverer, and occurs also as the surname of Zeus. (Plut. Sympos. vii. in fin.; Pind. Ol. 12.1; Strab. ix. p.412; Tacit. Ann. 15.64.)
[L.S]A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology
Smith, William
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890