The story of the persecution that the Roman Senate suddenly brought down on the worshipers of Bacchus in 186 BC has long attracted the attention of researchers. The presence of such an epigraphic monument as the inscription from Tirioli, containing the text of the Senate resolution on the Bacchanalia, in combination with the detailed story of Livy, provides a unique opportunity to compare the documentary and the literary sources. The purpose of this study is to clarify the political side of the Bacchanalia case, as well as to clarify some aspects related to the religious prerogatives of the Senate in this case. The author comes to the conclusion that political motives played a much more important role in the actions of the Roman authorities than the strictly religious. Persecuting a religious organization that, in its view, could potentially outgrow the boundaries of a private association, the Senate used its traditional prerogatives associated with the religious authority of this body to solve political problems.