Who is Pentheus (from The Bacchae) from Euripides V and what is their importance?

Pentheus appears in The Bacchae. He is the ruler of Thebes and Cadmus' grandson. Pentheus mocks the existence of Dionysus, believing him to be a false god. When the women of Thebes are driven mad by Dionysus, Pentheus refuses to believe that they are under divine power, so he orders them rounded up and imprisoned. When Dionysus comes to Thebes in disguise as a stranger and priest of Dionysus, Pentheus orders him imprisoned along with the women, and although Dionysus miraculously escapes his bonds, and the palace is mysteriously destroyed by earthquake and lightning, Pentheus still refuses to believe.