A dancing maenad. This is a Greek statuette from the 3rd century BC. It was made in Taranto

In Greek mythology, Maenads (Greek: Μαινάδες) were the inspired and frenzied female worshippers of Dionysus, the Greek god of mystery, wine, and intoxication, the Roman god Bacchus. Not to be confused with Toronto. Taranto ( Ancient Greek: Tarās; Modern Greek: Tarantas) is a coastal city in Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Mystery Religions, Sacred Mysteries or simply Mysteries, were "religious cults of the Graeco-Roman Wine is an Alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of Grape juice Intoxication is the state of being affected by one or more psychoactive drugs. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman Their name literally translates as "raving ones". They were known as wild, insane women who could not be reasoned with. The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in copious amounts of violence, bloodletting, sexual activity, self-intoxication, and mutilation. Ecstasy is subjective experience of total involvement of the subject with an object of his or her awareness They were usually pictured as crowned with vine leaves, clothed in fawnskins and carrying the thyrsus, and dancing with wild abandon. A vine is any plant of Genus Vitis (the Grape plants or by extension any similar climbing or trailing plant A deer is a Ruminant Mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. In Greek mythology, a thyrsus ( thyrsos) was a staff of giant fennel ( Ferula communis) covered with Ivy vines and leaves sometimes The Maenads are the most significant members of the Thiasus, the retinue of Dionysus. In Greek mythology, the Thiasus (Greek thiasos) was the ecstatic Retinue of Dionysus, often pictured as inebriated revelers

In Macedon, according to Plutarch's Life of Alexander, they were called Mimallones and Klodones. Macedon or Macedonia ( Greek grc Μακεδονία grc-Latn Makedonía) was the name of a kingdom centered in the northern-most Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c In Greece they were described as Bacchae, Bassarides, Thyiades, Potniades and other epithets. ^[1]

The Maenads were entranced women, wandering under the orgiastic spell of Dionysus through the forests and hills. ^[2] The maddened Hellenic women of real life were mythologized as the mad women who were nurses of Dionysus in Nysa: "he that on a time drave down over the sacred mount of Nysa the nursing mothers of mad Dionysus; and they all let fall to the ground their wands. " (Iliad, VI. 130ff). They went into the mountains at night and practised strange rites. ^[3]

Maenad carrying a hind, fragment of an Attic red-figure cup, ca. Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. 480 BC, Louvre

The Maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) in Roman mythology, after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a fox-skin, a bassaris. Events By place Greece May — King Xerxes I of Persia marches from Sardis and onto Thrace The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Roman mythology, or more appropriately Latin mythology, refers to the mythological beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its A fox is an Animal belonging to any one of about 27 Species (of which only 12 actually belong to the Vulpes genus or 'true foxes' of small

In Euripides' play The Bacchae, Theban Maenads murdered King Pentheus after he banned the worship of Dionysus. Euripides ( Ancient Greek:) (ca 480 BC–406 BC was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus The Bacchae (Βάκχαι / Bakchai; also known as The Bacchantes) is a Athenian Tragedy by the ancient Greek Thebes ( Classic Greek Θῆβαι, Mod Θήβα) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range which divides In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes, son of the strongest of the Spartes, Echion, and of Agave, daughter of Dionysus, Pentheus' cousin, himself lured Pentheus to the woods, where the Maenads tore him apart. His corpse was mutilated by his own mother, Agave, who tore off his head, believing it to be that of a lion. In Greek mythology, Agave (or Agaue, English translation: "illustrious" was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city

A group of Maenads also killed Orpheus. Orpheus ( Greek: Ὀρφεύς ˈɔrfiəs ( OHR-fee-uhs) or /ˈɔrfjuːs/ ( OHR'-fews) in English is a figure from Greek mythology born in

In Greek vase-painting, the frolicking of Maenads and Dionysus is often a theme depicted on Greek kraters, used to mix water and wine. For the Landform crater see Crater. A krater (in Greek: κρατήρ kratēr, from the Verb κεράννυμι These scenes show the Maenads in their frenzy running in the forests, often tearing to pieces any animal they happen to come across.

See also Icarius, Butes, Dryas, and Minyades for other examples of Dionysus inflicting insanity upon women as a curse. In Greek mythology, there were two people named Icarius, or Ikários (and another named Icarus) In Greek mythology, the name Butes (Βούτης referred to four different people For other uses of Dryas or Drias see Dryas (disambiguation, Drias (disambiguation, Dryad (disambiguation, and Hamadryad The Minyades were three sisters in Greek mythology who were daughters of Minyas, and the protagonists of a myth about the perils of neglecting the worship of

Maenads in later culture

A mild and tamed Bacchante for a late 19th-century audience (William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1894)

A Maenad appears in the second stanza of Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ode to the West Wind (1819):

Angels of rain and lightning; there are spread

On the blue surface of their airy surge,

Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, ev'n from the dim verge

Of the horizon to the zenith's height—

In Algernon Charles Swinburne's quasi-autobiographical poem "Thalassius" (1880), a stunning epic simile of 33 lines (337-70) compares the temptation of the poet to a riot of Bassarides. William-Adolphe Bouguereau (November 30 1825 – August 19 1905 was a French academic painter. Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4 1792 – July 8 1822 ˈpɝːsɪ ˈbɪʃ ˈʃɛlɪ was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among Percy Bysshe Shelley composed the Poem "Ode to the West Wind" in 1819 near Florence Italy it was published in 1820. Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909 was a Victorian era English poet Thalassius is a Genus of Spiders in the family Pisauridae. Species Thalassius Simon 1885

The Bassarids, to a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is the most famous opera composed by Hans Werner Henze. Wystan Hugh Auden (21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973 ˈwɪstən ˈhjuː ˈɔːdən who signed his works W Chester Simon Kallman ( 7 January 1921 &ndash 18 January 1975) was an American Poet, librettist and translator best known Hans Werner Henze (born July 1 1926 Gütersloh, Germany is a German composer well known for his left-wing political convictions

The maenads correspond to the Shikome in the Japanese myth of Izanami and Izanagi (which has a correspondence with the Orpheus myth). Shikome is a type of creature from Japanese mythology. It is depicted as a fierce and wild woman whom Izanami sent to destroy her husband Izanagi. In Japanese mythology, is a Goddess of both creation and death as well as the former wife of the god Izanagi. is a deity born of the seven divine generations in Japanese mythology and Shintoism, and is also referred to in the roughly translated Kojiki as "male who invites"

Maenads appear as regular monsters in the first act (Greece) of the PC game Titan Quest. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated Titan Quest is a Action RPG developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. They are depicted in the game as blue-skinned women with characteristics of a cat (tail, cat ears, and claws) and wear their traditional leopard-skin vestment. Ino, the nurse who raised Dionysus also appears in the game as a maenad quest boss. In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes, the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman

Maenads, along with Bacchus, and Silenus appear in C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian. The Silenoi (Σειληνοί were followers of Dionysus. They were drunks and were usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses and had the legs of a human Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 Prince Caspian The Return to Narnia is a Novel for children by C They along with Bacchus, are portrayed as wild, rambunctious young children who dance around and perform sommersults.

See also

• Anthesteria
• Gerarai

References

External links

• Background and Images for the Bacchae