Maenad

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Maenad</h1>

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<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">"Bassarids" redirects here. For the opera, see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bassarids" title="The Bassarids">The Bassarids</a>.</div>

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<div class="thumbcaption">Furious Maenad, carrying a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyrsus" title="Thyrsus">thyrsus</a> and a leopard, with a snake rolled up over her head. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tondo%28art%29" title="Tondo (art)">Tondo</a> of an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece" title="Ancient Greece">Ancient Greek</a> Attic white-ground <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylix%28drinking_cup%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Kylix (drinking cup)">kylix</a> 490–480 BC from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulci" title="Vulci">Vulci</a>. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany</div>

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<p>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology" title="Greek mythology">Greek mythology</a>, <b>maenads</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˈmiːnædz/</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a>: μαινάδες <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Greek" title="Help:IPA for Greek">[maiˈnades]</a>) were the <i>female followers of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus" title="Dionysus">Dionysus</a> and the most significant members </i>of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiasus" title="Thiasus">Thiasus</a>, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates a<b>s "raving ones"</b>. Maenads were known as <b>Bassarids</b>, <b>Bacchae</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˈbækiː/</a> or <b>Bacchantes</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˈbækənts, bəˈkænts, -ˈkɑːnts/</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_mythology" title="Roman mythology">Roman mythology</a> after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacchus" class="mw-redirect" title="Bacchus">Bacchus</a>, to wear a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassaris" title="Bassaris">bassaris</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox" title="Fox">fox</a>-skin.

Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecstasy_%28emotion%29" title="Ecstasy (emotion)">ecstatic frenzy</a> through a combination of dancing and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_intoxication" title="Alcohol intoxication">intoxication</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-wiles_1-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-wiles-1">[1]</a></sup> During these rites, the maenads would dress in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawn" class="mw-redirect" title="Fawn">fawn</a> skins and carry a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyrsus" title="Thyrsus">thyrsus</a>, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_cone" class="mw-redirect" title="Pine cone">pine cone</a>. They would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup>

These women were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology" title="Mythology">mythologized</a> as the 'mad women' who were nurses of Dionysus in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nysa_%28mythology%29" title="Nysa (mythology)">Nysa</a>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycurgus_of_Thrace" title="Lycurgus of Thrace">Lycurgus</a> "chased the Nurses of the frenzied Dionysus through the holy hills of Nysa, and the sacred implements dropped to the ground from the hands of one and all, as the murderous Lycurgus struck them down with his ox-goad".<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> They went into the mountains at night and practiced strange rites.<sup id="cite_ref-lever_4-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-lever-4">[4]</a></sup>

According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a>'s <i>Life of Alexander</i>, maenads were called <i>Mimallones</i> and <i>Klodones</i> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_%28ancient_kingdom%29" title="Macedonia (ancient kingdom)">Macedon</a>, epithets derived from the feminine art of spinning wool.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup> Nevertheless, these warlike <i>parthenoi</i> ("virgins") from the hills, associated with a <i>Dionysios pseudanor</i> "fake male Dionysus", routed an invading enemy.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup> In southern Greece they were described with <i>Bacchae</i>, <i>Bassarides</i>, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyia" title="Thyia">Thyiades</a></i>, <i>Potniades</i><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup> and other epithets.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup>

The term <i>maenad</i> has come to be associated with a wide variety of women, supernatural, mythological, and historical,<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup> associated with the god Dionysus and his worship.</p>

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<div class="thumbcaption">Dancing maenad. Detail from an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece" title="Ancient Greece">Ancient Greek</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paestum" title="Paestum">Paestum</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-figure_pottery" title="Red-figure pottery">red-figure</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyphos" title="Skyphos">skyphos</a>, made by Python, ca. 330-320 BC. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum" title="British Museum">British Museum</a>, London</div>

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<p>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euripides" title="Euripides">Euripides</a>' play <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bacchae" title="The Bacchae">The Bacchae</a></i>, maenads of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,Greece" title="Thebes, Greece">Thebes</a> murder <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentheus" title="Pentheus">King Pentheus</a> after he bans the worship of Dionysus. Dionysus, Pentheus' cousin, himself lures Pentheus to the woods, where the maenads tear him apart. His corpse is mutilated by his own mother, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave%28mythology%29" title="Agave (mythology)">Agave</a>, who tears off his head, believing it to be that of a lion. A group of maenads also kill <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus" title="Orpheus">Orpheus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maenad#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup>

In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_art" title="Ceramic art">ceramic art</a>, the frolicking of Maenads and Dionysus is often a theme depicted on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krater" title="Krater">kraters</a>, used to mix water and wine. These scenes show the maenads in their frenzy running in the forests, often tearing to pieces any animal they happen to come across.

German <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology" title="Philology">philologist</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Friedrich_Otto" title="Walter Friedrich Otto">Walter Friedrich Otto</a> writes:</p>

Maenad

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