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In Greek mythology, maenads (/ ˈ m iː n æ d z /; Ancient Greek: μαινάδες) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of his retinue, the thiasus. Their name, which comes from μαίνομαι ( maínomai , “to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angry”), [ 1 ] literally translates as 'raving ones'.
Accordingly, Pentheus imprisoned Dionysus, thinking the man simply a follower, but his chains fell off and the jail doors opened for him. Pentheus torn apart by Ino and Agave, lekanis lid, ca. 450 BC, Louvre. Dionysus lured Pentheus, disguised as a woman, out to spy on the Bacchic rites, where Pentheus expected to see sexual activities.
The Bacchae (/ ˈ b æ k iː /; Ancient Greek: Βάκχαι, Bakkhai; also known as The Bacchantes / ˈ b æ k ə n t s, b ə ˈ k æ n t s,-ˈ k ɑː n t s /) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon.
An "unspoken" sparagmos may have been the central element underlying the very genre of Greek tragedy. [1] [2] Maenads and Pentheus, House of the VettiiSparagmos (Ancient Greek: σπαραγμός, from σπαράσσω sparasso, "tear, rend, pull to pieces") is an act of rending, tearing apart, or mangling, [3] usually in a Dionysian context.
The title refers to the groups of devoted female followers of the god, who serve as the chorus in the play, and would engage in ecstatic rituals to the point of euphoric delirium motivated by the god's association with wine, sexuality, celebration, and the theater. The play deals with the themes of religion, sexuality, sacrifice and devotion. [5]
In Euripides' play The Bacchae, Theban Maenads murdered King Pentheus after he banned the worship of Dionysus because he denied Dionysus' divinity.Dionysus, Pentheus' cousin, lured Pentheus to the woods—Pentheus wanted to see what he thought were the sexual activities of the women—where the Maenads tore him apart and his corpse was mutilated by his own mother, Agave.
In the Iliad, when King Lycurgus of Thrace heard that Dionysus was in his kingdom, he imprisoned Dionysus' followers, the Maenads. Dionysus fled and took refuge with Thetis, and sent a drought which stirred the people to revolt. The god then drove King Lycurgus insane and had him slice his own son into pieces with an axe in the belief that he ...
Evius is an epithet of his used prominently in Euripides' play, The Bacchae. Iacchus (Greek: Ἴακχος), possibly an epithet of Dionysus, is associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries; in Eleusis, he is known as a son of Zeus and Demeter. The name Iacchus may come from iacchus, a hymn sung in honor of him. [13]