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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'.
Articles relating to the Maenads, the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Their name literally translates as "raving ones".
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.
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.
One well-known manifestation of divine madness in ancient Greece was in the cult of the Maenads, the female followers of Dionysus. However, little is known about their rituals; the famous depiction of the cult in Euripides' play The Bacchae cannot be considered historically accurate. [13]
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.
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The coincidence of invoking Iacchus, seen as Dionysus as a child, by torchlight and commemorating the myth of the god's death and rebirth. This happened both in Delphi and in Athens in the Lenaia, in the same season, winter. It further supports the idea that Attic Lenaia had a specific ritual involving women, the followers of the god.