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Dionysus: Shut up.

Pentheus, seconds before getting stabbed: Or what will you do? Stab me?

#yeah #that's it. that's the play.#the bacchae #incorrect quotes #dionysus #pentheus #king pentheus

Mythological Throwback Thursday: Maenads

Hello and welcome to another Mythological Throwback Thursday! If you’re from the United States we hope you had a great time over the holiday weekend. Bet you didn’t have more fun than the maenads, though. Check out our rundown of these party animals!

In Ancient Greece, there were a group of followers of Dionysus called maenads. These women were portrayed as senseless revellers, out of their minds on wine and other intoxicants, frenzied and violent. Some maenads were said to have been driven mad for crossing Dionysus, but others were priestesses or dancers in service to him.

During a festival called the Agronia, there is believed to have been a reenactment of a myth in which Dionysus tangled with King Pentheus. The women of Thebes took on the role of maenads, whipping themselves into an ecstatic fervour, pursuing and tearing to pieces a ‘king’, which was probably a goat, not an actual person. Probably. They then either devoured the raw remains of the king or sacrificed them to Dionysus. Standard bachelorette party, then.

These Dionysian celebrations developed into the famous Roman Bacchanalia. Much of what we understand of the Bacchanalia is thanks to Livy, a known xenophobe and religious conservative who greatly disapproved of Greek influence-- hence, an unreliable source. However, it is told that the Bacchanalia was originally a more subdued mystery cult exclusively for women, meeting during daylight three times a month.

Livy claims that things changed when a Grecian living in Etruria began admitting men, and introduced a nocturnal feast. The popularity of Bacchanalia skyrocketed, and was soon brought to Rome itself by a priestess of Bacchus called Paculla Annia. Under her leadership all social classes were permitted to join the cult, though initiates were required to partake in violence or sexual promiscuity. Kind of like Fight Club. The cult ran amok throughout Rome, corrupting everyone they could and murdering those they couldn’t. Also a bit like Fight Club.

The cult was betrayed by a former slave and apostate, Hispala Faecenia (unfortunate name), whose mistress had forced her to participate in Bacchanalia. When she heard her lover was going to be inducted into the cult by his parents, she went straight to the top, informing the Roman Senate. The purge that ensued ended with the arrest of seven thousand, most of whom were executed. The cult was driven back underground, there to persist in Southern Italy for generations.

Talk about religious intolerance. These days it takes a sports team winning to get a crowd that amped up. Or a sports team losing. ...Just sports in general, really. Join us next week for another Mythological Throwback Thursday!