Bacchae

(Βάκχαι). (1) The female followers of Bacchus or Dionysus (q.v.) in his wanderings through the East, and represented as crowned with vine-leaves, wearing fawn-skins, and carrying the thyrsus in their hands. They are also known as Maenades (from μαίνομαι, to rave) and Thyiades (from θύω, to sacrifice).

(2) Priestesses of Bacchus or Dionysus. See Bacchantes.

(3) The title of a play by Euripides which treats of the arrival of Dionysus at Thebes and the death of Pentheus (q.v.).