bacchantes

• P. of bacchor, bacchantes, priestesses of Bacchus: Bacchantum ritu, O.

Men and women who joined in the Dionysian festivals dressed in Asiatic robes and bonnets; and with their heads wreathed with vine and ivy leaves, with fawn-skins (νεβρίδες) flung over their shoulders, and thyrsi, or blunt spears twined with vine-leaves, in their hands, they ran through the country, shouting Io Bacche! Euoi! Iacche! Ιὰ. Ιή. swinging their thyrsi, beating on drums, and sounding various instruments. Indecent emblems were carried in procession, and the ceremonies often assumed a most immoral character and tendency. The women, who bore a chief part in these frantic revels, were called Bacchae, Maenades, Thyiades, Euades. See Dionysia.

• Chorea the bacchante: Paus. 2.20.4
• taken prisoners by Lycurgus and then released: Apollod. 3.5.1
• statues of: Paus. 2.7.5, cf.Paus. 2.2.7, Paus. 2.20.4, Paus. 2.22.1