Editing Korybantes (section)

==Kouretes==
[[File:Base with reliefs of the birth of Zeus (Rome Mus Cap 1944) 04 crop.jpg|thumb|alt=Two men holding shields stand in front of a baby drinking the milk of a goat|Two Kouretes dance raucously, behind whom the goat [[Amalthea (mythology)|Amalthea]] suckles the infant [[Zeus]]. Marble relief from the 2nd century AD, [[Capitoline Museum]].{{refn|''LIMC'', p. 583; [[Digital LIMC]] [https://app.dasch.swiss/resource/080E/VDtVGGc0Ul20YSRJ57gZbg 1942 (Amaltheia 6)].}}]]
The '''Kouretes''' ({{lang|grc|Κουρῆτες}}) or '''Kuretes''' (see [[#Ecstatics|''Ecstatics'' below]]) were nine dancers who venerated [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], the [[Crete|Cretan]] counterpart of [[Cybele]]. A fragment from [[Strabo]]'s Book VII<ref>Quoted by [[Jane Ellen Harrison]], "The Kouretes and Zeus Kouros: A Study in Pre-Historic Sociology", ''The Annual of the British School at Athens'' '''15''' (1908/1909:308–338) p.&nbsp;309; Harrison observes that Strabo's not very illuminating statement serves to show "that in Strabo's time even a learned man was in complete doubt as to the exact nature of the Kouretes" and second, "that in current opinion, [[Satyr]]s, Kouretes, Idaean Daktyls, Korybantes and Kabeiroi appeared as figures roughly analogous".</ref> gives a sense of the roughly analogous character of these male confraternities, and the confusion rampant among those not initiated: 

<blockquote>Many assert that the [[Samothrace temple complex|gods worshipped in Samothrace]]<!--worshipped in original--> as well as the Kurbantes and the Korybantes<!--Korybantes in original--> and in like manner the Kouretes and the [[Dactyl (mythology)|Idaean Daktyls]]<!--Daktyls in original--> are the same as the [[Cabeiri|Kabeiroi]],<!--Kabeiroi in original--> but as to the Kabeiroi they are unable to tell who they are.</blockquote>

[[Grant Showerman]] in the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition]] addressed the confusion, stating that the Korybantes "are distinguished only [from the Kuretes] by their Asiatic origin and by the more pronouncedly orgiastic nature of their rites".<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Corybantes|volume=7|pages=211–212|first=Grant|last=Showerman|author-link=Grant Showerman}}</ref>

According to [[Oppian]], the Curetes, who had been tasked with guarding the young [[Zeus]], were turned into lions by [[Cronus]]. Zeus then made them into the kings of the animals, while his mother [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] yoked them to her chariot.<ref>{{cite book | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | page =221 | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}</ref>