Editing Maenad (section)

==Myths==
Dionysus came to his birthplace, Thebes, where neither Pentheus, his cousin who was now king, nor Pentheus' mother Agave, Dionysus' aunt (Semele's sister) acknowledged his divinity. Dionysus punished Agave by driving her insane, and in that condition, she killed her son and tore him to pieces. From Thebes, Dionysus went to Argos where all the women except the daughters of King [[Proetus (son of Abas)|Proetus]] joined in his worship. Dionysus punished them by driving them mad, and they killed the infants who were nursing at their breasts. He did the same to the daughters of [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]], King of Orchomenos in Boetia, and then turned them into bats.

According to [[Oppian]], Dionysus delighted, as a child, in tearing kids into pieces and bringing them back to life again. He is characterized as "the raging one" and "the mad one" and the nature of the maenads, from which they get their name, is, therefore, his nature.<ref>Otto, Walter F. (1965). ''Dionysus: Myth and Cult''. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. p.135</ref>

Once during a war in the middle of the third century BC, the entranced Thyiades (maenads) lost their way and arrived in [[Amphissa (city)|Amphissa]], a city near Delphi. There they sank down exhausted in the market place and were overpowered by a deep sleep. The women of Amphissa formed a protective ring around them and when they awoke arranged for them to return home unmolested.
[[File:Women_of_Amphissa.jpg|thumb|''The Women of Amphissa'' by [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]]]]

On another occasion, the Thyiades were snowed in on [[Parnassos]] and it was necessary to send a rescue party. The clothing of the men who took part in the rescue froze solid. It is unlikely that the Thyiades, even if they wore deerskins over their shoulders, were ever dressed more warmly than the men.<ref>''Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life''; translated from the German by Ralph Manheim; Bollingen Series LXV 2; Princeton University Press 1976. pg. 220.</ref>

===Nurses and nymphs===
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In the realm of the [[supernatural]] is the category of [[nymph]]s who nurse and care for the young Dionysus, and continue in his worship as he comes of age. The god [[Hermes]] is said to have carried the young Dionysus to the nymphs of Nysa.

In another myth, when his mother, Semele, is killed, the care of young Dionysus falls into the hands of his sisters, Ino, Agave, and [[Autonoe]], who later are depicted as participating in the rites and taking a leadership role among the other maenads.

===Resisters to the new religion===
[[File:Kylix by Makron Mainade Satyros Staatliche Antikensammlungen 480BC Kat 94 02.jpg|thumb|upright=.70|Maenad and [[satyr]]. [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] [[Kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]] by [[Makron (vase painter)|Makron]], 490-480 BC. Staatliche Antikensammlungen München Kat. 94]]
The term "maenads" also refers to women in mythology who resisted the worship of Dionysus and were driven mad by him, forced against their will to participate in often horrific rites. The doubting women of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], the prototypical maenads or "mad women", left their homes to live in the wilds of the nearby mountain [[Cithaeron]]. When they discovered [[Pentheus]] spying on them, dressed as a maenad, they tore him limb from limb.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''The Bacchae''</ref>

This also occurs with the three daughters of [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]], who reject Dionysus and remain true to their household duties, becoming startled by invisible drums, flutes, cymbals, and seeing ivy hanging down from their looms. As punishment for their resistance, they become madwomen, choosing the child of one of their number by lot and tearing it to pieces, as the women on the mountain did to young animals. A similar story with a tragic end is told of the daughters of [[Proetus (son of Abas)|Proetus]].

===Voluntary revelers===
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Not all women were inclined to resist the call of Dionysus, however. Maenads, possessed by the spirit of Dionysus, traveled with him from Thrace to mainland Greece in his quest for the recognition of his divinity. Dionysus was said to have danced down from Parnassos accompanied by Delphic virgins, and it is known that even as young girls the women in Boeotia practiced not only the closed rites but also the bearing of the thyrsus and the dances.

A possible foundation myth is the ancient festival called [[Agrionia]]. According to Greek authors like [[Plutarch]], female followers of Dionysios went in search of him and when they could not find him prepared a feast. As Plutarch records this festival, a priest would chase a group of virgins down with a sword. These women were supposed to be descendants of the women who sacrificed their son in the name of Dionysios. The priest would catch one of the women and execute her. This human sacrifice was later omitted from the festival. Eventually the women would be freed from the intense ecstatic experience of the festival and return to their usual lives. The Agrionia was celebrated in several Greek cities, but especially in Boeotia. Each Boeotian city had its own distinct foundation myth for it, but the pattern was much the same: the arrival of Dionysus, resistance to him, flight of the women to a mountain, the killing of Dionysus' persecutor, and eventual reconciliation with the god.