Maenad
The Maenads are a group of women in Greek mythology. Followers of the god Dionysos, they were known for their frenzied revelries.
History[edit | edit source]
In the myths, the Maenads are credited with the death of the King Pentheus of Thebes. The king had forbidden the worship of Dionysos in his city, and spied his own mother among the Maenads, until the participants noticed him and pulled him down from the tree he was hiding in, tearing his limbs and head off.[1]
Influence[edit | edit source]
By the 5th century BCE, a hilly region on the island of Naxos was named after the Maenads.[2]
The Daughters of Artemis also named one of their campsites after the women during the Peloponnesian War.[2]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
The mural featuring Dionysos and the maenads in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey is based on Dance of Bacchantes by the ceramic painter Hieron.[3] This mural seems to be unique to the Telesterion of Eleusis in the game.
The term 'maenad' has come to mean a person, usually a woman, who is in a state of wild excitement, especially frenzy.[4] In Assassin's Creed: Origins, a man in Cyrenaica recalled this sense while exclaiming how "Flavius has made [them] his Maenads."[5]
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Origins (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (artwork only)
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Odyssey – Korinthia: Statue of Dionysos
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
- ↑ The Dance – Historic Illustrations of Dancing from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D.
- ↑ Maenad on Wiktionary
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins – The Final Weighing