By
Ellen Lorenzi-Prince © 2003
They
leapt through the torrent-streaming valley and mountain cliffs, frantic with the
inspiration of the god.
Euripides, Bacchae, ca. 410 BCE
The Maenads were women who
sought liberation of their bodies and minds through abandoning
themselves to the wildness of nature. In ecstatic trance, they roamed the
forests and mountains, their constricted roles as wives, mothers, daughters, and
sisters shed and temporarily forgotten.
Image source:
Attic Red Figure Vase, ca. 470 - 460 BCE