Maenads
I fell upon a photograph of a small greek sculpture; a maenad: A mythical figure, she was a Dionysian nymph given to drunken murderous excess. She embodied for me one of the female identities in the patriachal unconscious, that is a female out of control and dismembered.
"I had been looking at Greek art in anticipation of a walking holiday with one of my daughters, when I fell upon a photograph of a small greek sculpture; a maenad: A mythical figure, she was a Dionysian nymph given to drunken murderous excess.
Maenad
Maenads
Maenads are immortal female followers of the Greek God Dionysus, the most significant members of the Thiasus, the retinue of Dionysus. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication. In this state, they would lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear animals (and sometimes men and children) to pieces, devouring the raw flesh.
The maenads represented the dangers of women left unchaperoned by male authority. The maenads represented the dangers of women left unchaperoned by male authority.