View source for Korybantes

{{Short description|Ancient Greek deities}}
According to [[Greek mythology]], the '''Korybantes''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɒr|ɪ|ˈ|b|æ|n|t|iː|z}}; {{langx|grc|Κορύβαντες}}), also spelled '''Corybantes''' or '''Corybants''',  were the armed and crested dancers who worshipped the [[Phrygians|Phrygian]] goddess [[Cybele]] with drumming and dancing. They are also called the '''''Kurbantes''''' in [[Phrygia]].

==Etymology==
The name ''Korybantes'' is of uncertain etymology. Edzard Johan Furnée and [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]] have suggested a [[Pre-Greek]] origin.<ref>Edzard Johan Furnée, ''Die wichtigsten konsonantischen Erscheinungen des Vorgriechischen mit einem Appendix über den Vokalismus'', 1972, p. 359.</ref><ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 755.</ref>

Others refer the name to *κορυβή (''korybé''), the [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonian]] version of κορυφή (''koryphé'') "crown, top, mountain peak", explaining their association with mountains, particularly [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]].<ref>* A. B. Cook ('''1914'''), ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion'', Vol. I, p. 107, Cambridge University Press</ref>

== Family ==
The Korybantes were the offspring of [[Apollo]] by either the [[Muses|Muse]] [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]],<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.4 1.3.4].</ref> or the [[nymph]] Rhetia,<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.21 10.3.21].</ref> or the nymph [[Danais (mythology)|Danais]].<ref>Tzetzes ad Lycophronem 78</ref> One account attests the parentage to [[Zeus]] and the Muse [[Calliope]], or to [[Helios]] and [[Athena]], or lastly, to [[Cronus]].<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.19 10.3.19].</ref>

==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}}), also spelled '''Kuretes''' 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 "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]] as well as the Kurbantes and the Korybantes and in like manner the Kouretes and the [[Dactyl (mythology)|Idaean Daktyls]] are the same as the [[Cabeiri|Kabeiroi]], 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>

==Initiatory dance==

[[File:Korybantentanz.jpg|thumb|Roman relief of a ''pyrrhiche'' or Corybantian dance (Vatican Museums 321)]]

These armored male dancers kept time to a drum and the rhythmic stamping of their feet. Dance, according to Greek thought, was one of the civilizing activities, like wine-making or music. The dance in armor (the "Pyrrhic dance" or [[pyrrhichios]] [Πυρρίχη]) was a male coming-of-age initiation ritual linked to a warrior victory celebration. Both Jane Ellen Harrison and the French classicist Henri Jeanmaire<ref>Harrison 1908/09; Jeanmaire, ''Couroi et Courètes: essai sur l'éducation spartiate et sur les rites d'adolescence dans l'antiquité hellénique,'' Lille, 1939.</ref> have shown that both the Kouretes (Κουρῆτες) and Cretan Zeus, who was called "the greatest ''kouros'' (κοῦρος)",<ref>At Palaikastro the inscribed "hymn of the Kouretes" dates to ca. 300 BCE.</ref> were intimately connected with the transition of boys into manhood in Cretan cities.

The English "Pyrrhic Dance" is a corruption of the original ''Pyrríkhē'' or the ''Pyrríkhios Khorós'' "Pyrrhichian Dance". It has no relationship with the king [[Pyrrhus of Epirus]], who invaded Italy in the 3rd century BC, and who gave his name to the [[Pyrrhic victory]], which was achieved at such cost that it was tantamount to a defeat.

==Ecstatics==
The [[Phrygia]]n Korybantes were often confused by Greeks with other ecstatic male confraternities, such as the Idaean [[Dactyl (mythology)|Dactyls]] or the Cretan Kouretes, spirit-youths (''[[Kouros|kouroi]]'') who acted as guardians of the infant Zeus. In [[Hesiod]]'s telling of Zeus's birth,<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:453-491 478&ndash;91].</ref> when Great Gaia came to Crete and hid the child Zeus in a "steep cave", beneath the secret places of the earth, on Mount Aigaion with its thick forests; there the Cretan Kouretes' ritual clashing spears and shields were interpreted by Hellenes as intended to drown out the infant god's cries, and prevent his discovery by his cannibal father [[Cronus]]. Emily Vermeule observed,

<blockquote>This myth is Greek interpretation of mystifying Minoan ritual in an attempt to reconcile their Father Zeus with the Divine Child of Crete; the ritual itself we may never recover with clarity, but it is not impossible that a connection exists between the Kouretes' weapons at the cave and the dedicated weapons at [[Arkalochori]]".<ref>Vermeule, "A Gold Minoan Double Axe" ''Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts'' '''57''' No. 307 (1959:4-16) p. 6.</ref></blockquote>

Among the offerings recovered from the cave, the most spectacular are decorated bronze shields with patterns that draw upon north Syrian originals and a bronze [[gong]] on which a god and his attendants are shown in a distinctly Near Eastern style.<ref>G.L. Hoffman, ''Imports and Immigrants: Near Eastern Contacts with Early Iron Age Crete'', 1997, noted by Robin Lane Fox, ''Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer'', 2008:157; "A bronze [[Tympanum (hand drum)|tympanum]], several cymbals, and sixty-odd shields, many finely decorated, evoke the dance of the Curetes, which is also depicted on the tympanum, even if the bearded god and his attendants are rendered in Oriental style", observes Noel Robertson, "The ancient Mother of the Gods. A missing chapter in the history of Greek religion", in Eugene Lane, ed. ''Cybele, Attis and Related Cults: Essays in Memory of M.J. Vermaseren'' 1996:248 and noted sources.</ref>

Korybantes also presided over the infancy of [[Dionysus]], another god who was born as a babe, and of [[Zagreus]], a Cretan child of Zeus, or child-doublet of Zeus. The wild ecstasy of their cult can be compared to the female [[Maenads]] who followed Dionysus.

[[Ovid]], in ''Metamorphoses'', says the Kouretes were born from rainwater ([[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] fertilizing [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]). This suggests a connection with the [[Hyades (mythology)|Hyades]].

==Other functions==
[[File:Curètes.jpg|thumb|230px|The Kouretes dancing around the infant [[Zeus]], as pictured in ''Themis'' by [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] {{smaller|(1912, p.&nbsp;23; see References section below)}}.]]
The scholar [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] writes that besides being guardians, nurturers, and initiators of the infant Zeus, the Kouretes were primitive magicians and seers. She also writes that they were metal workers and that metallurgy was considered an almost magical art.<ref>Harrison, Chapter I: The Hymn of the Kouretes, p. 1 and 26. On page 26, specifically, she writes: "The Kouretes are also, as all primitive magicians are, seers (''μαντεις''). When [[Minos]] in Crete lost his son Glaukos he sent for the Kouretes to discover where the child was hidden. Closely akin to this magical aspect is the fact that they are metal-workers. Among primitive people metallurgy is an uncanny craft and the smith is half medicine man."</ref> There were several "tribes" of Korybantes, including the [[Cabeiri]], the Korybantes Euboioi, the Korybantes Samothrakioi. Hoplodamos and his [[Gigantes]] were counted among Korybantes, and the [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] [[Anytos]] was considered a Kourete.

[[Homer]] referred to select young men as ''kouretes'', when Agamemnon instructs [[Odysseus]] to pick out ''kouretes'', the bravest among the Achaeans to bear gifts to [[Achilles]].<ref>Homer, ''[[Iliad]]'' xix.193.</ref> The Greeks preserved a tradition down to [[Strabo]]'s day, that the Kuretes of [[Aetolia]] and [[Acarnania]] in mainland Greece had been imported from Crete.<ref>Strabo, x.462, quoted in Harrison 1908/09.309 note 4.</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus. The Library, Volume I: Books 1-3.9'', translated by James G. Frazer, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 121, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1921. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99135-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL121/1921/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Jane Ellen Harrison|Harrison, Jane Ellen]]. ''Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912. [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_page.pl?DPI=100&callnum=BL781.H32&object=31 (The University of Chicago, EOS - ''Themis'', p. 1)] [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_page.pl?DPI=100&callnum=BL781.H32&object=56 (The University of Chicago, EOS - ''Themis'' p. 26.)]
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1914. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]] (LIMC). I.1: Aara – Aphlad'', Zurich and Munich, Artemis Verlag, 1981. {{ISBN|3760887511}}. [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20I-1/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Strabo]], [[Geographica|''Geography'']], translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html LacusCurtis], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6&ndash;14]

== Further reading ==
* Fraser, P. M. "Two Dedications from Cyrenaica." ''The Annual of the British School at Athens'' 57 (1962): 24–27. {{JSTOR|30104497}}.

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Corybantes}}
{{EB1911 poster|Curetes}}
{{Commons category|Korybantes}}
* [http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Kouretes.html Theoi Project - Korybantes and Kouretes]
* [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2000/2000-03-17.html Long review (in English) of Paola Ceccarelli, ''La pirrica nell' antichità greco romana: Studi sulla danza armata,'' 1998]

{{Greek dances}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Children of Apollo]]
[[Category:Children of Cronus]]
[[Category:Children of Helios]]
[[Category:Sons of Zeus]]
[[Category:Greek war dances]]
[[Category:Legendary tribes in classical historiography]]
[[Category:Cybele]]
[[Category:Dance in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek religion]]
[[Category:Phrygian religion]]
[[Category:Mythological Cretans]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into animals in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Phrygians]]