Maenad Pole Dancing
Inspired by an ancient vase from the 4th century BCE, a nymph of Dionysos is dancing with a sacred Thyrsus — a Giant Fennel stalk wrapped in Ivy — and her head is thrown back in ecstasy.
More About the Maenads
Materia Mythica
Maenads & The Ivy
The Maenads (μαϊνάδες) were followers of Dionysos and are depicted with the god in scenes of dancing, drinking, music-making, and ecstasy. Their name literally means “raving ones” and they enter divine trance states via sacred intoxication and movement. They are most often depicted bearing a thyrsus (a Giant Fennel stalk wrapped in Ivy), wearing deer or wildcat skins, crowned with Ivy wreaths or bull helms, and handling or donning serpents. They are usually dancing or depicted with heads thrown back and their bodies in ecstatic states, sometimes holding krotala (a type of castanet or rattle that produces a trance-inducing sound).
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