Maenad

thumb|right|Maenad carrying a thyrsus and a leopard with a snake rolled up over her head. Tondo of an ancient Greek Attic white-ground kylix 490–480 BC from [[Vulci. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.]] thumb|upright=1.0|Dancing Maenad. Roman copy of Greek original attributed to Kallimachos –400 BC at the Metropolitan Museum of Art In Greek mythology, maenads (; ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of his retinue, the thiasus. Their name, which comes from (, "to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angry"), literally translates as 'raving ones'. Maenads were known as Bassarids, Bacchae , or Bacchantes in Roman mythology after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a bassaris or fox skin.

Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pine cone. They would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes.