Draft:Kouretes
The Kouretes, in the Ancient Greek religion and mythology, are a group of divinities primarily associated with the infancy of Zeus, the King of the Gods and Heaven, where they acted as his guardians.
In mythology, the Kouretes' primary tale describes them as guardians of the infant Zeus; they performed war dances and banged their weapons on their shields to drown out his cries and prevent his father Cronus from hearing the child.
In cult, the Kouretes were linked to Zeus and oftentimes treated as fertility deities, with their cult being widespread in Crete, Zeus' birthplace. Outside of Crete, cults dedicated to the Kouretes could be found across the Greek world.
The Kouretes were often conflated or syncretized with other similar groups in both mythology and cult activities. The group they were most heavily linked with being the Korybantes, attendants of the Phrygian goddess Cybele.
Brill's New Pauly
[edit]General overview (Brill's New Pauly)
[edit]The Kouretes are generally known as figures that acted as guardians to the infant Zeus, banging their spears against the shield to drown out his cries and protect him from Cronus.[1]
The cave in which Zeus was raised, surrounded by the Kouretes, was usually located either in Mount Dikte or Mount Ida.[1]
They were the inventors of archery, hunting, and beekeeping.[2]
The Kouretes were usually depicted as youthful.[2]
Cult (Brill's New Pauly)
[edit]Zeus' cult on Mount Dikte worshipped him as a beardless figure, who is referred to as "mégistos koũros" in the Hellenistic hymn dedicated to him at Palaiokastro.[2]
At the cave in Mount Ida, bronze shield and drums dating to the Orientalizing period have been found. The discovery of these items indicates that the annual dance celebrating Zeus' birth in Crete was being performed as early as the archaic period by a group of young males ("koûroi") which would explain the etymology of the mythological Kouretes.[2]
According to the Hymn to Dictaean Zeus, the Kouretes were associated with domestic wealth and public welfare. The Hymn itself asks Zeus to leap into cities, ships, harvest and herds to bring forth fertility and wealth, also describing him as the leader of the group.[3]
The cult of the Kouretes as described in the Dictaean Hymn, being the guaranteers of oaths and protectors of herds, was widespread across Crete; it is unclear if their cult and initiatory rituals in other areas had a similar character.[3]
In Messenia, burnt offering were made to the Kouretes, which indicates a status as fertility figures.[3]
In Euboea, they were identified with the Cyclopes and inventors of brass weapons.[3]
In Olympia, their cult was associated with a local Diktaian cave.[3]
The cult of the Kouretes found in Anatolia, particularly in the regions of Ionia and Caria, was the "most remarkable" one to be found outside of Crete; of great importance was the city of Ephesus. Here, the Kouretes are instead depicted as protecting the children of Leto—Artemis and Apollo—from the wrath of Hera.[3]
Thera provides one of the earliest-known locales with a cult dedicated to them.[3]
Phoronis (Brill's New Pauly)
[edit]The Phoronis links the Kouretes, owning to their status as musicians, to the Korybantes attending to Cybele.[4]
Euripides; Bacchae (Brill's New Pauly)
[edit]Euripidis links them to the bacchae (the attendants of Dionysus) as servants of Zeus, who fathered Dionysus, and also as ecstatic dancers.[4]
Oxford Classical Dictionary
[edit]General overview (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]The number, names, and genealogy of the Kouretes varies from one source to the other.[5]
The most well-known myth of the Curetes involves them acting as protectors to the infant Zeus — located in a cave either in Mount Dice or Ida — dancing noisily and banging their shield to drown out his cries or scaring off Cronus.[6]
Origins and etymology (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]The name of the Kouretes is identical to the word "kouroi", and they were the male equivalent of the nymphs, who were also known as "Kourai".[6]
Hesiod; Catalogue of Women (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]According to Hesiodic fragments, the Curetes and Nymphs were born together.[6]
Cretan Theogony(?) (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]According to a Cretan inscription, the Curetes and Nymphs acted as joint witnesses to oaths.[6]
Strabo (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]According to Strabo, they also protect Leto's children from Hera's wrath.[6]
Cult (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]The "Hymn to Dictaean Zeus" describes the Curetes as daimones and Zeus, the "megistor Kouros", as leading them up to Mount Ida.[6]
Their dancing was associated with fertility and promoted the growth of crops and flocks, akin to that of Zeus in the Dictaean Hymn.[5]
In the Idaean Cave, bronze shield from the 8th–6th centuries have been found, suggests that young men (kouroi) performed annual war dances that acted as an initiation ritual for male youths; the dances re-enacted the birth and death of Zeus.[7]
Syncretism (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
[edit]The identification of the Kouretes with the Korybantes and Cabeiri, as well as their association with the Cult of Dionysus, indicates that an orgiastic element was present in these initiatory war dances.[7]
Early Greek Myth
[edit]General
[edit]The Kouretes were the attendants of Rhea, who clashed their weapons to drown out the cries of Zeus.[8]
Corinna
[edit]According to Corinna, the Kouretes specifically hid Zeus from Cronus. If she is dated to the archaic period, this would make her among the earliest author to recognize their existence.[8]
Epimenides
[edit]Epimenides is also among the earliest poets to write about the Kouretes, specifically about their birth and that of the Korybantes.[8]
According to Diogenes Laertius, Epimenides wrote an account on the birth of the Kouretes and Korybants that, alongside his Theogony, amounted to 5.000 lines.[9]
Euripides
[edit]Euripides, in his lost play The Cretans links them to Zeus of Mount Ida, Zagreus, and the "mountain mother".[8] A possible reference to them in the Bacchae may also allude to their protective role.[8]
Callimachus
[edit]In the "Hymn to Zeus" by Callimachus, we find the earliest explicit mention of the Kouretes concealing the infant Zeus' cries by clashing their weapons.[8]
Hyginus
[edit]The Roman poet Hyginus also mentions the Kouretes' noisemaking.[8]
Hesiod; Catalogue of Women
[edit]In Catalogue of Women, the Kouretes are descended from Doros. A man whose name is corrupt (possible Hekateros) and a daughter of Phoroneus conceive five daughters, who in turn give birth to the Kouretes, alongside the satyrs and nymphs.[10]
The Kouretes are described here as being dancers and "playful".[9]
Phoronis
[edit]According to Strabo, in the epic poem Phoronis, the Kouretes are Phrygians and play the flute.[9] Timothy Gantz notes that the Kouretes are usually placed in Crete, while the Korybants are in Phrygia.[9]
Syncretism
[edit]Gantz notes that while there is a connection between the Kouretes and Korybantes, exactly when and how they came to be connected is uncertain. Outside of Pherecydes of Syros referring to the Korybantes as the children of Apollo and Rhetia, no other reference to them from the archaid period survives.[11]
The Kouretes were also associated with the Dactyls. According to Hellanikos, the Dactyls met Rhea on Mount Ida, which helped facilitate the group's establishment in Crete and the Troad; Pausanias describes the Dactyls as being the same as the Kouretes, with Rhea giving Zeus to them.[12]
Syncretism/Euripides
[edit]The Kouretes and Korybantes are references in the Bacchae. The former group's cave is where Zeus was born, while the Korybantes invented the drum and gave it to Rhea (148). Gantz argues that their identification here is likely due to Cybele often being syncretized with Rhea.[13]
Euripides; Hypsipyle
[edit]The lost play Hypsipyle by Euripides describes the Cretan Kouretes as being mortal.[13]
Hesiod
[edit]Hesiod's Theogony does not mention the existence of either the Kouretes or the Korybantes.[13]
Euripides & Callimachus
[edit]Callimachus' "Hymn to Zeus" is the earliest mention of the Kouretes banging their armor to make noise and hide the cries of infant Zeus from Cronus.[13] Relating to this, Gantz is uncertain whether the Korybantes' drums in Bacchae served a similar purpose.[13]
The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology
[edit]The Kouretes are "minor Cretan divinities".[14]
In the general account of their myth, the Kouretes helped hide the infant Zeus inside a cave by dancing a war dance and banging their weapons against their shields.[14]
Another account has the nymph Amalthea hang Zeus inside a cradle that was hanging on a tree branch, with the Kouretes dancing around it.[14]
The mythological role and behaviour of the Kouretes was linked with Cretan ritualistic practices.[14]
Excavations have shown that in Crete, multiple cave-sanctuaries were holy sites that dated all the way to the Minoan civilization; the dance of the Kouretes can be linked to the dances performed by male youths during initiation rituals.[14]
The Kouretes are not part of Hesiod's Theogony.[15]
Rhea was often conflated with Cybele in both cult practices and mythological narratives, which also led to Cybele's attendants the Korybantes being identified with the Kouretes.[16]
The earliest appearance of the Kouretes is in Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, which lists them as children of the daughters of Doros and siblings of the satyrs and mountain nymphs. Here, they are described as "playful dancers".[17]
In Hesiod, while the Kouretes are divine figures, they a lesser to the gods.[17]
Their most famous role in mythology was helping hide the infant Zeus in Crete through their war dance in front of the cave he was hidden in.[17]
Callimachus' hymn to Zeus is the first explicit presentation of the Kouretes as Zeus' guardians during his infancy.[17]
The author here argues that this is alluded to in the Bacchae and that this story's origin is even older.[17]
A tale depicts them as advising King Minos on how to find his lost son Glaucus, which links tho their prophetic abilities.[17]
Appolodorus records a tale in which the Kouretes abducted Epaphos, a son of Zeus, from Egypt, prompting the god to kill them.[17] The authors recognizes this tale as "curious", and believes that the Kouretes were being syncretized with a foreign group of deities and not part of their conventional mythology.[17]
It has often been speculated that their mythological role of the Kouretes is a reflection of annual rites held in Crete that involved young men dancing.[17]
The Palaiokastro hymn to Zeus, likely from the 4th century BC, the chorus invites Zeus to return to his birthplace and "leap", bringing fertily and prosperity to the island's fields, livestock, and cities.[17]
The Greek goddess Io was identified with the Egyptian goddess Isis.
In a later myth, the Kouretes abduct the infant Epaphus from Io at the behest of Hera. For this transgression, Zeus killed them.[18]
The authors recognizes that the Kouretes are "ill-suited" in this role given their own position as Zeus' guardians, arguing that they are standing in for some other Egyptian deities. He believes that the myth of Io's search for Epaphus was inspired by Isis' search for Osiris.[19]
Orphic Hymns
[edit]General overview
[edit]Their general myth is acting as guardians for the infant Zeus, dancing and banging their weapons to cover up his wailing.[20]
Syncretism
[edit]While separate groups, the Kouretes and Korybantes are often conflated with each other.[21]
Rhea's connection to the ecstatic Kouretes likely led to her identification with the Phrygian Cybele, who was associated with the Korybantes.[22]
The characteristics of the Kouretes, such as their wild dancing, mountain dwelling, and connection to Rhea, led to their identification with the Korybantes and their names being used interchangeably.[20]
Orphism
[edit]in Orphic Hymn #38, the Kouretes are conflated with the Korybantes, the Dioscuri (Kastor and Polydeuces), and the mystery cult of Samothrace.[21]
Euripides; Bacchae
[edit]Euripides' Bacchae has the chorus sing of the Kouretes dancing to the beat of drums and auloi to drown out Zeus' cries.[22] The drum was passed down to Rhea, until it was stolen by the satyrs, before reaching the Kouretes who used it in the Dionysian ritual.[22]
A fragment from Euripides' Cretans suggest that an initiatory ritual involving the Kouretes existed that was Orphic in nature.[20]
Hesiod; Theogony & Catalogue of Women
[edit]In Hesiod's Theogony, while it is mentioned that Zeus' mother Rhea hid the infant in Crete, no mention is made of the Kouretes.[20]
However, Hesiod was aware of the group, with some fragments from the Catalogue of Women referring to them as "sportive, dancing deities". Here, they are depicted as either the siblings or cousins of the satyrs and mountain nymphs.[20] According to Athanasis and Wolkow, their connection to the satyrs and nymphs shows that the Kouretes already had an association with Dionysian figures.[20]
Origin and etymology
[edit]Their name means "youths".[20]
Cult
[edit]The Kouretes had cultic activity in Crete.[20]
The "Hymn to Dictaean Zeus" discovered at Palaiokastro describes Zeus as the "greatest kouros" asks him to help usher in fertility for the new year; specifically, he is asked to "leap into" the animals, fields, and homes of the people to bring fertility and wealth.[20]
Supposedly, Pythagoras became an initiate of their cult at Mount Ida, entering the tomb of Zeus where he supposedly died and was reborn every spring.[20]
Orphism
[edit]The Kouretes appear in various texts associated with Orphism. One fragment depicts them as guardians of Dionysus, evoking their role as Zeus' protectors, although they do not attempt to hide the infact and fail in their role to protect him from the Titans.[23]
Other writings have them guarding the infant Persephone instead.[23]
Some text depict Athena as their leader, sometimes helping them guard the infant Dionysus.[23]
The second "Hymn to the Kouretes" syncretizes them with the Samothracean gods and the Dioscuri; these groups were initially independent, but were often conflated with each other (140). It is noted that the name of the Dioscuri is linguistically connected to the Kouretes.[24]
Greek Religion
[edit]Cult
[edit]In Messene, a festival was held in honour of the Kouretes that involved the sacrifice of animals in a ritualistic fire.[25]
In the Dictaean Zeus hymn, young men call upon Zeus, who is described as the greatest Kouros, to "sprin in" flocks, fields, towns, and ships.[26]
Burkert argues that the dancing jumps performed by the youths is where "this power of [Zeus] is present".[26]
Origins
[edit]The bronze shields found in the Idaean Cave from the Orientalizing period attest to an initiation festival from the 8th century BC, akin to the myth of the Kouretes.[26]
Burkett recognizes that this myth mirrors the initiation rituals found in the mysteries of Ida; in these mysteries, Zeus was born anew every year in the "glow of a great fire".[27]
The Dictaean Hymn describes Zeus as the greatest Kouros who jumps on fields, flocks, towns, houses, ships, and young citizens.[27]
A cult group of young warriors met at the cave of Mount Ida, partaking in a war dance and brandishing shields, dated to the Orientalizing period.[28]
In this annual ceremony, the birth of Zeus is celebrated with a large fire.[28]
Zeus also dies every year and is buried by the Kouretes, only to be reborn.[28]
Concerning the hymn, real youths partook in a dance, inviting Zeus to join and summoning him to bring prosperity.[28]
It's noted that the hymn does not state if the boys alter or dramatize their status in the festival.[28] Burkert speculates that it would have been important for a boy to be accepted into this circle, and that initiates could not have remained for many years.[28]
Literature (that legendary figure?)
[edit]In a Cretan, post-Hesiodic Theogony the Kouretes are described as a group of young warriors, who drowned out the cries of Zeus by dancing and banging their shields.[27]
Euripides
[edit]Burkert highlights that the reference Euripides makes in Cretans to the Kouretes, the "mystai of Idaean Zeus", may not indicate an accurate representation of their cult but is rather a form of "poetic imagination".[29]
Callimachus(?)
[edit]According to a Hellenistic writer, when Zeus is born anew every year at the Idaean Cave, a "great fire and foaming blood" are present.[29]
Hesiodic Catalogue of Women
[edit]Phoronis
[edit]The Phoronis dealt with Phoroneus and his descendants, which included the Phrygian Kouretes and Idaean Dactyls.[30]
Hesiod; Catalogue of Women
[edit]Catalogue of Women has a section on the descendants of Doros, which ends with the Kouretes, Satyrs, and nymphs. The texts describes man whose name is corrupt (likely Doros) marrying a daughter of Phoroneus, with their union producing five daughters; they in turn gave birth to the Kouretes.[31]
Orphic Poems
[edit]Epimenides, according to Diogenes Laertius, wrote an account on the birth of the Kouretes and Korybantes that, alongside his Theogony, amounted to 5.000 lines (48).
West argues that the Kouretes' role as dancing guardians of Zeus is not found in Hesiod or any other literary sources from the archaic (50).
Euripides' play Cretans (written around 430 BC) marks the first known references to the Kouretes acting as infant Zeus' guardians and their cult on Mount Ida (50).
West recognizes that the Theogony ascribed to Epimenides may not have been composed by him, although it could still have been written by a Cretan; accounting for this, it is likely that the writer was the first to connect the Kouretes to Zeus' infancy (50).
In the Argonautica, Apollonius of Rhodes makes a reference to Zeus' infancy and the Kouretes, alongside Adrasteia (127).
Callimachus details that the Kouretes guarded Zeus on Crete, helping his nurse Adrasteia, while the infant is fed by the she-goat Amalthea (128).
Aratus also details Zeus' infancy and presence of the Kouretes and a she-goat (128).
The Dictaen Hymn addresses Zeus not by name, but as the greatest Kouros. They summon him to bring prosperity to crops, flocks, towns, shipping, and young citizens (132).
The festival likely included ritual jumping for fertility and prosperity by a group of male youths that themselves as doublets of the mythical Kouretes (132).
At Praisos in eastern Crete, Athena was worshipped as married to Helios, with their union begetting the Korybantes (identified here with the Kouretes) (137).
Orphism
[edit]Damascius, the last head of the Neoplatonic school in Athens, described in the 6th century the presence of three primary Orphic theogonies. One of these is known as the Rhapsodic Theogony, which West argues was the most prominent one in the Roman Empire (68-69).
According to the Rhapsodic Theogony, the Kouretes were the three sons of Rhea and helped guard the infant Zeus, alongside the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida (72).
Athena is the leader of the Kouretes (74 & 137).
The Kouretes guard Kore (Persephone) (74 & 95).
The Eudemian Theogony presents a similar narrative, with the Kouretes guarding a baby Zeus (138).
Ritual Texts for the Afterlife
[edit]Orphism
[edit]Within Orphism, the oldest complete tale of Dionysus comes from the 6th century Neoplatonist Olympiodorus.[32]
In Orphic theogony, the Kouretes acted as the guardians of Dionysus. The Titans used toys and a mirror to lure the infant away from them, proceeding to dismember, cook, and eat him.[33]
According to the Orphic myth, the Kouretes helped raise Dionysus in Crete.[34]
A 3rd-century BC papyrus from Gurub, describing a Greek cult in Ptolemaic Egypt. The papyrus is likely a ritualistic text rather than a theoretical one. In it, the Kouretes are the attendants of Rhea-Cybele and perform a war dance around baby Zeus.[35]
In the Orphic Hymns, the Kouretes are syncretized with the Samothracean divine duo and inventors of their mystery rituals.[36]
Iconography
[edit]An ivory pyxis from the 5th or 6th century, housed in the Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, depicts an infant Dionysus sitting on a throne, surrounded by the dancing Kouretes; a robed female figure, likely Hera, looms over him.[37]
Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology
[edit]Syncretism
[edit]The Greeks regularly identified the Kouretes with the Korybantes.[38]
General overview
[edit]The Kouretes are daimones or spirits.[39]
Their general myth concerns the infancy of Zeus; after Rhea (or Gaia) hid Zeus in a cave in Crete, the Kouretes performed a dance while clashing their spears and shield to cover up the baby's cries.[39]
Tripp states that there were three main myths involving the Kouretes — their guardianship of Zeus, abduction of Epaphus, and interaction with Minos — and that all of them can be found in Apollodorus' work.[40]
Hesiod; Catalogue of Women
[edit]Hesiod describes them (alongside the satyrs and mountain-nymphs) as children of Hecaterus' daughters.[41]
Apollodorus
[edit]Another myth involves the Kouretes abducting the infant Epaphus from Io at Hera's command, for which Zeus killed them.[40]
The Kouretes were also oracular divinities, as indicated by a myth in which King Minos goes to them for advice on finding his lost son Glaucus.[40]
Origin
[edit]The Kouretes were likely influenced by the practise of young Cretans performing war dances in honor of a young Zeus.[40]
Pausanias
[edit]According to Pausanias, the Kouretes were identical to the Dactyls and consisted of five brothers; Heracles, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius, and Idas.[42]
Pliny's Geography
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 Graf 2003, para. 1.
- 1 2 3 4 Graf 2003, para. 2.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Graf 2003, para. 3.
- 1 2 Graf 2003, para. 4.
- 1 2 Rose & Dietrich 2003, pp. 413–14.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rose & Dietrich 2003, p. 413.
- 1 2 Rose & Dietrich 2003, p. 414.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gantz 1993, p. 42.
- 1 2 3 4 Gantz 1993, p. 147.
- ↑ Gantz 1993, p. 135.
- ↑ Gantz 1993, pp. 147–48.
- ↑ Gantz 1993, pp. 148–49.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Gantz 1993, p. 148.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Hard 2004, p. 75.
- ↑ Hard 2004, p. 204.
- ↑ Hard 2004, p. 218.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hard 2004, p. 219.
- ↑ Hard 2004, p. 232.
- ↑ Hard 2004, pp. 231–32.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Athanassakis & Wolkow 2013, p. 127.
- 1 2 Athanassakis & Wolkow 2013, p. 71.
- 1 2 3 Athanassakis & Wolkow 2013, p. 103.
- 1 2 3 Athanassakis & Wolkow 2013, p. 128.
- ↑ Athanassakis & Wolkow 2013, p. 141.
- ↑ Burkert 1985, p. 63.
- 1 2 3 Burkert 1985, p. 102.
- 1 2 3 Burkert 1985, p. 127.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Burkert 1985, p. 262.
- 1 2 Burkert 1985, p. 280.
- ↑ West 1985, p. 4.
- ↑ West 1985, p. 59.
- ↑ Graf & Johnston, p. 66.
- ↑ Graf & Johnston, p. 67.
- ↑ Graf & Johnston, p. 82.
- ↑ Graf & Johnston, pp. 150–51.
- ↑ Graf & Johnston, p. 150.
- ↑ Graf & Johnston, pp. 152–53.
- ↑ Tripp 1970, p. 172.
- 1 2 Tripp 1970, p. 178.
- 1 2 3 4 Tripp 1970, p. 179.
- ↑ Tripp 1970, pp. 178–799.
- ↑ Tripp 1970, p. 185.
Books
[edit]- Athanassakis, Apostolos; Wolkow, Benjamin M. (2013). The Orphic Hymns. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9781421408828.
- Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674362810.
- Gantz, Timothy (1993). Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 080184410X.
- Graf, Fritz (2003). "Curetes". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 3, Cat – Cyp. Brill. ISBN 9004122664.
- Graf, Fritz; Johnston, Sarah Iles (2007). Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets. Routledge. ISBN 0415312728.
- Hard, Robin (2004). Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology. Routledge. ISBN 020344633X.
- Rose, Herbert Jennings; Dietrich, B. C. (2003). "Curetes". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony (eds.). Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. 413–14. ISBN 0198606419.
- Tripp, Edward (1970). Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology. Thomas Y. Crowell Co. ISBN 069022608X.
- West, Martin Litchfield (1985). The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198140347.