They
leapt through the torrent-streaming valley and mountain cliffs, frantic with the inspiration of the god. Euripides, Bacchae, ca. 410 BCE
The Maenads were women who sought liberation of their bodies and minds through abandoning themselves to the wildness of nature. In ecstatic trance, they roamed the forests and mountains, their constricted roles as wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters shed and temporarily forgotten.
Image source: Attic Red Figure Vase, ca. 470 - 460 BCE
