When we turn to an analogous group, that of the Korybantes,
we find that, while presenting a general parallel to the Kouretes
(with whom they are often coupled in mythologies), they also possess
certain distinct characteristics, which form a connecting link with
other, and later, groups.
The Korybantes were of Phrygian origin, attached to the worship of
the goddess Kybele, and Attis, the well-known Phrygian counterpart to
the Phoenician Adonis, and originally the most important embodiment of
the Vegetation Spirit. Roscher considers them to be of identical
origin with the Kouretes, i.e., as elementary 'daimons,' but the
Korybantes of Classic art and tradition are undoubtedly human
beings. Priests of Kybele, they appear in surviving bas-reliefs in
company with that goddess, and with Attis.
The dance of the Korybantes is distinguished from that of the
Kouretes by its less restrained, and more orgiastic character; it was
a wild and whirling dance resembling that of the modern Dervishes,
accompanied by self-mutilation and an unrhythmic clashing of weapons,
designed, some writers think, to overpower the cries of the victims.
If this suggestion be correct it would seem to indicate that, if the
Dance of the Kouretes was originally an Initiation Dance, that of the
Korybantes was Sacrificial in character.
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