Corybantes
(
Κορύβαντες). The ministers or priests of
Rhea (q.v.), or Cybelé, the great mother of the
gods, who was worshipped in Phrygia. In their solemn festivals they displayed the most
extravagant fury in their dances in armour, as well as in the accompanying music of flutes,
cymbals, and drums. Hence
κορυβαντισμός was the name given to
an imaginary disease, in which persons felt as if some great noise were rattling in their
ears. The Corybantes are often identified with the Idaean Dactyli, and are thus said to have
been
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Corybantes and Cybelé, with Infant Zeus.
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the nurses of Zeus when he was suckled by the goat Amalthea in Crete. See
Curetes;
Dactyli;
Galli;
Zeus.