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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

Corybantes and Cybelé, with Infant Zeus.

the nurses of Zeus when he was suckled by the goat Amalthea in Crete. See Curetes; Dactyli; Galli; Zeus.

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