Every
locality seems to have had a dance of its own. Dances in honour of
Venus were common, she was the patroness of proper and decent dancing;
on the contrary, those in honour of Dionysius or Bacchus degenerated
into revelry and obscenity. The _Epilenios_ danced when the grapes
were pressed, and imitated the gathering and pressing. The
_Anteisterios_ danced when the wine was vatted (figs. 8, 9, 10), and
the _Bahilicos_, danced to the sistrus, cymbals, and tambour, often
degenerated into orgies.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.--The G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s from
a vase in the Museo Borbonico, Naples.]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Panathenaeac dance, about
the 4th century B.C.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.--A military dance, supposed
to be the _Corybantum_. From a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican
Museum.]
The _G[)e]r[)a]n[)o]s_, originally from Delos, is said to have been
originated by Theseus in memory of his escape from the labyrinth of
Crete (fig. 12). It was a hand-in-hand dance alternately of males and
females. The dance was led by the representative of Theseus playing
the lyre.
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