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The Women of Amphissa, hanging in my office

The account underlying this story is taken from the Greek historian/writer Plutarch, who was also a priest at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Amphissa and Phocis are both near the ancient Greek town of Delphi and, in 350 B.C., the whole area was at war. Delphi had already fallen to Phocis, and Amphissa was in the process of falling, with Phocian soldiers beginning to occupy it. One night, a band of Bacchantes, the priestesses of Dionysus, celebrated a festival in honor of Dionysus, starting in Delphi. During the course of their drunken, dancing revels, they made merry over the hills until they finally fell down, disoriented and exhausted . . . in the marketplace of Amphissa, 10 miles away. Some of the Amphissan women living on the edge of the marketplace heard the commotion of the Bacchantes and guessed what had happened. In the dark early morning hours, the women of Amphissa went down to the marketplace and surrounded the Bacchantes, protecting them from any ravishings or crimes that the Phocian soldiers might perpetrate against them. The Amphissan women guarded the Bacchantes until well after dawn. As they awakened, the women of Amphissa fed the Bacchantes and, after all of the Bacchantes were awake, escorted them safely to the gates of Amphissa, headed back to Delphi.



The Woman of Amphissa, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema


In case you were wondering how many priestesses of Dionysus there are depicted, I have counted. There are 12. Of course.

*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

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