Expert: Irulan Serena - 3/27/2004

Question
I have to teach 'Antigone' by Sophocles in the 1912 translation of RF Storr. This includes a reference to 'Corisian maidens'.  I cannot find any information as to what this refers.  A Google search for the word brings up only e-versions of this text (or references to fantasy literature)  The text I have to work from seems to be full of misprints - do you think this is one? or can you provide any gloss?
Thank you

Answer
Hello Alison,

I have included the lines sung by the chorus and am explaining in parenthesis.

CHORUS
(Str. 1)
Thou by many names adored,   
Child of Zeus the God of thunder,
Of a Theban bride the wonder,
Fair Italia's guardian lord;

In the deep-embosomed glades
Of the Eleusinian Queen
Haunt of revelers, men and maids,
Dionysus, thou art seen.

Where Ismenus rolls his waters,
Where the Dragon's teeth were sown,
Where the Bacchanals thy daughters
Round thee roam,
There thy home;
Thebes, O Bacchus, is thine own.

(Ant. 1)
Thee on the two-crested rock
Lurid-flaming torches see;
Where Corisian maidens flock,
Thee the springs of Castaly.  

[ Castaly was a  fountain on Mount Parnassus. Whoever drank of its waters was endowed with the gift of poetry.]

The Chorus describes the haunts of Bacchus (the places he
frequents). The worshippers of Bacchus included the nymphs of the Corycian grove, close to Delphi. The Chorus describes Bacchus as he moves beneath the mountain of Nysa where the nymphs sing his praises.

The Corisian maidens were followers of Bacchus.  The name comes from Corycia, a nymph - daughter of Zeus, who led the group of women who followed Bacchus.  She and the rest of the women who later joined her lived in a cave found in a grove near Delphi.   The cave as well as the grove were named after Corythia, thus the name ‘Corisian' maidens  which meant followers of Bacchus.  These women were later called Bacchantes or Bacchae or Maenads.

Corycia [by Apollo] was the mother of Lycorus , after whom the city Lycoreia was named.

By Nysa's bastion ivy-clad,   
[ city sacred to Bacchus where he was honored and worshipped ]

By shores with clustered vineyards glad,
There to thee the hymn rings out,
And through our streets we Thebans shout,
All hall to thee
Evoe, Evoe!   <----[invocation to Bacchus]

Hope this helps.  If you need more information please let me know.

Cordially,

Irulan