Rhetia
The mother of the Samothracian Corybantes by Apollo.
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom Historic Illustrations of Dancing from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D.
Fig. 13: A military dance, supposed to be the Corybantum. From a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican Museum.
Of the second class, the gymnastic, the most important were military dances, the invention of which was attributed to Minerva; of these the Corybantum was the most remarkable. It was of Phrygian origin and of a mixed religious, military, and mimetic character; the performers were armed, and bounded about, springing and clashing their arms and shields to imitate the Corybantes endeavouring to stifle the cries of the infant Zeus, in Crete. The Pyrrhic (fig. 13), a war dance of Doric origin, was a rapid dance to the double flute, and made to resemble an action in battle; the Hoplites of Homer is thought to have been of this kind. The Dorians were very partial to this dance and considered their success in battle due to the celerity and training of the dance. In subsequent periods it was imitated by female dancers and as a pas seul. It was also performed in the Panathenaea by Ephebi at the expense of the Choragus, but this was probably only a mimetic performance and not warlike.
