§10.3.11ἐν δὲ τῇ Κρήτῃ καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοῦ Διὸς ἱερὰ ἰδίως ἐπετελεῖτο μετʼ ὀργιασμοῦ καὶ τοιούτων προπόλων οἷοι περὶ τὸν Διόνυσόν εἰσιν οἱ Σάτυροι· τούτους δʼ ὠνόμαζον Κουρῆτας, νέους τινὰς ἐνόπλιον κίνησιν μετʼ ὀρχήσεως ἀποδιδόντας, προστησάμενοι μῦθον τὸν περὶ τῆς τοῦ Διὸς γενέσεως, ἐν ᾧ τὸν μὲν Κρόνον εἰσάγουσιν εἰθισμένον καταπίνειν τὰ τέκνα ἀπὸ τῆς γενέσεως εὐθύς, τὴν δὲ Ῥέαν πειρωμένην ἐπικρύπτεσθαι τὰς ὠδῖνας καὶ τὸ γεννηθὲν βρέφος ἐκποδὼν ποιεῖν καὶ περισώζειν εἰς δύναμιν, πρὸς δὲ τοῦτο συνεργοὺς λαβεῖν τοὺς Κουρῆτας, οἳ μετὰ τυμπάνων καὶ τοιούτων ἄλλων ψόφων καὶ ἐνοπλίου χορείας καὶ θορύβου περιέποντες τὴν θεὸν ἐκπλήξειν ἔμελλον τὸν Κρόνον καὶ λήσειν ὑποσπάσαντες αὐτοῦ τὸν παῖδα, τῇ δʼ αὐτῇ ἐπιμελείᾳ καὶ τρεφόμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῶν παραδίδοσθαι· ὥσθʼ οἱ Κουρῆτες ἤτοι διὰ τὸ νέοι καὶ κόροι ὄντες ὑπουργεῖν ἢ διὰ τὸ κουροτροφεῖν τὸν Δία (λέγεται γὰρ ἀμφοτέρως) ταύτης ἠξιώθησαν τῆς προσηγορίας, οἱονεὶ Σάτυροί τινες ὄντες περὶ τὸν Δία.
And in Crete both these and the sacred rites of Zeus were performed in a peculiar way with orgiastic worship and with such attendants as the Satyrs are in the case of Dionysus; and these they named Curetes, being certain young men who performed armed movement with dance, having put forward the myth concerning the birth of Zeus, in which they introduce Cronus as being accustomed to swallow his children immediately from birth, and Rhea as trying to conceal her labor-pains and to make the newborn babe disappear and preserve it as far as possible, and to obtain for this purpose the cooperation of the Curetes, who, surrounding the goddess with drums and other such noises and armed dance and clamor, were going to strike Cronus with astonishment and escape his notice while secretly stealing away his child, and [they introduce] that the child was also delivered to be reared by them with the same care; so that the Curetes, either because they being young (koroi) served, or because they reared Zeus as a child (kourotrophein) — for it is said both ways — were deemed worthy of this appellation, being as it were certain Satyrs around Zeus.
οἱ μὲν οὖν Ἕλληνες τοιοῦτοι περὶ τοὺς ὀργιασμούς.
Now the Greeks are such in regard to their orgiastic rites.
§10.3.12οἱ δὲ Βερέκυντες Φρυγῶν τι φῦλον καὶ ἁπλῶς οἱ Φρύγες καὶ τῶν Τρώων οἱ περὶ τὴν Ἴδην κατοικοῦντες Ῥέαν μὲν καὶ αὐτοὶ τιμῶσι καὶ ὀργιάζουσι ταύτῃ, μητέρα καλοῦντες θεῶν καὶ Ἄγδιστιν καὶ Φρυγίαν θεὸν μεγάλην, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν τόπων Ἰδαίαν καὶ Δινδυμήνην καὶ Σιπυληνὴν καὶ Πεσσινουντίδα καὶ Κυβέλην. οἱ δʼ Ἕλληνες τοὺς προπόλους αὐτῆς ὁμωνύμως Κουρῆτας λέγουσιν, οὐ μήν γε ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς μυθοποιίας, ἀλλʼ ἑτέρους ὡς ἂν ὑπουργούς τινας, τοῖς Σατύροις ἀνὰ λόγον· τοὺς δʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ Κορύβαντας καλοῦσι.
And the Berecyntes, a tribe of Phrygians, and in general the Phrygians, and those of the Trojans who inhabit the region of Ida, themselves also honor Rhea and celebrate orgiastic rites to her, calling her 'Mother of the Gods' and 'Agdistis' and 'Great Phrygian Goddess,' and from her places 'Idaean' and 'Dindymene' and 'Sipylene' and 'Pessinuntis' and 'Cybele.' And the Greeks call her attendants 'Curetes' by the same name, not indeed from the same myth-making, but as others who are a kind of ministers, analogous to the Satyrs; and the same they also call Corybantes.
§10.3.13μάρτυρες δʼ οἱ ποιηταὶ τῶν τοιούτων ὑπονοιῶν·
And the poets are witnesses of such intimations.
ὅ τε γὰρ Πίνδαρος ἐν τῷ διθυράμβῳ οὗ ἡ ἀρχή
"
πρὶν μὲν εἷρπε σχοινοτένεια τʼ ἀοιδὰ
διθυράμβων,
"
μνησθεὶς τῶν περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ὕμνων τῶν τε παλαιῶν καὶ τῶν ὕστερον, μεταβὰς ἀπὸ τούτων φησί
"
σοὶ μὲν κατάρχειν,
μᾶτερ μεγάλα, πάρα ῥόμβοι κυμβάλων,
ἐν δὲ κεχλάδειν κρόταλʼ, αἰθομένα τε
δᾲς ὑπὸ ξανθαῖσι πεύκαις,
"
τὴν κοινωνίαν τῶν περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ἀποδειχθέντων νομίμων παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ τῶν παρὰ τοῖς Φρυξὶ περὶ τὴν μητέρα τῶν θεῶν συνοικειῶν ἀλλήλοις.
For Pindar, in the dithyramb whose beginning is: "Formerly the song of dithyrambs went creeping long and drawn out, "having mentioned both the ancient and the later hymns concerning Dionysus, passing from these, says: "For you, Great Mother, are present the whirlings of cymbals, and among them clash the castanets, and the burning torch under the yellow pines, "thus affiliating with one another the community of the rites demonstrated concerning Dionysus among the Greeks and those concerning the Mother of the Gods among the Phrygians.
Εὐριπίδης τε ἐν ταῖς Βάκχαις τὰ παραπλήσια ποιεῖ, τοῖς Φρυγίοις ἅμα καὶ τὰ Λύδια συμφέρων διὰ τὸ ὅμορον
"
ἀλλʼ ὦ λιποῦσαι Τμῶλον, ἔρυμα Λυδίας,
θίασος ἐμὸς γυναῖκες,
ἐμά θʼ εὑρήματα
"
καὶ πάλιν
"
ὦ μάκαρ, ὅστις εὐδαίμων
, βιοτὰν ἁγιστεύει. τά τε ματρὸς μεγάλας ὄργια Κυβέλας θεμιστεύων
ἀνὰ θύρσον τε τινάσσων, κισσῷ στεφανωθεὶς
θεραπεύει.
And Euripides in the Bacchae does much the same, bringing together the Lydian customs at the same time with the Phrygian, because of their proximity: "But, O women, my band of worshippers, who have left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, and whom I have found... "and again: "O blessed is he who, being happy, consecrates his life, and performing the orgies of the Great Mother Cybele, and shaking the thyrsus up, crowned with ivy, serves [the god].
ἴτε Βάκχαι, βρόμιον παῖδα θεὸν θεοῦ
Διόνυσον κατάγουσαι Φρυγίων ἐξ ὀρέων
Ἑλλάδος εἰς εὐρυχόρους ἀγυιάς.
Go, Bacchae, bringing home Dionysus, the roaring child, god and son of god, from the Phrygian mountains to the wide-spaced streets of Greece.
"
πάλιν δʼ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς καὶ τὰ Κρητικὰ συμπλέκει τούτοις
"
ὦ θαλάμευμα Κουρήτων, ζάθεοί τε Κρήτας
διογενέτορες ἔναυλοι,
ἔνθα τρικόρυθες ἄντροις
βυρσότονον κύκλωμα τόδε
μοι Κορύβαντες εὗρον.
"And again in what follows he interweaves also the Cretan rites with these: "O chamber of the Curetes, and holy haunts of Crete that gave birth to Zeus, where in caves the Corybantes with triple helmets found this drum of stretched hide for me.
ἀνὰ δὲ βακχεῖα συντόνῳ
κέρασαν ἁδυβόᾳ Φρυγίων
αὐλῶν πνεύματι, ματρός τε Ῥέας
εἰς χέρα θῆκαν κτύπον εὐάσμασι Βακχᾶν,
παρὰ δὲ μαινόμενοι Σάτυροι
ματέρος ἐξανύσαντο Ῥέας. εἰς δὲ χορεύματα
προσῆψαν τριετηρίδων,
αἷς χαίρει Διόνυσος.
And in Bacchic revelry they mixed it with the intense, sweet-sounding breath of Phrygian flutes, and placed its beat into the hand of Mother Rhea, with the joyful cries of the Bacchae; and the raving Satyrs obtained it from Mother Rhea and joined it to the dances of the triennial festivals, in which Dionysus rejoices.
"
καὶ ἐν Παλαμήδει φησὶν ὁ χορός
"
Θύσαν Διονύσου
κόραν, ὃς ἀνʼ Ἴδαν
τέρπεται σὺν ματρὶ φίλᾳ
τυμπάνων ἐπʼ ἰακχαῖς. "
"And in Palamedes the chorus says: "Thysa, daughter of Dionysus, who along Ida rejoices with his dear mother to the clanging of drums. "