Beautiful rendition of the Kouretes (Curetes) carrying out Their Dance about the newborn youthful Zeus (the infant at the base – there’s a tripartite Thunderbolt behind Him also).

Their Dance with its noise was undertaken to shield Zeus from Kronos –

It was a … Safety Dance

Now, I didn’t just post this in order to make the above 80s music reference. But also to take a look at the comparative Indo-European theology around the occurrence (seen here in Roman rendition dating from the era of Augustus, and seemingly a ‘restored’ version based upon the one held by the British Museum).

Here’s Callimachus’ Hymn I – To Zeus [42, Mair & Loeb translation] as one iteration of the Classical:

“But thee, O Zeus, the companions of the Cyrbantes took to their arms, even the Dictaean Meliae, and Adrasteia laid thee to rest in a cradle of gold, and thou didst suck the rich teat of the she-goat Amaltheia, and thereto eat the sweet honey-comb. For suddenly on the hills of Ida, which men call Panacra, appeared the works of the Panacrian bee. And lustily round thee danced the Curetes a wardance, beating their armour, that Cronus might hear with his ears the din of the shield, but not thine infant noise.”

So, where’s the Vedic correlate? Well, check this out:

Shatapatha Brahmana IX 1 1 (the dread Śatarudriya liturgy) provides one of the clearest exemplars [here in Eggeling translation]:

“6 And as to why he performs the Śatarudriya offering. When Prajāpati had become disjointed, the Deities departed from him. Only one God did not leave him, to wit, Manyu (wrath): extended He remained within. He (Prajāpati) cried, and the tears of him that fell down settled on Manyu. He became the hundred-headed, thousand-eyed, hundred-quivered Rudra. And the other drops that fell down, spread over these worlds in countless numbers, by thousands; and inasmuch as They originated from crying (rud), They were called Rudras (Roarers). That hundred-headed, thousand-eyed, hundred-quivered Rudra, with His Bow strung, and His Arrow fitted to the String, was inspiring fear, being in quest of food. The Gods were afraid of Him.

7 They spake unto Prajāpati ‘We are afraid of This One, lest He should hurt Us!’ He spake, ‘Gather food for Him, and appease Him therewith!’ They gathered for Him that food, the Śatarudriya (offering), and thereby appeased Him; and inasmuch as They thereby appeased (śam) the hundred-headed (śataśīrṣa) Rudra, it is called Śataśīrṣarudraśamanīya,–and śataśīrṣarudraśamanīya, doubtless, is what they mystically call Śatarudriya, for the Gods love the mystic. And in like manner does this (Sacrificer) now gather for Him that food, the Śatarudriya, and appease Him thereby.”

To explain – Prajapati <=> Kronos here; and the Brahmana is here presenting the foundation for the ritual in an ‘operationalization’ for part to the pertinent mythology.

As with Kronos vomiting forth various deities, so too do we hear of various Gods coming out of Prajapati. The final deity ‘born’ (either way – and in Hellenic, obviously, this is not via such from Kronos, but rather to Rhea directly) … Rudra, accompanied by a host of pointedly loud beings.

Now, one will observe the situation of Rudra at this point in the myth – He is referred to as “Kumara”, as we see at SBr VI 1 3 (which, of course, as we ought anticipate given the salience at other iterations drawn from the myth in Vedic texts, makes mention for Uṣas (Dawn) being present), where this “kumāra”, Agni(-Rudra), is not only described as being ‘born’ (involving ‘Earth’, going by verse 7 (and its culmination of several prior verses’ progression) – ref. role of Rhea; and, of course, the situation of “kṣmayā” at RV X 61 7; etc.), but also – quite understandably and naturally, as ‘Crying’ (“so’rodīt” – the latter part to this being from our familiar ‘Roudran’ root) “in a year”, at verse 9.

This section of scripture is best-known as the enumeration (and designation) for the AshtaMurti (‘Eight Facings’) of Rudra. It begins (at verse 10, again, in Eggeling translation):

“He said to Him, ‘Thou art Rudra.’ And because he gave Him that name, Agni became suchlike (or, that Form), for Rudra is Agni: because He cried (rud) therefore He is Rudra. […]”

It concludes (at verse 18, also per Eggeling’s translation):

“These then are the Eight Forms of Agni. Kumāra (the Boy) is the Ninth: that is Agni’s Threefold State.”

This term – Kumara (कुमार) – being ‘Youth’ (we have often rendered it ‘Young Prince’, ‘prince’ being very much its later-prominent utilization) and aligning rather well with …

Zeus Kouros – κοῦρος, in Ancient Greek, its root referring (as κόρος) to, as Liddell & Scott put it – a “boy, lad (even before birth […]), […] male infant, […] of warriors”; Autenrieth having κοῦρος as “youth, boy, esp. of noble rank, so when applied to the attendants at sacrifices and banquets, as these were regularly the sons of princely houses, […] also implying vigorous youth, ability to bear arms”. (as applies ‘Kouretes’ having this sense which can encompass both ‘youths’ and ‘warriors’ – we are reminded of ‘Marya’ (मर्य), ‘young man’ or ‘warrior’, utilized with reference to the Maruts; Sāyaṇa’s commentary at RV I 64 2 choosing to underscore the interpretation viz. “Rudrasya Maryā”, i.e. ‘Maryas of Rudra’, as “Rudrasya Sunuḥ”, i.e. “Sons of Rudra”)

So, Rudra(-Agni) as Kumāra correlates well via both identification and evident epithet to Zeus Kouros.

The Dictaean Hymnal to Whom, we include in M.L. West’s translation.

Io! Greatest Kouros,
hail, Son of Kronos,
Master of All, Who to Earth art gone
with the Powers in train, now come again
to Dicte at the year’s wend
and hear with gladness our refrain!
We thread it with harps
and blend it with pipes
and sing as we stand
round Thy Altar wall:
Io! Greatest Kouros, etc.
For here They took Thee, Child Immortal,
the shield[ed…
took Thee from Rhea, and [danced
. . . . .
Io! Greatest Kouros, etc.
… of the fair day’s light.
Io! Greatest Kouros, etc.
… abounded all years,
and men were the servants of Righteousness,
[and… was… ]en out (?)
by prospering Concord.
Io! Greatest Kouros, etc.
o [Lord, spring up in the wine-j]ars
and spring in the fleecy [flocks,
and in the crop]s of the fields spring up
and in the [house of ful]filment
Io! Greatest Kouros, etc.
Spring up in] our towns and peoples,
spring up in the seafaring ships,
spring up in the y[oung of the peop]le,
spring up in the … order.
Io! Greatest Kouros, etc.”

(as an aside, interesting to observe that immediately following the sequence in which Prajapati, having emanated Rudra (Kumara), bestows the names of the AshtaMurti … we have Prajapati “search[ing]” for Agni-Rudra)

” Prajāpati set his mind upon Agni’s forms. He searched for that Boy (Kumāra) Who had entered into the (different) Forms. Agni became aware of it,–‘Surely, Father Prajāpati is searching for Me: well then, let Me be suchlike that he knows Me not.'”
[SBr VI 2 1 1 – Eggeling translation]

This reminds one of Kronos’ actions again, insofar as the pursuit of Agni(-Rudra) is precisely the sort of attention from Kronos which the efforts of the Kouretes et co. were intended to frustrate. Certainly, Hyginus’ Fabulae [139] makes overt reference to Saturn (Kronos) ‘hunting’ the infant Jove through the worlds (Fabulae, 139 – “quod cum sensisset, coepit Iouem quaerere per terras”; and inferring “worlds” rather than “lands” for “terra” in plural there given ensuing detailing viz. ‘Sky’, ‘Earth’, and ‘Sea’).

As applies the Kouretes Themselves – there is extended comment and detail-gathering to be had in Strabo’s Geography [X III, Hamilton & Falconer translation here].

One can instantly observe the correlations in character & mythic genealogy viz. –

“But there may be discovered respecting these dæmons, and the variety of Their names, that They were not called Ministers only of the Gods, but Themselves were called Gods. For Hesiod says that Hecaterus and the daughter of Phoroneus had five daughters,
“ From Whom sprung the Goddesses, the Mountain Nymphs,
And the worthless and idle race of satyrs,
And the Gods Curetes, lovers of sport and dance.

” The author of the Phoronis calls the Curetes, players upon the pipe, and Phrygians; others call Them ‘Earth-Born, and wearing brazen shields.’ Another author terms the Corybantes, and not the Curetes, Phrygians, and the Curetes, Cretans. Brazen shields were first worn in Eubœa, whence the people had the name of Chalcidenses. Others say, that the Corybantes who came from Bactriana, or, according to some writers, from the Colchi, were given to Rhea, as a band of armed ministers, by Titan. But in the Cretan history the Curetes are called nurses and guardians of Jove, and are described as having been sent for from Phrygia to Crete by Rhea. According to other writers, there were nine Telchines in Rhodes, who accompanied Rhea to Crete, and from nursing Jupiter had the name of Curetes; that Corybus, one of Their party, was the founder of Hierapytna, and furnished the Prasians in Rhodes with the pretext for saying that Cory bantes [sic] were certain dæmons, Children of Minerva and the Sun. By others, the Corybantes are represented to be the Children of Saturn; by others, of Jupiter and Calliope, or to be the same persons as the Cabeiri; that They went away to Samothrace, which was formerly called Melite; but Their lives and actions are mysterious. [20]

The Scepsian (Demetrius) who has collected fabulous stories of this kind, does not receive this account because no mysterious tradition about the Cabeiri is preserved in Samothrace, yet he gives the opinion of Stesimbrotus of Thasus, to the effect that the sacred Rites in Samothrace were celebrated in honour of the Cabeiri. Demetrius, however, says that They had Their name from Cabeirus, the mountain in Berecynthia. According to others, the Curetes were the same as the Corybantes, and were Ministers of Hecate.

The Scepsian says in another place, in contradiction to Euripides, that it is not the custom in Crete to pay divine honours to Rhea, and that these Rites were not established there, but in Phrygia only, and in the Troad, and that they who affirm the contrary are mythologists rather than historians; and were probably misled by an identity of name, for Ida is a mountain both in the Troad and in Crete; and Dicte is a spot in the Scepsian territory, and a mountain in Crete. Pytna is a peak of Ida, (and a mountain in Crete,) whence the city Hierapytna has its name. There is Hippocorona in the territory of Adramyttium, and Hippocoronium in Crete. Samonium also is the eastern promontory of the island, and a plain in the Neandris, and in the territory of the Alexandrians (Alexandria Troas). [21]

But Acusilaus, the Argive, mentions a Camillus, the son of Cabeira and Vulcan; Who had Three Sons, Cabeiri, (and Three Daughters,) the Nymphs Cabeirides.

According to Pherecydes, there sprung from Apollo and Rhetia Nine Corybantes, Who lived in Samothrace; that from Cabeira, the Daughter of Proteus and Vulcan, there were Three Cabeiri, and Three Nymphs, Cabeirides, and that Each had Their Own Sacred Rites. But it was at Lemnos and Imbros that the Cabeiri were more especially the objects of Divine Worship, and in some of the cities of the Troad; Their Names are Mystical.

[…]

The Scepsian says, that it is probable that the Curetes and Corybantes are the same persons, who as youths and boys were employed to perform the armed dance in the Worship of the Mother of the Gods. They were called Corybantes from their dancing gait, and butting with their head (κοοͅύπτοντας） by the poet they were called βητάπμονες, “‘Come hither, you who are the best skilled Betarmones among the Phæacians.’” Because the Corybantes are dancers, and are frantic, we call those persons by this name whose movements are furious. [22]

Some writers say that the first inhabitants of the country at the foot of Mount Ida were called Idæan Dactyli, for the country below mountains is called the foot, and the summits of mountains their heads; so the separate extremities of Ida (and all are sacred to the Mother of the Gods) are called Idæan Dactyli.

But Sophocles supposes, that the first five were males, who discovered and forged iron, and many other things which were useful for the purposes of life; that these persons had five sisters, and from their number had the name of Dactyli. Different persons however relate these fables differently, connecting one uncertainty with another. They differ both with respect to the numbers and the names of these persons; some of whom they call Celmis, and Damnameneus, and Hercules, and Acmon, who, according to some writers, were natives of Ida, according to others, were settlers, but all agree that they were the first workers in iron, and upon Mount Ida. All writers suppose them to have been Magicians, Attendants upon the Mother of the Gods, and to have lived in Phrygia about Mount Ida. They call the Troad Phrygia, because, after the devastation of Troy, the neighbouring Phrygians became masters of the country. It is also supposed that the Curetes and the Corybantes were descendants of the Idæan Dactyli, and that they gave the name of Idæan Dactyli to the first hundred persons who were born in Crete; that from these descended nine Curetes, each of whom had ten children, who were called Idæan Dactyli. [23]”

There are, of course, quite a range of traditions recounted in the above; although several repeated (my)themes do discernibly emerge. Some of which may be seemingly mutually contradictory to certain extents with each other.

As we can see, some Classical accounts held the Kouretes (etc.) to be Children of Kronos / Saturn, as with Zeus / Jupiter. These would correlate to those Vedic mentionings for Rudra and Rudras as progeny / emanated by Prajapati.

Correspondingly, those other Classical perspectives wherein the Kouretes (et al.) were identified as Sons of the Sky Father (Zeus / Jupiter – or other iterations cited in the above), are likewise correlate for the Vedic presentations for the (overlappingly co-identified) Rudras / Maruts as Sons of Rudra / Dyaus.

That this ’emanation’ (from Prajapati) encountered at SBr IX 1 1 6-7 should occur inferentially within the context of what is otherwise the myth wherein Rudra (esp. viz. Vāstoṣpati) is Brought Forth to Defend the Goddess, invites the prospect for this broader clade of Rudras likewise having such ethos to inception (in some sense) to them – and this, in concert to the reference for the Maruts as ‘Sons of Aditi’ per RV X 77 2 & 8 (as well as Sāyaṇa’s commentary upon RV I 114 6 also featuring linkages to Pārvati, etc.), may speak toward the Goddess salience that is prominent for the Kouretes (et al.) in the Classical IE spheres.

We would also note that the Rudras <=> Maruts situation is to be attested via Aitareya Brahmana III 33 => 34 & 35, wherein we again have the Prajapati & (Emanation of Rudra) myth ‘operationalized’; the Rudras observed there per SBr IX 1 1 6-7 being the Maruts hailed as present there within this other framework and thusly invoked, with Agni Vaiśvānara inferentially the Rudra-facing encountered therein (and c.f. for those Ait. Br. undertakings, the propitiations for Agni Vaiśvānara and the Maruts at SBr IX 3 1-2; not least in light of the overt ‘parallel’ declared at TS V 7 3 for Śatarudrīyam & Vasordhāra rites , phrased as engagement with the ‘Ghora’ (‘Terrific’) and ‘Shiva’ (‘Calm’) ‘Aspects’ or ‘Facings’ of the same God, identified as Rudra or Agni respectively)

And, speaking of co-identifications .. you may have noted in Strabo’s account above, that of the Kouretes <=> Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) & Dactyloi Idaioi (Idaean Dactyls).

Or, to phrase it Vedically … The Maruts being both Rudras and also hailed via “Ṛbhukṣaṇ” in various RV hymnals (RV VIII 20 2 & 7 12, etc.); this latter Sanskrit term being a labelling that designates the bearer in relation to the Ṛbhus clade of ‘Smiths’/’Priests’ … which, of course, is effectively the exact characterization one would encounter for the Idaean Dactyls (ref. Diodorus Siculus V 64, etc.).

And yes, these Kouretes are, indeed “Roarers” – as Malamis notes in his ‘Orpheioi Hymnoi’ PhD effort, ῥοῖζος (“roaring”) presents a key identifying characteristic for Them and Their “network” of context therein. ‘Rudras’, we would say. They are also, as one finds repeatedly attested in Strabo etc., ‘Mountain’ figures – “vi parvateṣu rājatha”, as RV VIII 7 1 phrases it (“Ye shine amid the mountain-clouds”, per Griffith’s rendering), indeed making even the Mountains shake or hum (“vepayanti parvatān”, per RV VIII 7 4), etc.; and with other traits also identifiable across the traditions, as we may return to more fulsomely enumerate in the future.

Meanwhile, to speak toward the apparent ‘overlap’ of mythic figures and human undertakers of a particular sacred role that Strabo briefly makes note of (and to which we would also add the Roman Salii, not least following Dionysus of Halicarnassus [Antiquities II 70], and with devotions to Janus foremost in mind) – it is not only in accordance with that which we generally anticipate viz. ‘mythic templating’ and Eliadian ‘Eternal Return’ for (major) rites : it also should seem similar to that which we have inferred of RV I 87 6. Wherein, to quote from our previous work:

“The Sanskrit cognate for ‘Aeshma’ is ‘Ishmin’ ( इष्मिन् ), which we have earlier ascribed the meanings of ‘swiftness’, ‘impetuousness’. It is observed to have obvious linkage to the Wind, […]

The major Vedic saliency for Ishmin, however, is rather more pointedly and overtly Roudran. We do not hold a hard difference nor division between the ‘Roudran’ and the ‘Wind’, of course – and have also written extensively upon the ‘wind’ that is ‘spirit’ within us (identified in fittingly Rourdan / Marutian terms, even, in the relevant Hindu metaphysical texts) in exactly this capacity.

In RV V 52 16 it is a quality attested to Rudra. In RV V 87 5, it is said of the Evyamarut (‘One Accompanied By Maruts’). In RV VII 56 11, the Maruts Themselves.

In RV I 87 6, we find it said of … well, it is a matter of some complexity. My personal interpretation, given the context of the line within its surrounding Hymnal is that it is plausibly not so much the Maruts being referred to there via ‘Ishmino’ – but rather, that this quality there pertains to the ‘Singers’, the Priests, that are conducting the rites in question. Or, phrased another way – that the Priests have, in a certain sense, become as the Maruts.

Certainly, they are now able to ‘see’ / ‘know’ / ‘experience’ / ‘feel’ [‘vidre’ – interestingly translated as ‘possess’ in both the H.H. Wilson and Griffith translations] the ‘Dhamanah’ ( धाम्नः ) of the Maruts – with ‘Dhaman’, whilst often translated as ‘Domain’ or ‘Dwelling’, ‘Station’ … I would ponder whether the other encountered sense of ‘Power’, ‘State’, ‘Energy’ might be more immediately pertinent for our figurative rendering. The term in question derives from PIE *dʰéh₁mn̥ – ‘that which is established’ or perhaps ’emplaced’ (c.f Ancient Greek θέμᾰ – ‘Thema’ – from the same ultimate PIE origination).

To address the matter more directly: perhaps the relevant Sanskrit verse (RV I 87 6) suggests that the Priests have become as Maruts. They are, after all, ‘accompanying’ the Divine being thusly invoked (indeed, as Jamison & Brereton’s commentary observes, the next hymnal, RV I 88, also to the Maruts and by the same Rsi, depicts the Chariot(s) of the Maruts as being “equipped” with “chants” – taking advantage of the other potential understanding for ‘Arka’ … although in their actual translation, they – as with many others – instead went for the more straightforward ‘lightning’ etc. rendition : so, chariots accompanied by lightning).

In that sense, then, we should read RV I 87 6 as having the Priests, perhaps, not only ‘seeing’ the Realm of the Maruts – but perhaps also ‘feeling’ the ‘energy’, and having perception of the ‘state’ of the Maruts by taking up position in amongst Them. Or, at least, as human, ‘sidereal-sphere’ ‘bearers’ of this accordant Divine Essence. […]”

Such is certainly the effective underpinning to that which we have recurrently had cause to remark upon viz. the illustrious Rudraganika clade.

Now, there are a few elements which I have not addressed (or addressed in depth / detail) in the course of this – various of which I’ve either done elsewhere in my work, or might return to a bit later.

But for the moment, I think, it may prove sufficient.

At least in terms of adding some theological depth to my quoting of those part-verses of the aforementioned 80s hymn, the Safety Dance:

“I say – we can go where we want to
A place where they’ll never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind

We can dance …

We can go where we want to
The Night is young and so am I
And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet
And surprise ’em with a Victory Cry”

Wherein one does indeed behold the salii-ency of a Dance, performed by a Fellowship in a place of Refuge reportedly ‘out of this world’ (ref. the mythic Kouretes’ dance being at a locale which Saturn could not find – indeed, that “could not be found in the Sky, on Earth, or on the Sea”, to quote Smith & Tzaskoma’s translation for Hyginus’ Fabulae 139); conducted by Young figures (‘Kouretes’, but also ‘Marya’ for Maruts – as at RV I 64 2, X 77 3, etc.) , and in service of a central Youth (ref. Zeus Kouros / Kumāra), and with the expected garb most definitely (ironic, given the artist-name) featuring a distinguished Hat (the Roman ‘Apex’ cap worn by the Salii – one anticipates ‘Pointy’ or ‘Conical’ headgear à la the famous ‘Phrygian Cap’ in other traditions), and other noted panoply : the ‘Victory Cry’ proving downright eponymous – “Rudra”.

Let us close with Malamis’ translation for the XXXI Orphic Hymnal to the Kouretes:

“Leapers, Kouretes, treading in armoured steps,
Foot-Stampers, Bull-Roarers, Mountain Gods, Criers,
Strike-Lyres, rhythmic, stepping light on Your Feet,
Arms-Bearing, Guardians, Marshalls, Bright-Famed,
The Mountain-Mad Mother’s Companions, Hierophants.
Come well-disposed to our words of good omen,
Be kind to the mystai, with heart ever gladdened”