What does corybant mean?
A corybant is one of the Corybantes, the ecstatic, armor-clad priests who served Cybele, the ancient Phrygian Great Mother goddess adopted into Greek and Roman religion. In her mystery rites the corybants performed frenzied dances to the pounding of drums and the clash of shields and cymbals — a spectacle so characteristic that their name became a byword for wild, abandon-filled movement. Classical myth gave them an enduring role: they were said to have masked the infant Zeus's cries with their din so his father Cronus could not find him. Today the word survives mainly in literary and scholarly contexts, describing either those ancient worshippers or, figuratively, anyone who dances or revels with uncontrolled energy. It pairs naturally with its adjective 'corybantic', which characterizes anything frenzied or ecstatic. Rare but precise, 'corybant' offers writers a colorful, historically resonant alternative to plain descriptions of wild celebration.
nounA corybant is one of the Corybantes, the ecstatic, armored priests of the Phrygian goddess Cybele in ancient Greek and Roman religion, celebrated for their frenzied, clashing dances. By extension, the word describes any person who dances or revels wildly and unrestrainedly.
- One of the Corybantes, the ecstatic armed priests of the goddess Cybele (Rhea) whose frenzied music and dance featured in her mystery rites.
- Any person who dances or celebrates in a wild, frenzied, or uninhibited manner.
"The dancers whirled through the street like corybants, drums pounding and cymbals crashing."
"The frieze depicted corybants clashing their shields in honor of the Great Mother."
"By midnight the party guests had become a swarm of corybants, spinning and shouting without reserve."
The regular anglicized plural 'corybants' is standard in modern English; 'corybantes' reflects the original Greek plural and appears chiefly in classical scholarship.
"A troop of corybants led the procession through the temple gates."
In Greek myth, the Corybants banged their shields and spears in wild dance to drown out baby Zeus's cries so his father Cronus wouldn't find and devour him.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of corybant
The word derives from the ancient Greek 'Korybantēs' (plural 'Korybantes'), the name of the ecstatic priest-dancers of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, whose origins lie in Asia Minor. Greek myth variously imagined them as sons of Zeus's daughter Thaleia or as attendants of the Great Mother, and their rites passed into Roman religion alongside Cybele's cult. English borrowed the word in the early seventeenth century, initially in learned references to classical antiquity, later extending it figuratively to any frenzied dancer or reveller. It shares its Greek religious milieu with terms such as 'maenad' and 'bacchante', names for the ecstatic female followers of Dionysus.
Related word forms
How corybant is actually used
The word is rare and literary, appearing mostly in classical history, art criticism, and elevated descriptive prose. When used of modern revellers it carries a vivid, slightly archaic or mock-heroic flavor rather than everyday neutrality. The anglicized plural 'corybants' is standard in English, though 'corybantes' preserves the original Greek plural form. The derived adjective 'corybantic' is somewhat more common than the noun itself.
Easily confused with corybant
A corybant is an ecstatic priest-dancer of Cybele, while a coryphaeus is the leader of a Greek chorus or, more generally, the foremost person in a field.