Maenads

Maenads were the female followers of Dionysus (Bacchus in the Roman pantheon), the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by him into a state of ecstatic frenzy, through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication.[1] In this state, they would lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly, engage in uncontrolled sexual behavior, and ritualistically hunt down and tear to pieces animals — and, at least in myth, sometimes men and children — devouring the raw flesh. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped by a cluster of leaves; they would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads, and often handle or wear snakes.

In television fiction, Maenads were best represented through the character of Maryann Forrester, played by Michelle Forbes. She was the central antagonist of season two of the HBO television series True Blood. In the show, Maryann seduces the emotionally distraught Tara Thornton into living with her and becoming one of her followers, along with a former convict named Eggs Talley. In fact, it was through Tara's actions in season one, that Maryann was even able to manifest herself in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Maryann also has history with another character in the series, Sam Merlotte. Sam first encountered the Maenad when he was but a teenager when she caught him stealing money from her house. Through the course of the season, Maryann uses her supernatural powers to mentally enslave the citizens of Bon Temps into becoming her loyal followers. They transform the Stackhouse family home into a stage for the Bacchanal, in which Maryann attempts to summon Dionysus. Ultimately, Sam Merlotte, a shape-shifter, ends Maryann's reign of chaos by transforming into a bull and goring her.

Notes & Trivia

 * The maenads were also known as Bassarids (or Bacchae or Bacchantes) in Roman mythology, after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a fox-skin, a bassaris.