Kotys of the Frenzied Rites
Thracian · deity · Classical Thrace (Edonian cult); rites known to Aeschylus (5th c. BCE), later at Athens and Corinth · Recorded classification
Thracian goddess of the orgiastic Kotyttia. Names attested in Greek (Κότυς, Κοτυττώ) and Latinized (Cotys, Cotytto). Classified 'deity'. The war-aspect/consort question (Kandaon) is treated in that figure's entry. Distinguished from the homonymous historical Odrysian kings named Kotys, who are mortal rulers.
Domains
- ecstatic rites
- wilds and fertility
Powers
- rouses worshippers to orgiastic frenzy
- purifies initiates through ritual immersion
Epithets
- Κοτυττώ Thracian goddess of the orgiastic Kotyttia ritesAeschylus, Edonians fr. 57 Radt (primary)
Sources
- Kotys/Cotytto is a Thracian goddess of orgiastic nocturnal rites (the Kotyttia/Cotyttia), originally among the Edonians near Mt. Pangaion, with worship later spreading to Athens and Corinth.: Strabo, Geography 10.3.16 (quoting Aeschylus' Edonians) (primary)
- Her Athenian initiates were called baptai ('dippers') after purificatory immersions, the title of a (lost) comedy by Eupolis satirizing the cult.: Eupolis, Baptai (fragments); ancient testimonia on the baptai of Kotytto (primary)