Kotys

Greek vase painting depicting a goddess, probably either Bendis or Kotys, adorned in Thracian garb approaching a seated Apollo. Red-figure bell-shaped krater by the Bendis Painter, c. 380–370 BCE

Kotys was a prominent Thracian goddess who was worshipped in a festival known as the Cotyttia. She was particularly worshipped among the Edones.[1] The Greeks considered Kotys to be an aspect of Persephone.[2][3]

Etymology

The name Kotys is believed to have meant "war, slaughter", akin to Old Norse Höðr "war, slaughter".[4]

Worship

Kotys's followers were known as baptes, which means "bathers,"[5] because their pre-worship purification ceremony involved an elaborate bathing ritual. Kotys was often worshipped during nocturnal ceremonies, which were associated with rampant insobriety and obscene behavior.[6] Her cult was very similar to the cult of the goddess Bendis.

References

  1. ↑ Detschew, Dimiter. Die Thrakische Sprachreste. Wien, 1957: p. 258 (in German)
  2. ↑ Simpson, D. P. (1968). Cassell's Latin Dictionary. U.S.A.: Macmillan Publishing Co. p. 156. ISBN 0-02-522570-7.
  3. ↑ Bell, John (2003). Bell's New Pantheon or Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi Gods, Heroes. Kessinger Publishing. p. 156. ISBN 0-7661-7834-X.
  4. ↑ Also cognate: Irish cath "war, battle", early German Hader "quarrel", Greek kótos "hatred", Old Church Slavonic kotora "fight, brawl", Sanskrit śatru "enemy, nemesis", and Hittite kattu "spiteful". See Orel, Vladimir. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003: 165.
  5. ↑ βάπτω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  6. ↑ Cobham Brewer, Ebenezer (1894). Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable - Revised and Updated Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 73.
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