Maenad, or Mount

An ornate cast copper alloy mount, probably from a piece of furniture. In Roman mythology, maenads (a Greek word meaning a mad or raving woman) were known as Bassarids, Bacchae or Bacchantes, as the followers of Bacchus who often wore a fox-skin (bassaris). Bacchus was the Roman name for the Greek god Dionysus, and maenads were associated with the god in both cultures. During rituals maenads would wear ivy-wreaths and dance and drink themselves into an ecstatic frenzy.