the thyrsoi of the women and their garlands, and _frightening the men out of their senses_.’ [Illustration: FIG. 125.] However much the Macedonian men disliked these orgies, they were clearly too frightened to put a stop to them. The women were possessed, magical, and dangerous to handle. Scenes such as those described by Plutarch as actually taking place in Macedonia are abundantly figured on vases. The beautiful raging Maenad in fig. 125 from the centre of a cylix with white ground at Munich[1019] is a fine example. She wears the typical Maenad garb, the fawn-skin over her regular drapery; she carries the thyrsos, she carries in fact the whole gear (σκεύη) of Dionysos. When Pentheus would counterfeit a Bacchant he is attired just so; he wears the long trailing chiton and over it the dappled fawn-skin, his hair flows loose, in his hand is the thyrsos. For snood (μίτρα) in her hair the Maenad has twined a great snake. Another Maenad[1020] is shown in fig. 126. She is characterized only by the two snakes she holds in her hand. But for her long full drapery she might be an Erinys. [Illustration: FIG. 126.] [Illustration: FIG. 127.] The snakes emerging from the sacred cistae are illustrated by the class of coins[1021] known as cistophoroi, a specimen of which is reproduced in fig. 127. These coins, of which the type is uniform, originated, according to Dr Imhoof, in Ephesus a little before B.C. 200, and spread through all the dominions of Attalos the First. They illustrate a phase of Dionysos worship in Asia Minor closely akin to that of Macedonia.