I would have been a maenad

As we ride along the foot of Dionysus' sacred Mt Panageum, I watch the olives get plumper and anticipate the wine we will sample from this ancient wine producing soil. I also wonder if we are in maenad territory yet. These mad women, who were attendants in the cult of Dionysus, were rumoured to wander somewhere in this region. As I studied my ancient myths, I always enjoyed the image of these ancient Greek women who managed to escape the yoke of their mundane existence (chained to their looms and other household duties) to run about the hills in troops of wild, wine drinking, scantily dressed pleasure seekers. I'm sure that I would have been a maenad if I were a woman born to ancient Greece.