Kotys

Kotys (Ancient Greek: Κότυς Kótys) was a prominent Thracian goddess who was worshipped in a festival known as the Cotyttia. She was particularly worshipped among the Edones.[1] Suda mentioned that is was worshiped among the Corinthians.[2] The Greeks considered Kotys to be an aspect of Persephone.[3]

This article is about the Thracian goddess. For the surname, see Kotys (surname).
For aristocrats named "Kotys", also spelled as "Cotys", see Cotys (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Cotys or Koty.
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

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.

Kotys was also worshiped at Corinth.[7][8]

References
  1. Detschew, Dimiter. Die Thrakische Sprachreste. Wien, 1957: p. 258 (in German)
  2. Suda, ka.2171
  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. pp. 73.
  7. Suda Encyclopedia,kappa 2171
  8. Suda Encyclopedia, theta 381
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