Pine cone in the context of "Maenad"

⭐ In the context of maenads, followers of Dionysus, what object was commonly found at the tip of the thyrsus they carried during their ecstatic rituals?

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Pine cone

A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, pl.: strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, but can be fleshy and berry-like. The cones of Pinophyta (conifer clade) contain the reproductive structures. The woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cone, which produces pollen, is usually ephemeral and much less conspicuous even at full maturity. The name 'cone' derives from Greek konos (pine cone), which also gave name to the geometric cone. The individual plates of a cone are known as scales. In conifers where the cone develops over more than one year (such as pines), the first year's growth of a seed scale on the cone, showing up as a protuberance at the end of the two-year-old scale, is called an umbo, while the second year's growth is called the apophysis.

The male cone (microstrobilus or pollen cone) is structurally similar across all conifers, differing only in small ways (mostly in scale arrangement) from species to species. Extending out from a central axis are microsporophylls (modified leaves). Under each microsporophyll is one or several microsporangia (pollen sacs).

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<

👉 Pine cone in the context of Maenad

In Greek mythology, maenads (/ˈmiːnædz/ ; Ancient Greek: μαινάδες [maiˈnades]) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of his retinue, the thiasus.Their name, which comes from μαίνομαι (maínomai, "to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angry"), literally translates as 'raving ones'. Maenads were known as Bassarids, Bacchae /ˈbækiː/, or Bacchantes /ˈbækənts, bəˈkænts, -ˈkɑːnts/ in Roman mythology after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a bassaris or fox skin.

Often the maenads were portrayed as inspired by Dionysus into a state of ecstatic frenzy through a combination of dancing and intoxication. During these rites, the maenads would dress in fawn skins and carry a thyrsus, a long stick wrapped in ivy or vine leaves and tipped with a pine cone. They would weave ivy-wreaths around their heads or wear a bull helmet in honor of their god, and often handle or wear snakes.

↓ Explore More Topics
In this Dossier

Pine cone in the context of Pineal gland

The pineal gland (also known as the pineal body or epiphysis cerebri) is a small endocrine gland in the brain of most vertebrates. It produces melatonin, a serotonin-derived hormone, which modulates sleep patterns following the diurnal cycles. The shape of the gland resembles a pine cone, which gives it its name. The pineal gland is located in the epithalamus, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two halves of the thalamus join. It is one of the neuroendocrine secretory circumventricular organs in which capillaries are mostly permeable to solutes in the blood.

The pineal gland is present in almost all vertebrates, but is absent in protochordates, in which there is a simple pineal homologue. The hagfish, archaic vertebrates, lack a pineal gland. In some species of amphibians and reptiles, the gland is linked to a light-sensing organ, variously called the parietal eye, the pineal eye or the third eye. Reconstruction of the biological evolution pattern suggests that the pineal gland was originally a kind of atrophied photoreceptor that developed into a neuroendocrine organ.

↑ Return to Menu
LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Maenad ← Pineal gland ← Maenads
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Pinus coulteri → Botany → Strobilus → Gymnosperm → Conifer → Cycad → Bract → Berry (botany) → Pinophyta → Plant sexuality → Seeds → Pollen → Ephemerality → Cone → Pine → Microsporophyll → Sporangium →