CORYBANTES, in Greek mythology, were associated with the Phrygian goddess Rhea Cybele as her first worshippers and priests. They were of the same class of beings as the Curetes, Cabiri, and Dactyls of Mount Ida in Crete, and were of the nature of daemones, supposed by some to hive sprung from the earth like trees (δevδpoφυ∈7ς). The wild orgiastic dιnce with clangour of music, which was part of the worship of Cybele, was traced to them, and was called κopvβavτMv, whence a derivation of their name has been sought in a word to express this din of music and dance. An old derivation traced it to Kóptov, a hill said to be in Cyprus, but not otherwise known to be there. Besides the power of music the Corybantes exercised also cures by magic and other arts of superstition. Of the other daemones with whom the Corybantes were identified in antiquity the Cabiri have already been described (see Cabiri.) The Curetes were associated with the infancy of Zeus in Crete, where they kept guard over him, dancing and clanging their shields. They were thought of as having skill in working in metals and in finding them under the earth. They had also prophetic powers, and made a wild dance part of their ceremony of worshipping Zeus. Through being identified with the Corybantes they became associated with the goddess Cybele, and were found connected with her worship in its various centres in Asia Minor. The Dactyls of Crete were distinctly associated with Rhea Cybele, and were chiefly thought of as being possessed of metallurgic powers, as tlιeir names, Kelmis, Damnameneus, and Akmon, imply, though they were also skilled in music.