Women in dance while Terpsichore was the Muse of dance. In the 6th century BC, the "choros" became a lasting feature of Greek theatre while women known as the Dyonysiac, frequently depicted on Greek vases, dance in frensy, celebrating Dionysus, the god of wine. In Ancient Rome, female singers and dancers performed in the annual celebrations of Isis which included mystery plays representing the resurrection of Osiris. The Bible contains several accounts of women dancing, in particular the celebrations led by Miriam after the crossing of the Red Sea when women are said to have danced and played hand-drums. After David had returned
Ancient Greek art his books "Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture" (1750) and "Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums" ("History of Ancient Art", 1764) were the first to distinguish sharply between ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art, and define periods within Greek art, tracing a trajectory from growth to maturity and then imitation or decadence that continues to have influence to the present day. The full disentangling of Greek statues from their later Roman copies, and a better understanding of the balance between Greekness and Roman-ness in Greco-Roman art was to take much longer, and perhaps still continues. Greek