Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cordax

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CORDAX (κόρδαξ). A dance of the old Greek comedy, at once highly ridiculous, and so indecent that it was considered a mark of drunkenness or great want of self-respect to dance it off the stage. (Pet. Sat. 52. 9. Hesych. s. v. Aristoph. Nub. 540.) A dance of this kind is represented on the marble tazza in the Vatican (Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. iv. 29.), where it is performed by ten figures, five Fauns, and five Bacchanals; but their movements, though extremely lively and energetic, are not marked by any particular indelicacy; certainly not so much as is exhibited in the Neapolitan tarantella, which is thought to preserve the vestiges of the Greek cordax.