in Antiquity, a sort of priests or people of the isle of Crete, called also Corybantes. The Curetes are said to have been originally inhabitants of Mount Ida in Phrygia, for which reason they were also called Idei Dacetyli. Lucian and Diodorus Siculus represent them as very expert in the throwing of darts, though other authors provide them with no weapons except bucklers and pikes; but all agree in furnishing them with tabors and castanetas, and relate that they used to dance much to the noise and clashing of these instruments. By this noise, it is said, they prevented Saturn from hearing the cries of young Jupiter, whereby he was saved from destruction. Some authors, however, give a different account of the Curetes. According to Pezron and others, the Curetes were, in the times of Saturn, and in the countries of Crete and Phrygia, what the druids were afterwards among the Gauls and Britons; namely, priests who had the care of all that related to religion and the worship of the gods. Hence, as in those days it was supposed that there was no communication with the gods but by means of divinations, auguries, and the operations of magic, the Curetes passed for magicians and enchanters; and as to these accomplishments they added the study of the stars, of nature, and of poetry, so they were philosophers, astronomers, and poets. Vossius (De Idolat.) distinguishes three kinds of Curetes; those of Ætolia, those of Phrygia, and those of Crete, who were originally derived from the Phrygians. The first, he says, took their name from xwpa, tonsure, because, from the time of a combat in which the enemy seized their long hair, they always kept it cut. But those of Phrygia and Crete, he supposes, were so called from xwpa, young man, because they were young, or because they nursed Jupiter when he was young.