This life-size sculpture, set above the Courtyard fountain, belongs to a series of eight maenad reliefs that once formed the decoration around the circular base of an unknown monument (the other seven maenads are now in the Museo Nazionale Romano). The theme of the dancing maenads suggests that these reliefs belonged to a monument dedicated to the cult of Dionysus—god of wine, agriculture, and revelry. Maenads were female followers of Dionysus, known for dancing and drinking themselves into ecstatic frenzies.