θεῶν χοροποἴ ἄναξ: the gen. θεῶν seems to be possessive rather
than partitive; i.e. the precise sense seems to be, ‘divine
dance-maker of the gods,’ rather than, ‘among the gods, that god
who makes dances.’ For such a partitive gen., we may, indeed,
compare O. C. 868θεῶν ι ὁ πάντα λεύσσων Ἥλιος (unless θεὸς
should be read there). But here the meaning seems to be that Pan
represents the gods in this function. Pan was to rustic χοροί,
those of nymphs and satyrs, what Apollo Μουσαγέτης was to the
Olympians; and the province denoted by χοροποιός here is thus
limited by the context. So Pindar fr. 75 calls Pan χορευτὰν
τελεώτατον θεῶν: and an Attic σκολιόν greets him as ὀρχηστά,
βρομίαις ὀπαδὲ νύμφαις.   Κνώσια: such dances as the Cretan
Corybantes hold at Cnosus in honour of Zeus and Apollo. Both the
epithets Νύσια and Κνώσια denote a character of wild
enthusiasm.—Cnosus, the chief city of Crete, was situated in the
north of the island, in one of the plains at the foot of Ida.
The form Κνωσός has older and better