Satyr

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Not to be confused with Satire or Seder (disambiguation). For other uses, see Satyr (disambiguation).

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Satyr

Satyr with pipe and a pipe case (Attic red-figureplate, 520500 BC, from Vulci, Etruria

Grouping

Legendary creature

Sub grouping

Hybrid

Similar creatures

Minotaur, Centaur, Harpy

Mythology

Greek mythology

Country

Greece

Habitat

Woodland and mountains

Notice, the goat on the left has a short goat tail, but the Greek satyr on the right has a long horse tail. Not a goat tail (Attic ceramic, 520 BCE).

In Greek mythology, a satyr (UK /st/, US /setr/, Greek satyros, pronounced [styros])[1] is one of a troop of male companions of Pan andDionysus with goat-like (caprine) features, including a goat-tail, goat-like ears, and sometimes a goat-like phallus. In Roman Mythology there is a similar concept with goat-like features, the faun being half-man, half-goat. Greek-speaking Romans often use the Greek term saturos when referring to the Latin faunus, and eventually syncretize the two. The female "Satyresses" were a late invention of poets that roamed the woods and mountains.[2] In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing. The satyrs' chief was Silenus, a minor deity associated (like Hermes and Priapus) with fertility. These characters can be found in the only complete remaining satyr play, Cyclops, by Euripides, and the fragments of Sophocles' Ichneutae (Tracking Satyrs). The satyr play was a short, lighthearted tailpiece performed after each trilogy of tragedies in Athenian festivals honoring Dionysus. There is not enough evidence to determine whether the satyr play regularly drew on the same myths as those dramatized in the tragedies that preceded. The groundbreaking tragic playwright Aeschylus is said to have been especially loved for his satyr plays, but none of them have survived. Attic painted vases depict mature satyrs as being strongly built with flat noses, large pointed ears, long curly hair, and full beards, with wreaths of vine or ivy circling their balding heads. Satyrs often carry the thyrsus: the rod of Dionysus tipped with a pine cone. Satyrs acquired their goat-like aspect through later Roman conflation with Faunus, a carefree Italic nature spirit of similar characteristics and identified with the Greek god Pan. Hence satyrs are most commonly described in Latin literature as having the upper half of a man and the lower half of a goat, with a goat's tail in place of the Greek tradition of horse-tailed satyrs; therefore, satyrs became nearly identical with fauns. Mature satyrs are often depicted in Roman art with goat's horns, while juveniles are often shown with bony nubs on their foreheads. About Satyrs, Praxiteles gives a new interpretation on the subject of free and carefree life. Instead of an elf with pointed ears and repulsive goat hooves, we face a child of nature, pure, but tame and fearless

and brutal instincts necessary to enable it to defend itself against threats, and survives even without the help of modern civilization . Above all though, the Satyr with flute has a small companion for him, shows the deep connection with nature, the soft whistle of the wind, the sound of gurgling water of the crystal spring, the birds singing, or perhaps the singing a melody of a human soul that feeds higher feelings. As Dionysiac creatures they are lovers of wine and women, and they are ready for every physical pleasure. They roam to the music of pipes (auloi), cymbals, castanets, and bagpipes, and they love to dance with the nymphs (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue), and have a special form of dance called sikinnis. Because of their love of wine, they are often represented holding wine cups, and they appear often in the decorations on wine cups.
Contents
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1 In Greek mythology and art 2 In Roman mythology and art 3 Other references 4 Baby satyr 5 Satyrs and orangutan 6 Varieties 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

In Greek mythology and art[edit]

This Hellenistic satyr wears a rustic perizoma (loincloth) and carries a pedum (shepherd's crook). Walters Art Museum,Baltimore.

Satyr on a mountain goat, drinking with women, in a Gandhara relief of 2nd-4th century CE

Dancing satyr on a sardonyx intaglioholding a thyrsus in his left hand and akantharos in the right hand. On the right arm, the skin of a panther (pardalis). 1st century BC or beginning of 1st century.

In earlier Greek art, satyrs appear as old and ugly, but in later art, especially in works of the Attic school, this savage characteristic is softened into a more youthful and graceful aspect. This transformation or humanization of the Satyr appears throughout late Greek art. Another example of this shift occurs in the portrayal of Medusa and in that of the Amazon, characters who are traditionally depicted as barbaric and uncivilized. A very humanized Satyr is depicted in a work of Praxiteles known as the "Resting Satyr". Older satyrs were known as sileni, the younger as satyrisci. The hare was the symbol of the shy and timid satyr. Greek spirits known as Calicantsars have a noticeable resemblance to the ancient satyrs;

they have goats' ears and the feet of donkeys or goats or horses, are covered with hair, and love women and the dance. Although they are not mentioned by Homer, in a fragment of Hesiod's works they are called brothers of the mountain nymphs and Kuretes, strongly connected with the cult of Dionysus. In the Dionysus cult, male followers are known as satyrs and female followers as maenads or bacchants. In Attica there was a species of drama known as the legends of gods and heroes, and the chorus was composed of satyrs and sileni. In the Athenian satyr plays of the 5th century BC, the chorus commented on the action. This "satyric drama" burlesqued the serious events of the mythic past with lewd pantomime and subversive mockery. One complete satyr play from the 5th century survives, the Cyclops of Euripides. The Satyr and the Traveller, one of Aesop's Fables, features the satyr as the benevolent host for a traveller in the forest in winter. The satyr is bewildered by the man's claim to be able to blow hot and cold with the same breath, first to warm his hands, then to cool his porridge, and turns him out for this inconstancy. A papyrus bearing a long fragment of a satyr play by Sophocles, given the title 'Tracking Satyrs' (Ichneutae), was found at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, 1907.

In Roman mythology and art[edit]

Satyr pursuing a nymph, on a Roman mosaic

Faunus were conflated in the popular and poetic imagination with Latin spirits of woodland and with the rustic Greek god Pan. Roman satyrs were described as goat-like from the haunches to the hooves, and were often pictured with larger horns, even ram's horns. Roman poets often conflated them with the fauns. Roman satire is a literary form, a poetic essay that was a vehicle for biting, subversive social and personal criticism. Though Roman satire is sometimes linked to the Greek satyr plays, satire's only

connection to the satyric drama is through the subversive nature of the satyrs themselves, as forces in opposition to urbanity,decorum, and civilization itself.