{"id":5203,"date":"2025-03-05T17:14:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T16:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/the-images-of-music\/dionysus-and-the-satyr-marsyas\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T09:00:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T07:00:40","slug":"dionysus-and-the-satyr-marsyas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/dioniso-e-il-satiro-marsia\/","title":{"rendered":"Dionysus and the satyr Marsyas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dionysus and the Satyr Marsyas:
\nThe ‘New Music’<\/p><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Dionysus (\u0394\u03b9\u03ce\u03bd\u03c5\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2) is the son of Zeus and Semele, daughter of Cadmus (king of Thebes) and Harmonia. As the result of one of Zeus’ many adulteries, Dionysus was struck by the wrath of Hera even before he was born: according to one version of the myth, Semele was in fact persuaded by the goddess to ask Zeus to show himself to her in the same way as he appeared to his wife. Semele was thus doomed to die, while Zeus saved his son by carrying his development inside his own thigh. Dionysus was then usually raised first by Ino and Athamas and then by the nymphs of Mount Nisa or by a hero named Nisus (hence the name Dionysus: e.g. in one of Hyginus’ Fabulae<\/em><\/a><\/strong>). The tale is frequent both in mythographers and in various literary reworkings: for example, one can read passages from Ovid<\/a><\/strong> and Lucian <\/a><\/strong>on these events (tab 1<\/a><\/strong>). He travelled to Egypt and Syria, went to Phrygia to the goddess Cybele, and spread the knowledge of her rites from Thrace to India until he arrived in Greece. In Naxos he met Ariadne abandoned by Theseus.
\nGod of wine, theatre and ecstasy, he embodies the multiform human nature (male and female, animal and divine, tragic and comic). His attributes are the kantharos<\/em>, the vine and the thyrsus; the animals dear to him are the panther and the goat, emblems of the wild life that his followers seek through Dionysian invasion (mania<\/em>).
\nCompanions of Dionysus, along with the maenads, are the satyrs or silenes. Depicted as human beings with beards and long hair, with ears, horns, tail and goat’s paws, they are usually shown naked or wearing panther skin (pardalis<\/em>) or deer skin (nebris<\/em>). They are devoted to wine, music and the wild dance they practise in Dionysian processions (tab 2<\/a><\/strong>).
\nSatyrs love the aulos, which they play on many occasions\u00a0(tab 3<\/strong><\/a>); but they can also play string instruments, such as the kithara<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, the lyra<\/em><\/a><\/strong> and the barbiton<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. Dionysus, on the other hand, is not usually depicted playing a musical instrument, with a few exceptions (tab 4<\/strong><\/a>).
\nThe aulos<\/em><\/a><\/strong> is the instrument was the protagonist of the great musical changes that took place between the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the most important of which was the invention of a polymodal variant of the aulos<\/em> (i.e. capable of modulating, moving from one scale to another without changing pipes). The invevtion of this kind of instrument is attributed to the Theban aulete Pronomos (tab 5<\/strong><\/a>) and it is harshly criticised by Plato, who called the instrument \u201cpanharmonic\u201d (i.e. \u201ccapable of playing all scales\/harmoniai<\/em>\u201d).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 1:<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Birth and childhood of Dionysus<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

According to the version of the myth followed by Euripides in the Bacchae <\/em><\/strong><\/a>(as narrated in the prologue by the god in the first person), Semele was incinerated by Zeus’ thunderbolts, while Dionysus, in his mother’s womb, was saved by his father who sewed him into her thigh from which he was born a second time (cf. e.g. Euripides, Hippolitus<\/em> 560, where the god is said \u03b4\u03af\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, or Ovid, Metamorphoses<\/em>\u00a03, 317: bis genitus<\/em>). Hermes then handed the infant Dionysus over to the nymphs of Mount Nisa, although the myth passes on many variants on the god’s childhood: for instance, the Library<\/em><\/strong><\/a> of Pseudo Apollodorus offers an interesting summary account. Representations of the infant Dionysus are widespread in ceramics, reliefs and in statuary groups.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/div>
<\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 2:<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe Dionysian processions<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Dionysus on his travels is accompanied by a procession (thiasos<\/em>) consisting of satyrs (e.g. Pseudo Apollodorus<\/strong><\/a>) and Silenes, maenads (e.g. Iliad<\/em><\/strong><\/a>) and nymphs (cf. Homeric hymn<\/strong><\/em><\/a>), who play and dance frantically. Maenads generally play the tympanon\u00a0<\/em>(cf. Euripides, Bacchae<\/em><\/a><\/strong>) or the krotala<\/em>, while satyrs have the aulos<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (see again Euripides, Bacchae<\/em><\/a><\/strong>) or sometimes a stringed instrument (lyra, kithara<\/em> or, among the string instruments, especially the barbiton<\/em>). Many – and belonging to different eras and literary genres – are the versions of the god’s movements: they are interwoven with the variants relating to the characters that make up his retinue and the instruments preferably used in the rituals dedicated to him (instruments entrusted with the task of arousing religious enthousiasmos<\/em>).
\nOn 6th- and 5th-century BC Attic vases, the procession appears very animated and may accompany Hephaestus to Olympus, cheer a banquet or the wedding of Dionysus and Ariadne.
\nTowards the end of the 5th and in the 4th century BC the episodes become more varied: Eros or Pan may also participate in the procession; the representation of Ariadne’s wedding with the god also becomes more frequent. Some scenes from the end of the 4th century depict the god riding a panther or a griffin, followed by a bustling procession. In some cases Dionysus appears dressed in oriental clothing and is therefore worshipped as Sabazio (\u03a3\u03b1\u03b2\u03ac\u03b6\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2), a divinity of Thracian origin associated with agrarian and orgiastic rites similar to those of Cybele and Attis: the first evidence in Greece dates back at least to the 5th century BC, as is shown in several passages of the play Aristophanes (see Lysistrata<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>and Birds<\/em><\/strong><\/a>).
\nIn Roman art, processions and episodes involving the god Bacchus are frequent, especially on mosaics and sarcophagi.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/div>
<\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 3<\/a>:<\/strong>
\nSatyrs pipe-players<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

In the earliest phases, satyrs were imagined as human only in their upper body, while their lower parts could take on the appearance of a horse or a goat. These features diminished over time, while the long tail and erect limb tended to remain. (Pausanias<\/a><\/strong>). Literary texts offer different news about their lineage (Hesiod<\/a><\/strong>, Homeric hymn to Aphrodite<\/em><\/a><\/strong>), their characteristics and their relationship with Dionysus (Euripides<\/a><\/strong>) and music (Plato<\/a><\/strong>).
\nThe favourite musical instrument of satyrs is certainly the aulos,<\/em> which can also easily be played during a dance or a procession. Sometimes the satyr who plays the aulos<\/em> is depicted alone, emphasising the importance of the relationship with the wind instrument, most often in Dionysian processions. The iconography is also known in Greece in the Hellenistic period, when however the satyr is depicted mainly while playing the kroupezion<\/em> or the krotala<\/em>. In Magna Graecia and the Italic world, the satyr is depicted mainly while participating in Dionysian processions with the thyrsus, a situla or crown, or sometimes a torch, more rarely with the aulos.<\/em> In some Roman productions inspired by the Greek world, however, Dionysian processions return with the presence of satyrs who are playing the aulos.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/div>
<\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 4:<\/strong><\/a>
\nDionysus and satyrs-musicians<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

In Greek iconography of the Archaic and Classical periods, Dionysus is not depicted playing a musical instrument, with the exception of the scene on an Attic kylix that shows him with the barbiton<\/em>, an instrument typical of lyric poetry and the symposium, the invention of which is attributed by the historian Neante of Cyzicus to Anacreon (as reported by\u00a0Athenaeus<\/strong><\/a>). Satyrs, on the other hand, can play not only the aulos<\/em>, favoured by the Dionysian world (in Euripides’ Bacchae<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, for example, the aulos<\/em> is associated with the\u00a0tympana<\/em><\/strong><\/a>), but also the stringed instruments of the Apollonian world. In the Hellenistic period, the statuary type of a satyr playing the krotala<\/em> is also known (cf. Euripides’ Helen<\/em><\/strong><\/a>; in the Euripides’ satire drama Cyclops <\/em><\/strong><\/a>they are juxtaposed to Dionysus; their invention is mostly linked to the god himself and to the Mother of the gods) and the kroupezai<\/em> (also kroupezion<\/em> or kroupeza<\/em>) or scabellum<\/em> (or scabillum<\/em> in Rome), a very special wooden shoe, which served to beat the rhythm and give signals of various kinds.
\nTowards the end of the 5th, beginning of the 4th century BC, Attic and then Magna Graecia iconography instead depicted Dionysus holding a lyre, very similar in appearance to Apollo. The bearded god dressed in elaborate robes is thus replaced by a youthful Dionysus, sometimes naked, a dispenser of abundance and harmony.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/div>
<\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 5:<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe ‘New Music’<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

In the second half of the 5th century BC, and especially in the 4th century, the virtuosity of instrumentalists and singers, who had become true professionals, became increasingly important, as shown by the spread of images of musical performances. The protagonist of such a change was above all the versatile aulos<\/em> that could best adapt to the demands of the so-called \u201cnew music\u201d, a modern label used to describe the music of the period characterised by melodic and rhythmic modulations, oriental influences and great mimetic abilities (even in purely instrumental genres such as the Pythian nomos<\/em>, an auletic form that recounted Apollo’s struggle with the serpent to take possession of the oracle at Delphi without the aid of words, cf.\u00a0Pollux<\/a><\/strong> and Strabo<\/strong><\/a>). These artistic demands led to the modification of musical instruments in such a way that they could express the variety and complexity of the new musical language.
\nThe oldest specimens of aulos<\/em> found in various locations in Greece (Ephesus, Delos, Corinth, Athens, Brauron, Perachora) have five holes on the front side (one of which is the so-called vent-hole) and one hole on the back side, thus positioned to be closed by the thumb. Beginning in the late 5th century BC, the auloi<\/em> acquired more holes and were equipped with a system of keys that could mechanically open and close these holes, thus allowing them to modulate between the various scales\/harmoniai<\/em> (Plato<\/strong><\/a> calls the instrument \u2018panharmonic\u2019): instruments of this kind are widely attested in archaeology. Promoter of this innovation was, according to some sources (Pausanias 4<\/a><\/strong> and 9<\/strong><\/a>, Athenaeus 4<\/strong><\/a> and 14<\/a><\/strong>), the pipe-player Pronomos of Thebes, depicted on a large Attic crater exported to Ruvo in Apulia. Another innovation was the application to some auloi<\/em> of the syrinx<\/em> mechanism, a hole placed near the mouth that allowed them to switch abruptly to the high register, much used in the Pythian nomos<\/em> to imitate the hissing of the dying serpent.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/div>
<\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Insights<\/p><\/h2><\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
kithara<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

The kithara<\/em> is Apollo’s instrument, which he plays on numerous divine occasions and is his attribute on a par with the bow. However, it is also an instrument of the Dionysian world: both satyrs and maenads are depicted playing the kithara<\/em>. Beginning in the early fifth century B.C., it becomes the principal instrument of the professional kithara player who participates in musical agonies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
lyra<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n

The lyra<\/em>, according to myth, was created by Hermes who used the shell of a tortoise as a sounding board, to which he attached seven strings of sheep gut (Homeric Hymn to Hermes<\/em> 20 ff.). Hermes then gave the instrument to Apollo to make up for the theft of a herd of oxen from the god.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
barbiton<\/em><\/a><\/h5>\n

The barbiton<\/em> (or barbitos<\/em>) was a lyre with long arms, which therefore produced sounds of a lower pitch than the lyra\/chelys<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
aulos<\/em><\/a><\/h5>\n

The aulos<\/em> was a double-reeded aerophone, often played by blowing two tubes at the same time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Hyginus, Fabulae<\/em> 179 (transl. M. Grant):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abJove desired to lie with Semele, and when Juno found out, she changed her form to that of the nurse Beroe, came to Semele, and suggested that she ask Jove to come to her as he came to Juno, “that you may know”, she said, “what pleasure it is to lie with a god”. And so Semele asked Jove to come to her in this way. Her request was granted, and Jove, coming with lightning and thunder, burned Semele to death. From her womb Liber was born. Mercury snatched him from the fire and gave him to Nysus to be reared. In Greek he is called Dionysus\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Ovid, Metamorphoses<\/em> 3. 253-315 (transl. F. J. Miller, rev. G. P. Goold): <\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] In such wise did Juno instruct the guileless daughter of Cadmus. She in her turn asked Jove for a boon [\u2026] for neither can she recall her wish, nor he his oath. [\u2026] Her mortal body bore not the onrush of heavenly power, and by that gift of wedlock she was consumed. The babe still not wholly fashioned is snatched from the mother\u2019s womb and [\u2026] sewed up in his father\u2019s thigh, there to await its full time of birth. In secret his mother\u2019s sister, Ino, watched over his infancy; thence he was confided to the nymphs of Nysa [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Lucian, Dialogues of the gods <\/em>12 (transl. M. D. MacLeod): <\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

Hermes: \u00ab[\u2026] The fact is that Hera\u2014you know how jealous she is\u2014talked Semele into persuading Zeus to visit her complete with thunder and lightning. He agreed, and came with his thunderbolt too; the roof caught fire, and Semele was burnt up, and he told me to cut open her womb, and bring him the half-formed seven-month child. When I did so, he cut a slit in his own thigh, and slipped it in to finish its growth there\u00a0[\u2026]\u00bb.
\nPoseidon: \u00abThen, where\u2019s the baby now?\u00bb
\nHermes: \u00abI took him to Nysa, and gave him to the Nymphs to bring up. [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Euripides, Bacchae<\/em> 1-3, 5-9 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abTo this land of Thebes I have come, I Dionysus, son of Zeus: Cadmus\u2019 daughter Semele, midwived by the lightning fire, once gave birth to me. [\u2026] I see here by the palace the tomb of my lightning-slain mother and the ruins of her house, smouldering with the still-living flames of Zeus\u2019s fire: thus Hera\u2019s violence against my mother lives on forever\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pseudo Apollodorus, The Library<\/i> 3, 28-29 (transl. J. G. Frazer):<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abHermes conveyed him [sc<\/em>. Dionysus] to Ino and Athamas<\/span>, and persuaded them to rear him as a girl. But Hera indignantly drove them mad, and Athamas<\/span> hunted his elder son Learchus as a deer and killed him\u00a0[\u2026]. But Zeus eluded the wrath of Hera by turning Dionysus into a kid, and Hermes took him and brought him to the nymphs who dwelt at Nysa in Asia, whom Zeus afterwards changed into stars and named them the Hyades\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Iliad<\/em>\u00a06, 130-137 (transl. A. T. Murray, rev. W. F. Wyatt<\/strong>):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abNo, for not even the son of Dryas, mighty Lycurgus, lived long, he who strove with heavenly gods; he drove down over the sacred mount of Nysa the nurses of raging Dionysus, and they all together let their wands fall to the ground, struck with an ox-goad by man-slaying Lycurgus; but Dionysus fled, and plunged beneath the wave of the sea, and Thetis received him in her bosom, filled with fear, for mighty terror got hold of him at the man\u2019s shouts [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Homeric Hymn to Dionysus<\/em> 7-10 (transl. M. L. West):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abAfter the goddesses had raised him, god of much song, he took to going about the wooded valleys, wreathed with ivy and bay; the nymphs would follow along as he led, and the noise of the revel pervaded the boundless woodland [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Euripides, Bacchae<\/em> 56-61 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

Dionysus: \u00ab[\u2026] So, my holy band, you women who have left Mount Tmolus, Lydia\u2019s bulwark, and whom I have brought from the outlands as my companions in rest and march, take up the drums that are native to Phrygia, drums invented by Mother Rhea and by me, come and stand about this royal palace of Pentheus and make a din [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Euripides, Bacchae<\/em> 119-134 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

Chorus: \u00ab[\u2026] O secret chamber of the Curetes, \/ O holy haunts of Crete\/ where Zeus was born! \/ There in the cave the thrice-helmed \/ Corybantes invented for me \/ this drum of tightened hide; \/ and in their intense ecstatic dance \/ they mingled it with the sweet-hallooing breath \/ of Phrygian pipes and put it into the hands of MotherRhea, \/ to mark the measure for the bacchants\u2019 ecstatic dance. \/ And the maddened satyrs obtained it \/ from the Goddess Mother \/ and added it to the dances \/ of the second-year festivals \/ in which Dionysus delights. [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pseudo Apollodorus, The Library<\/em> 3, 34 (transl. J. G. Frazer<\/strong>):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abBut\u00a0Lycurgus<\/span>, son of Dryas, was king of the Edonians [\u2026] and he was the first who insulted and expelled him (sc<\/em>. Dionysus). Dionysus took refuge in the sea with Thetis, daughter of Nereus, and the Bacchanals were taken prisoners together with the multitude of Satyrs that attended him. But afterwards the Bacchanals were suddenly released, and Dionysus drove\u00a0Lycurgus<\/span> mad\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Aristophanes, Lysistrata<\/em>\u00a0387-389 (transl. J. Henderson):<\/a><\/h5>\n

Magistrate: \u00abSo the women\u2019s profligacy has flared up again, has it, the tomtoms, the steady chants of \u201cSabazios\u201d, this worship of Adonis on the rooftops?\u00a0[\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Aristophanes, Birds<\/em> 873-874 (transl. J. Henderson):<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

Priest: \u00ab[\u2026] and Pigeon Sabazius, and the Great Ostrich Mother of gods and men [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pausanias,\u00a0Description of Greece<\/em> 1, 23, 5-6 (transl. W. H. S. Jones):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abThere is also [on the Acropolis of Athens] a smallish stone, just large enough to serve as a seat to a little man. On it legend says Silenus rested when Dionysus came to the land. The oldest of the Satyrs they call Sileni. [\u2026]\u00a0I have inquired from many about this very point [i.e. who the Satyrs are]. Euphemus<\/span>\u00a0the Carian said that on a voyage to Italy he was driven out of his course by winds and was carried into the outer sea, beyond the course of seamen. He affirmed that there were many uninhabited islands, while in others lived wild men. [\u2026] The islands were called Satyrides by the sailors, and the inhabitants were red haired, and had upon their flanks tails not much smaller than those of horses\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Hesiod fr. 123 M.-W. = Strab. 10, 3, 19 (transl. G. Most):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abfrom whom mountain nymphs, goddesses, were born
\n<\/span>\u00a0and the race of worthless and frivolous Satyrs
\n<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and Curetes, gods, game-lovers, dancers<\/span>\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite<\/em>\u00a0259-263 (transl. M. L. West):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abThe mountain-couching nymphs [\u2026] belong with neither mortals nor gods. They have long lives, and eat divine food, and step the fair dance with the immortals; Sileni and the keen-sighted Argus-slayer unite in love with them in the recesses of lovely caves\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Euripides, Cyclops<\/em> 99-101 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

Odysseus: \u00abWhy, what is this? We seem to have marched into Dionysus\u2019 town. For here\u2019s a throng of satyrs near the cave. My first words to the eldest: Greeting!\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Plato, Symposium <\/i>215a-b (transl. W. R. M. Lamb):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abFor I say he is likest to the Silenus-figures that sit in the statuaries\u2019 shops; those, I mean, which our craftsmen make with syringes<\/em> or auloi<\/em> in their hands: when their two halves are pulled open, they are found to contain images of gods. And I further suggest that he resembles the satyr Marsyas. Now, as to your likeness, Socrates, to these in figure, I do not suppose even you yourself will dispute it; but I have next to tell you that you are like them in every other respect. You are a fleering fellow, eh? [\u2026] Are you not a piper? Why, yes, and a far more marvellous one than the satyr\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters<\/em>\u00a0<\/i>4, 175e (transl. S. D. Olson):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abNeanthes of Cyzicus reports in Book I of his\u00a0Annals<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(FGrH<\/span><\/em> 84 F 5) that [\u2026] the\u00a0barbiton<\/span><\/em>\u00a0was invented by Anacreon\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Euripides, Bacchae <\/i>55-58 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

Dionysus: \u00abSo, my holy band, you women who have left Mount Tmolus, Lydia\u2019s bulwark, and whom I have brought from the outlands as my companions in rest and march, take up the drums that are native to Phrygia, drums invented by Mother Rhea and by me\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Euripides, Bacchae <\/i>120-134 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

Chorus: \u00abO secret chamber of the Curetes, \/ O holy haunts of Crete \/ where Zeus was born! \/ There in the cave the thrice-helmed \/ Corybantes invented for me \/ this drum of tightened hide; \/ and in their intense ecstatic dance \/ they mingled it with the sweet-hallooing breath \/ <\/span>of Phrygian pipes and put it into the hands of Mother Rhea, \/ <\/span>to mark the measure for the bacchants\u2019 ecstatic dance. \/ <\/span>And the maddened satyrs obtained it \/ <\/span>from the Goddess Mother \/ <\/span>and added it to the dances \/ <\/span>of the second-year festivals \/ <\/span>in which Dionysus delights<\/span>\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Euripides, Helen<\/em> 1301-1314 (transl. D. Kovacs):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abOnce upon a time the mountain-dwelling \/ <\/span>Mother of the Gods rushed on swift feet \/ <\/span>along the wooded glens \/ <\/span>and the gushing streams of water \/ <\/span>and the deep-thundering breakers of the sea \/ <\/span>in longing for her vanished \/ <\/span>daughter whose name is never spoken. \/ The roaring krotala,<\/em> their sharp note uttering, \/ cried aloud \/ when she yoked her chariot \/ with its team of wild beasts \/ and <darted off to find> her daughter \/ snatched away from the circling \/ dances of maidens<\/span>\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Euripides, Cyclops<\/em> 203-205 (transl. D. Kovacs): <\/a><\/h5>\n

Cyclops: \u00abGive way, make way! What is going on here? What means this slackness? Why this Bacchic holiday? Here is no Dionysus, no bronze castanets (krotala<\/em>), no rattle of drums (tympana<\/em>)\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Pollux, Onomastikon<\/em> 4, 84:<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abThe auletic Pythikos nomos <\/em>has five parts: it consists of peira, katakeleusmos, iambikon, spondeion, katachoreusis. <\/em>The nomos<\/em> is a representation of the battle of Apollo against the serpent. In the peira <\/em>he surveys the ground to see if it is suitable for the contest. In the katakeleusmos <\/em>he calls up the serpent, and in the iambikon <\/em>he fights: the iambikon<\/em> also includes sounds like those of the salpinx <\/em>and gnashing like those of the serpent as it grinds its teeth after being pierced with arrows. The spondeion <\/em>represents the victory of the god; and in the katachoreusis <\/em>the god performs a dance of victory\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Strabo, Geography<\/em> 9, 3, 10 (transl. H. L. Jones):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abAnd to the citharoedes they added both aulos-players<\/em> and citharists who played without singing, who were to render a certain melody which is called the Pythian Nome. There are five parts of it: angkrousis, ampeira, katakeleusmos, iamb<\/em>i<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0dactyli<\/span><\/em>, and\u00a0syringes<\/span><\/em>. Now the melody was composed by Timosthenes, the admiral of the second Ptolemy, who also compiled\u00a0The Harbours<\/span><\/em>, a work in ten books; and through this melody he means to celebrate the contest between Apollo and the dragon, setting forth the prelude as anakrousis<\/span><\/em>, the first onset of the contest as\u00a0ampeira<\/span><\/em>, the contest itself as\u00a0katakeleusmos<\/span><\/em>, the triumph following the victory as\u00a0iambus<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0dactylus<\/span><\/em>, the rhythms being in two measures, one of which, the dactyl, is appropriate to hymns of praise, whereas the other, the iamb, is suited to reproaches, and the expiration of the dragon as syringes<\/span><\/em>, since with\u00a0syringes<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>players imitated the dragon as breathing its last in hissings\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Plato, Republic<\/em> 3, 399c-d (transl. A. Barker): <\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abIn that case, I said, we shall have no need of a multiplicity of strings or an assemblage of all the harmoniai<\/em> in our song and melodies\u00bb.
\n\u00abI think not\u00bb, he said.
\n\u00abThen we shall not bring up craftsman to make trigo\u0304noi<\/em> or pe\u0304ktides<\/em> or any of the instruments that\u00a0<\/strong>have many strings and all harmoniai<\/em>\u00bb.
\n\u00abApparently not\u00bb.
\n\u00abWell, will you admit makers or players of the aulos into the city? Or isn\u2019t it the most numerous-noted of all, and aren\u2019t the \u2018panharmonic\u2019 instruments themselves simply an imitation of the aulos<\/em>?\u00bb.
\n\u00abObviously\u00bb, he said.
\n\u00abThe you are left with the lyra<\/em>, I said, and the kithara<\/em>, as things useful in the city; and in the countryside the herdsman might have some sort of syrinx<\/em>\u00bb.
\n\u00abYes, that is what the argument suggests\u00bb, he said.
\n\u00abAfter all, I said, it\u2019s nothing new that we are doing, in judging Apollo and his instruments to be superior to Marsyas and his\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Pausanias,\u00a0Description of Greece<\/em> 4, 27, 7 (transl. H. A. Ormerod): <\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] on the following days they [Thebans, Argives and Messenians] raised the circuit of the walls, and within built houses and the temples. They worked to the sound of music, but only from Boeotian and Argive auloi<\/em>, and the tunes of Sacadas and Pronomus were brought into keen competition. The city itself was given the name Messene, but they founded other towns\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Pausanias, Description of Greece<\/em> 9, 12, 5 (transl. W. H. S. Jones):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abThere is a statue of Pronomus, a very great favourite with the people for his playing on the aulos<\/em>. For a time pipe-players had three forms of the aulos<\/em>. On one they played Dorian music; for Phrygian melodies pipes of a different pattern were made; what is called the Lydian mode was played on pipes of a third kind. It was Pronomus who first devised an aulos<\/em> equally suited for every kind of melody, and was the first to play on the same instrument music so vastly different in form\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters<\/em> 4, 184 (transl. S. D. Olson):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abDuris says in his\u00a0On Euripides and Sophocles<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(FGrH<\/span><\/em>\u00a076 F 29) that Alcibiades did not learn to play the pipes from just anyone but from\u00a0Pronomus<\/span>, who had the finest reputation in this area\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters<\/em> 14, 631e (transl. S. D. Olson):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abEfforts were made in ancient times to keep music beautiful, and all its technical elements served to maintain its proper organization; this is why every scale had a specific set of pipes, and every pipe-player owned pipes suited to each scale used in the competitions.\u00a0Pronomus<\/span> of Thebes was the first person to play all the scales using a single set of pipes\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1864,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5203","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nDionysus and the satyr Marsyas - Secoli di Mezzo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/dioniso-e-il-satiro-marsia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dionysus and the satyr Marsyas - 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