{"id":5807,"date":"2025-07-10T15:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T13:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/the-images-of-music\/the-competition-between-apollo-and-marsyas\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T12:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T11:37:01","slug":"the-competition-between-apollo-and-marsyas","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/","title":{"rendered":"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The competition between Apollo and Marsyas:
\nMythical agonism as a symbol of professionalism<\/p><\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Marsyas (\u039c\u03b1\u03c1\u03c3\u03cd\u03b1\u03c2) is the son of Eagro or, according to another version of the myth, of Olympus, all three Phrygian figures connected with the aulos. In Greece, the invention of this instrument was attributed to the goddess Athena who, however, according to the myth, got rid of it as soon as she realised that playing it altered her face; it was then that the satyr Marsyas took it (tab 1<\/a><\/strong>).
\nAn equally famous myth describes the challenge that Marsyas issued to Apollo, convinced that his own playing of the wind instrument was superior to any other kind of music. During the last quarter of the 5th and the first half of the 4th century BC, the contest between Apollo and Marsyas appears on numerous Attic red-figure vases: Marsyas is sometimes listening to Apollo playing the kithara<\/em><\/a><\/strong> (tab 2<\/a><\/strong>), sometimes playing the aulos<\/em><\/a><\/strong> or more often the lyra<\/em><\/a><\/strong>;\u00a0he is rarely depicted playing the kithara<\/em>\u00a0(tab 3<\/strong><\/a>).
\nThe latter may be a variant of the myth inspired by a literary work; or it could be the result of a change in the cultural significance of string and wind instruments, as the kithara<\/em> had become a professional instrument in its own right, capable of virtuosity equal to that of the aulos<\/em>. Marsyas, defeated by the god of music who may have used stratagems (tab 4<\/strong><\/a>), suffered the punishment of being flayed alive (tab 5<\/strong><\/a>).
\nRepresentations of Marsyas are frequent in Magna Graecia and Rome, where a statue of the satyr was placed in the Forum (Horace, Satires<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>and Trajan’s Plutei). Representations in Italic lands focus mainly on punishment, but some Roman sarcophagi, dated to the 2nd century AD, combine several mythical episodes: Athena refusing the aulos (taken from Marsyas), the musical contest with Apollo and its epilogue.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 1:<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Athena and Marsyas<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Myth (e.g. Hyginus<\/strong><\/a>) relates that Athena threw away the aulos<\/em> immediately after creating it because, looking in the mirror, she saw her face deformed due to her swollen cheeks (aulos<\/em> players used the technique of circular breathing, using the mouth as an inner tube); again according to myth\u00a0(e.g. Ovid<\/a>, Plutarch<\/a><\/strong>), it was at that point that Marsyas, attracted by the sound of the instrument, took it.
\nThe information provided by literary and iconographic sources – in particular an Attic chous from the 5th century BC and some Roman coins – made it possible, as early as the 19th century, to propose the reconstruction of a group depicting the discovery of the aulos by the Satyr, combining the statues of Marsyas and Athena from the Vatican Museums.
\n<\/em>Recently, however, the existence of two sculptural groups has been suggested: the one mentioned by Pliny <\/strong><\/a> among the works attributed to the sculptor Myron, to be recognised in the Vatican Group, and the one seen by Pausanias<\/a><\/strong> on the Acropolis in Athens. The Marsyas belonging to the latter has in fact been recognised in a bronze statue found in Patras and in the Satyr, depicted trying to escape the grasp of the irate goddess, on a crater in the Louvre. It would therefore be a later event than the one recounted by the Vatican Group.
\nThe episode of Athena looking in the mirror with her face deformed is found, on the other hand, on two vases of Apulian production datable to the beginning of the 4th century BC.<\/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 competition between Apollo and Marsyas:
\nApollo as kithara<\/em>-player<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The iconographic narrative of the musical dispute is very complex, not so much because of the number of images (which are not numerous) as because of the variety of episodes, which are depicted differently depending on the periods and places, as well as the media on which they are represented. For this reason, it has been advanced the hypothesis that at the basis of the depictions was a literary text, rather than a work (e.g. of great painting) that could have suggested the myth and its declination in art and craft in a more uniform manner.
\nOn the other hand, literary sources also recount the dispute in different ways: now the judges are the inhabitants of Nisa (cf. for instance Diodorus Siculus<\/strong><\/a>), now the Muses themselves, perhaps accompanied by Athena (e.g. in Apuleius<\/strong><\/a>).
\nIn Greece there are not many images of the challenge where Apollo plays the kithara<\/em> or lyra<\/em>, while they are more frequent on Lucanian, Apulian and Pestan ceramics from the 4th century BC, and in Etruscan, Faliscan and Roman artistic productions.<\/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><\/div>
<\/i><\/div>
<\/i><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Tab 3<\/a>:<\/strong>
\nThe competition between Apollo and Marsyas:
\nMarsyas as pipe-player, lyre-player or citharoedus<\/em><\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

In Greek art, the iconography of the challenge between Apollo and Marsyas is focused on the performance of the satyr. The theme, rather frequent in the late 5th and first half of the 4th century BC, proposes Marsyas playing the aulos (in addition to the texts presented in the previous sections, a few passages from Diodorus Siculus<\/strong><\/a> and the De musica<\/em> attributed to Plutarch<\/strong> <\/a>may also offer some insight into the ways in which Marsyas played the aulos<\/em> and possible links – familial or discipleship – between mythical aulos<\/em> players), although he may sometimes have the lyra<\/em> or even the kithara<\/em> instead.
\nAttempts have been made to explain the curious attribution of the lyra to Marsyas in various ways, but without reaching a definitive conclusion. In fact, it has been hypothesised that it is either the story of a moment after the dispute, in which Marsyas would play the stringed instrument to demonstrate his musical prowess, or that the iconography refers rather to a different version of the myth in which the satyr, defeated by Apollo, would convert to stringed instruments.
\nOn an Attic crater exported to Ruvo di Puglia, Marsyas is presented in the two versions of aulos<\/em> player (on the neck of the vase) and citharoedus (on the belly of the vase).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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

Tab 4:<\/strong><\/a>
\nApollo’s victory
\nApollo’s stratagems: the song and the inverted kithara<\/em><\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The contest often does not consist of only two moments of performance, one for each contender: Apollo, who at first appears to be in difficulty, proposes a further moment of challenge, in which he either adds singing to the music (as in Diodorus Siculus<\/strong><\/a>‘ long account), or reverses his instrument (e.g., in addition to Diodorus, Pseudo Apollodorus <\/strong><\/a>and Hyginus<\/strong><\/a>); with these modes of performance, which are not possible with the aulos, the god wins the contest.
\nThe images that refer to the expedients Apollo would have used to win over Marsyas, described by literary sources and various mythographers (the aforementioned Diodorus Siculus<\/a><\/strong>, Hyginus, Pseudo Apollodorus), are only two and date back to the Roman period: a funerary relief from Bierbach (Germany) and a Roman sarcophagus preserved at the Centrale Montemartini, on which Apollo is depicted holding an inverted zither.
\nApollo’s victory is represented visually through the presence of a Nike\/Victory crowning the victorious god or holding a palm branch, or through the submission of the satyr, as is clearly evident on the Berlin plectrum.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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

Tab 5:<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe punishment of Marsyas<\/p><\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Marsyas, defeated by Apollo, suffered the punishment of being flayed alive: in literary (Herodotus<\/a>, Xenophon<\/a>, Diodorus Siculus<\/a>, Ovid,<\/a> Pausanias<\/a>, Apuleius<\/a><\/strong>) and mythographical (Hyginus<\/strong><\/a>) sources, different versions of the conclusion of the challenge and the fate of Marsyas’ remains have been handed down. In Greek productions, no scenes of the actual punishment are known; however, the Scythian is sometimes depicted with the knife intended for flaying, as seen on the Mantinea Base.
\nDepictions of Marsyas are frequent in Magna Graecia and Rome, where the iconography seems to focus on the moment of punishment.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Attic<\/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 BC, 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>
aulos<\/em><\/a><\/h5>\n

The\u00a0aulos<\/em> is a double-reeded aerophone, often played by blowing two tubes at the same time.<\/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>

<\/div><\/div>
Horace, Satires<\/em> 1, 6, 119-121 (transl. H. Rushton Fairclough):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abThen I go off to sleep, untroubled with the thought that I must rise early on the morrow and pass before Marsyas, who says he cannot stand the face of Novius Junior\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Hyginus, Fabulae <\/i>165 (transl. M. Grant):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abMinerva is said to have been the first to make pipes from deer bones and to have come to the banquet of the gods to play. Juno and Venus made fun of her because she was grey-eyed and puffed out her cheeks, so when mocked in her playing and called ugly she came to the forest of Ida to a spring, as she played she viewed herself in the water, and saw that she was rightly mocked. Because of this she threw away the pipes and vowed that whoever picked them up would be punished severely\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Ovid, Fasti<\/i> 6, 697-710 (transl. J. G. Frazer):<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

[Minerva] \u00abI was the first, by piercing boxwood with holes wide apart, to produce the music of the long tibia. The sound was pleasing; but in the water that reflected my face I saw my virgin cheeks puffed up. \u2018I value not the art so high; farewell, my tibia!\u2019 said I, and threw it away; it fell on the turf of the river-bank. A satyr found it and at first beheld it with wonder; he knew not its use, but perceived that, when he blew into it, the flute gave forth a note, and with the help of his fingers he alternately let out and kept in his breath. And now he bragged of his skill among the nymphs and challenged Phoebus; but, vanquished by Phoebus, he was hanged and his body flayed of its skin. Yet am I the inventress and foundress of this music; that is why the profession keeps my days holy\u201d\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Plutarch, On the Control of Anger<\/em> 456b-c (transl. W. C. Helmbold):<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abIn fact, those who delight in pleasant fables tell us that when Athena\u00a0played on the pipes, she was rebuked by the satyr and would give no heed:
\nThat look becomes you not; lay by your pipes
\n<\/em>And take your arms and put your cheeks to rights;
\n<\/em>but when she saw her face in a river, she was vexed and threw her pipes away. Yet art makes melody some consolation for unsightliness. And Marsyas, it seems, by a mouthpiece and cheek-bands repressed the violence of his breath and tricked up and concealed the distortion of his face:
\nHe fitted the fringe of his temples with gleaming gold
\n<\/em>And his greedy mouth he fitted with thongs bound behind<\/em>\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pliny the Elder, Natural History <\/i>34, 57 (transl. H. Rackham):<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abMyron, who was born at Eleutherae, was himself also a pupil of Hagelades; he was specially famous for his statue of a heifer, celebrated in some well-known sets of verses\u2014inasmuch as most men owe their reputation more to someone else\u2019s talent than to their own. His other works include [\u2026] The Satyr Marvelling at the Tibiae and Athena, Competitors in the Five Bouts at Delphi, the All-round Fighters, [\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pausanias,\u00a0Description of Greece<\/em> 1, 24, 1 (transl. W. H. S. Jones):<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abIn this place [= on the Acropolis of Athens] is a statue of Athena striking Marsyas the Silenus for taking up the pipes that the goddess wished to be cast away for good\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History<\/em> 3, 59, 2-5 (transl. C. H. Oldfather<\/strong>):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abWhen they [Marsyas and Cybele] came to Dionysus in the city of Nysa they found there Apollo, who was being accorded high favour because of the kithara<\/em>, which, they say, Hermes invented, though Apollo was the first to play it fittingly; and when Marsyas strove with Apollo in a contest of skill and the Nysaeans had been appointed judges, the first time Apollo played upon the kithara<\/em> without accompanying it with his voice, while Marsyas, striking up upon his pipes, amazed the ears of his hearers by their strange music and in their opinion far excelled, by reason of his melody, the first contestant. But since they had agreed to take turn about in displaying their skill to the judges, Apollo, they say, added, this second time, his voice in harmony with the music of the kithara<\/em>, whereby he gained greater approval than that which had formerly been accorded to the pipes. Marsyas, however, was enraged and tried to prove to the hearers that he was losing the contest in defiance of every principle of justice; for, he argued, it should be a comparison of skill and not of voice [\u2026]\u00a0and furthermore, it was unjust that two skills should be compared in combination against but one. Apollo, however, as the myth relates, replied that [\u2026] when Marsyas blew into his pipes he was doing almost the same thing as himself; consequently the rule should be made either that they should both be accorded this equal privilege of combining their skills, or that neither of them should use his mouth in the contest but should display his special skill by the use only of his hands. When the hearers decided that Apollo presented the more just argument, their skills were again compared; Marsyas was defeated, and Apollo, who had become somewhat embittered by the quarrel, flayed the defeated man alive\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Apuleius, Florida<\/em> 3 (transl. Ch. P. Jones):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[…] They say (dreadful thought) that he [Marsyas] competed with Apollo […] The Muses and Minerva presided as judges, so they pretended, but really to mock that monster\u2019s uncouthness and at the same time to punish his stupidity\u00a0[…]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History<\/em> 3, 58, 3 (transl. C. H. Oldfather): <\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] The man who associated with her [sc. Cybele] and loved her more than anyone else, they say, was Marsyas the Phrygian, who was admired for his intelligence and chastity; and a proof of his intelligence they find in the fact that he imitated the sounds made by the pipe of many reeds and carried all its notes over into the auloi<\/em>, and as an indication of his chastity they cite his abstinence from sexual pleasures until the day of his death\u00a0[\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pseudo Plutarch, On Music <\/i>5 and 7 (transl. A. Barker):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abHyagnis was the first to play the aulos<\/em>, followed by his son Marsyas and then by Olympus\u00a0 [\u2026]. This Olympus is also said to have been a descendant of the first Olympus, the pupil of Marsyas, and learnt from him the art of playing the aulos <\/em>[\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History<\/em> 3, 59, 2-5 (transl. C. H. Oldfather<\/strong>):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abWhen they [Marsyas and Cybele] came to Dionysus in the city of Nysa they found there Apollo, who was being accorded high favour because of the kithara<\/em>, which, they say, Hermes invented, though Apollo was the first to play it fittingly; and when Marsyas strove with Apollo in a contest of skill and the Nysaeans had been appointed judges, the first time Apollo played upon the kithara<\/em> without accompanying it with his voice, while Marsyas, striking up upon his pipes, amazed the ears of his hearers by their strange music and in their opinion far excelled, by reason of his melody, the first contestant. But since they had agreed to take turn about in displaying their skill to the judges, Apollo, they say, added, this second time, his voice in harmony with the music of the kithara<\/em>, whereby he gained greater approval than that which had formerly been accorded to the pipes. Marsyas, however, was enraged and tried to prove to the hearers that he was losing the contest in defiance of every principle of justice; for, he argued, it should be a comparison of skill and not of voice [\u2026]\u00a0and furthermore, it was unjust that two skills should be compared in combination against but one. Apollo, however, as the myth relates, replied that [\u2026] when Marsyas blew into his pipes he was doing almost the same thing as himself; consequently the rule should be made either that they should both be accorded this equal privilege of combining their skills, or that neither of them should use his mouth in the contest but should display his special skill by the use only of his hands. When the hearers decided that Apollo presented the more just argument, their skills were again compared; Marsyas was defeated, and Apollo, who had become somewhat embittered by the quarrel, flayed the defeated man alive\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pseudo Apollodorus, The Library<\/em> 1, 24 (transl. J. G. Frazer):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abApollo also slew Marsyas, the son of\u00a0Olympus<\/span>. For Marsyas, having found the pipes which Athena had thrown away because they disfigured her face, engaged in a musical contest with Apollo. They agreed that the victor should work his will on the vanquished, and when the trial took place Apollo turned his kithara <\/i>upside down in the competition and bade Marsyas do the same. But Marsyas could not, So Apollo was judged the victor and despatched Marsyas by hanging him on a tall pine tree and stripping off his skin\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Hyginus, Fabulae <\/i>165 (transl. M. Grant):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[…] Marsyas, a shepherd, son of Oiagrus, one of the satyrs, found them, and by practicing assiduously kept making sweeter sounds day by day, so that he challenged Apollo to play the lure in a contest with him. When Apollo came there, they took the Muses as judges. Marsyas was departing as victor, when Apollo turned his lyre upside down, and played the same tune \u2014 a thing which Marsyas couldn’t do with the pipes\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History<\/em>\u00a0<\/i>3, 59, 3-5 (transl. C. H. Oldfather):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] But since they had agreed to take turn about\u00a0in<\/span>\u00a0displaying\u00a0their<\/span> skill to the judges, Apollo, they say, added, this second time, his voice in harmony with the music of the kithara<\/em>, whereby he gained greater approval than that which had formerly been accorded to the pipes. Marsyas, however, was enraged and tried to prove to the hearers that he was losing the contest in defiance of every principle of justice; for, he argued, it should be a comparison of skill and not of voice, and only by such a test was it possible to judge between the harmony and music of the lyre and of the pipes; and furthermore, it was unjust that two skills should be compared in combination against but one. Apollo, however, as the myth relates, replied that [\u2026] when Marsyas blew into his pipes he was doing almost the same thing as himself; consequently the rule should be made either that they should both be accorded this equal privilege of combining their skills, or that neither of them should use his mouth in the contest but should display his special skill by the use only of his hands\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Herodotus, The Persian Wars <\/em>7, 26 (transl. A. D. Godley):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abBut when they [the Persians] had crossed the river Halys and entered into Phrygia, they marched through that country to Celaenae, where is the source of the river Maeander and another as great as the Maeander, which is called Cataractes; it rises in the very market-place of Celaenae and issues into the Maeander. There also hangs the skin of Marsyas the Silenus, of which the Phrygian story tells that it was flayed off him and hung up by Apollo\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Xenophon, Anabasis<\/em> 1, 2, 8 (transl. C. L. Brownson, rev. J. Dillery):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abThere is likewise a palace of the Great King in Celaenae, strongly fortified and situated at the foot of the Acropolis over the sources of the Marsyas river; the Marsyas also flows through the city, and empties into the Maeander, and its width is twenty-five feet. It was here, according to the story, that Apollo flayed Marsyas, after having defeated him in a contest of musical skill; he hung up his skin in the cave from which the sources issue, and it is for this reason that the river is called Marsyas\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History<\/em> 3, 59, 5 (transl. C. H. Oldfather): <\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] When the hearers decided that Apollo presented the more just argument, their skills were again compared; Marsyas was defeated, and Apollo, who had become somewhat embittered by the quarrel, flayed the defeated man alive\u00a0[\u2026]\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Ovid, Metamorphoses<\/em> 6, 385-400 (transl. F. J. Miller): <\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] another recalled the satyr whom the son of Latona had conquered in a contest on Pallas\u2019 reed, and punished. \u201cWhy do you tear me from myself?\u201d he cried. \u201cOh, I repent! Oh, a tibia is not worth such price!\u201d As he screams, his skin is stripped off the surface of his body, and he is all one wound: blood flows down on every side, the sinews lie bare, his veins throb and quiver with no skin to cover them: you could count the entrails as they palpitate, and the vitals showing clearly in his breast. The country people, the sylvan deities, fauns and his brother satyrs, and Olympus, whom even then he still loved, the nymphs, all wept for him, and every shepherd who fed his woolly sheep or horned kine on those mountains. The fruitful earth was soaked, and soaking caught those tears and drank them deep into her veins. Changing these then to water, she sent them forth into the free air. Thence the stream within its sloping banks ran down quickly to the sea, and had the name of Marsyas, the clearest river in all Phrygia\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Pausanias,\u00a0Description of Greece<\/em> 10, 30, 9 (transl. W. H. S. Jones)<\/a> [Description of the Ilioupersis<\/em> of Polygnotus in the Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi]:<\/h5>\n

\u00abAbove him is Marsyas, sitting on a rock, and by his side is Olympus, with the appearance of a boy in the bloom of youth learning to play the aulos. The Phrygians in Celaenae hold that the river passing through the city was once this great aulos-<\/em>player, and they also hold that the Song of the Mother, an air for the aulos<\/em>, was composed by Marsyas. They say too that they repelled the army of the Gauls by the aid of Marsyas, who defended them against the barbarians by the water from the river and by the music of his auloi<\/em>\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Apuleius, Florida<\/em> 3 (transl. Ch. P. Jones):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00ab[\u2026] and when that piper had lost the contest, they [the Muses] left him looking like a two-footed bear, with his hide peeled away and his innards exposed and mangled. Thus Marsyas both sang and sank to his own perdition, while so cheap a victory made Apollo blush\u00bb.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div>
Hyginus, Fabulae <\/i>165 (transl. M. Grant):<\/a><\/h5>\n

\u00abAnd so Apollo defeated Marsyas, bound him to a tree, and turned him over to a Scythian who stripped his skin off him limb by limb. He gave the rest of his body for burial to his pupil Olympus. From his blood the river Marsyas took its name\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-5807","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe competition between Apollo and 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\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas - Secoli di Mezzo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Secoli di Mezzo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-04T11:37:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"36 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/\",\"name\":\"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas - Secoli di Mezzo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-10T13:17:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-04T11:37:01+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The images of music\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/the-images-of-music\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Secoli di Mezzo\",\"description\":\"La poesia e la musica greca del IV secolo a.c.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas - Secoli di Mezzo","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas - Secoli di Mezzo","og_url":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/","og_site_name":"Secoli di Mezzo","article_modified_time":"2026-01-04T11:37:01+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"36 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/","name":"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas - Secoli di Mezzo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-10T13:17:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-04T11:37:01+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/le-immagini-dell-musica\/la-sfida-tra-apollo-e-marsia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The images of music","item":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/the-images-of-music\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The competition between Apollo and Marsyas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/","name":"Secoli di Mezzo","description":"La poesia e la musica greca del IV secolo a.c.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5807"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6409,"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5807\/revisions\/6409"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secolidimezzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}