In Greek mythology, a satyr (UK: , US: ; Greek: ??????? satyros, pronounced [sátyros]) is the member of a troop of ithyphallic male companions of Dionysus; they usually have horse-like ears and tails, as well as permanent, exaggerated erections. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but, in 6th-century BC black-figure pottery, human legs are the most common. The faun is a similar woodland-dwelling creature from Roman mythology, which had the body of a man, but the legs, horns, and tail of a goat. In myths, both are often associated with pipe-playing. Greek-speaking Romans often used the Greek term saturos when referring to the Latin faunus, and eventually syncretized the two. (The female "Satyresses" were a later invention of poets.) They are also known for their focus on sexual desires. They were characterized by the desire to have sexual intercourse with as many women as possible, known as satyriasis.
The satyr's 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's 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.
Satyrs are the companions of Dionysus, the god of wine, and they spent their time drinking, dancing, and chasing nymphs. The Italian version of the satyr is the faun, while the Slavic version is the "Ljeschi."
Mature satyrs are often depicted in Roman art with goat's horns, while juveniles are often shown with bony nubs on their foreheads. In Greek Mythology Satyrs are known for being a class of lustful, drunken woodland gods.
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 chase maenads or bacchants (with whom they are obsessed, and whom they often pursue), or in later art, dance with the nymphs, 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.
Video Satyr
Physical Description
In Greek mythology, satyrs are deities of the woods and mountains. They are half-human and half-beast; they usually have a goat's tail, flanks and hooves. But Satyrs can come in other hybrid human/animal forms, as well. According to William Hansen, "Satyrs are two-legged beings having the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a man." Satyrs emit of hoarse sound, a mix of the neighing of a horse and the bleating of a goat.
Maps Satyr
In Greek mythology and art
In Greek art the satyrs were represented as a man with horse's ears and tail. However in Roman representations they are portrayed as having the upper body of a man with a goat's ears, tail, legs and horns.
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.
In earlier Greek art, Silenus appears as old and ugly, but in later art, especially in Hellenistic art, he 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 humanized Satyr is depicted in a work of Praxiteles known as the "Resting Satyr".
Praxiteles gives a new direction to the satyr in art. Instead of an elf with pointed ears and goat hooves, we see a child of nature, pure, tame and fearless, but with the brutal instincts necessary to enable it to defend itself against threats, and surviving even without the help of modern civilization. Above all, the Satyr with flute 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 melody of a human soul that feeds higher feelings.
(Post-classical 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 not mentioned by Homer, in a fragment of Hesiod's works satyrs 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 dealing with 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 traveler 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 inconsistency.
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
Fauns 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 of 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 the subversive nature of the satyrs themselves, as the Latin word has a completely unconnected etymology, meaning in effect a mixture or miscellany.
In Renaissance art: "Satyrs and fauns (between whom no clear distinction was usually made) were a sort of servant class, and could take on varying mixtures of human or goatish qualities as required".
Other references
In many versions of the Bible, two verses from Isaiah (13:21 and 34:14) use the English word "satyr" as a translation for the Hebrew word "sa'iyr". These two verses are the only time Satyrs are mentioned in the Bible. The biblical satyrs are depicted as "hairy demons or monsters of semitic superstition, supposed to inhabit deserts" (Knowles). Isaiah 13:21 references these creatures by writing "wild beasts of the desert shall lie there....and satyrs shall dance there." Isaiah 34:14 reads, "The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest."
Edmund Spenser refers to a group of woodland creatures as Satyrs in his epic poem The Faerie Queene. In Canto VI, Una is wandering through the forest when she stumbles upon a "troupe of Fauns and Satyrs far away Within the wood were dancing in a round." Although Satyrs are often negatively characterized in Greek and Roman mythology, the Satyrs in this poem are docile, helpful creatures. This is evident by the way they help protect Una from Sansloy. Sylvanus, the leader, and the rest of the Satyrs become enamored by Una's beauty and begin to worship her as if she is a deity. However, the Satyrs prove to be simple minded creatures because they begin to worship the donkey she was riding. This was meant to be a commentary on more primitive Christians or pagans because they are quick to exult beings they believe to be great.
Other modern translations of this word from these two verses are goat demons and field-devils. "Sa'iyr" comes from the root word "sa'ar" which means to shiver, or be horribly afraid.
In Leviticus 17:7 there is an allusion to the practice of sacrificing to the se'irim (KJV "devils"; ASV "he-goats"). These may correspond to the "shaggy demon of the mountain-pass" (azabb al-'akaba) of old Arab legend. It may otherwise refer to literal goats, and the worship of such.
The savant Sir William Jones often refers to the Indian mythological V?naras as satyrs/mountaineers in his translations of Sanskrit works. This view is generally held to be a mistake by present day researchers.
Baby satyr
Baby satyrs, or child satyrs, are mythological creatures related to the satyr. They appear in popular folklore, classical artworks, film, and in various forms of local art.
Some renaissance works depict young satyrs being tended to by older, sober satyrs, while there are also some representations of child satyrs taking part in Bacchanalian / Dionysian rituals (including drinking alcohol, playing musical instruments, and dancing).
The presence of a baby or child satyr in a classical work, such as on a Greek vase, was mainly an aesthetic choice on the part of the artist. However, the role of a child in Greek art might imply a further meaning for baby satyrs: Eros, the son of Aphrodite, is consistently represented as a child or baby, and Bacchus, the divine sponsor of satyrs, is seen in numerous works as a baby, often in the company of the satyrs. A prominent instance of a baby satyr outside ancient Greece is Albrecht Dürer's 1505 engraving, "Musical Satyr and Nymph with Baby (Satyr's Family)". There is also a Victorian period napkin ring depicting a baby satyr next to a barrel, which further represents the perception of baby satyrs as partaking in the Bacchanalian festivities.
There are also many works of art of the rococo period depicting child or baby satyrs in Bacchanalian celebrations. Some works depict female satyrs with their children; others describe the child satyrs as playing an active role in the events, including one instance of a painting by Jean Raoux (1677-1735). "Mlle Prévost as a Bacchante" depicts a child satyr playing a tambourine while Mlle Prévost, a dancer at the Opéra, is dancing as part of the Bacchanal festivities.
Varieties
- Island Satyrs, which according to Pausanias were a savage race of red-haired, satyr-like creatures from an isolated island chain.
- Libyan Satyr, which according to Pliny the Elder lived in Libya and resembled humans with long, pointed ears and horse tails, similar to the Greek nature-spirit satyrs.
Medieval bestiaries also mention several varieties of satyrs, sometimes comparing them to apes or monkeys.
Contemporary representations
Satyrs appear in the popular children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, in which they are referred to as "fauns."
In the film The Talented Mr Ripley, Dickie Greenleaf played by Jude Law was inspired by a Satyr figure.
A satyr appears as a musician for Xerxes in 300.
A small satyr appears in the Gravity Falls episode "The Last Mabelcorn."
Satyrs appear in Fantasia during the "Pastoral Symphony" sequence.
The Young Adult Series Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan features a Satyr by the name of Grover Underwood as one of the series's key protagonists. Contrasting the Greek and Roman depictions of Satyrs, Grover Underwood is a wise character who serves as a best friend and mentor the titular character Percy Jackson. Grover Underwood is present in all five of the pentalogy and is also referenced in the sister series Heroes of Olympus.
The satyr has appeared in all five editions of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, having been introduced in 1976 in the earliest edition, in Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes (1976), then the first edition Monster Manual (1977), where it is described as a sylvan woodland inhabitant primarily interested in sport such as frolicking, piping, and chasing wood nymphs. The life history of satyr was further detailed in Dragon #155 (March 1990), in "The Ecology of the Satyr." The satyr was later detailed as a playable character race in The Complete Book of Humanoids (1993), and is later presented as a playable character race again in Player's Option: Skills & Powers (1995). The satyr appears in the Monster Manual for the 3.0 edition. Savage Species (2003) presented the satyr as both a race and a playable class. The satyr appears in the revised Monster Manual for 3.5. The satyr appears in the Monster Manual for 4th edition, and as a playable character race in the Heroes of the Feywild sourcebook (2011).
Satyrs and orangutans
In the 17th century, the satyr legend came to be associated with stories of the orangutan, a great ape now found only in Sumatra and Borneo. Many early accounts which apparently refer to this animal describe the males as being sexually aggressive towards human women and towards females of its own species. The first scientific name given to this ape was Simia satyrus.
Gallery
See also
- Centaur, half man, half horse (Greek mythology)
- Faun, (Roman mythology)
- Fairy
- Glaistig, (Scottish folklore)
- Jinn
- Leszi, (Slavic mythology)
- List of satyrs in popular culture
- Pan, (Greek mythology)
- Sileni, (Greek mythology)
- The Birth of Tragedy, by Nietzsche
- Thiasos, the Dionysian retinue
- Torgo, a character in Manos: The Hands of Fate
- Urisk, goat-man fairy (Scottish folklore)
- The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, a play
Notes
References
- Harry Thurston Peck Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898: "Faunus", "Pan", and "Silenus".
- Branham, R Bracht and Kinney, Daniel (1997) Introduction to Petronius' Satyrica pp.xiii-xxvi
External links
- Theoi Project: Satyroi
- Satyrs in Cryptozoology
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Satyr
- "Satyrs". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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