#silenos

Silenus, foster father of Dionysus, with two little Satyrisci (child satyrs) 🤏🤲

I like imagining Silenus as a grumpy but caring nurse to all the young satyrs in his tribe, he’s like everyone’s grandpa lol

-Roman frescos from Pompeii Both depict Hermaphroditus, Silenus and a Maenad

-Roman frescos from Pompeii Pan and Hermaphroditus

-Left is a Roman frescos from Pompeii, Right is a 19th century engraving description in wikimedia: Left: Hermaphrodite defending himself against pushy satyr Right: Silenus struggling with Hermaphroditus

-From left to right: Roman frescos from Pompeii; Statues Antiques de l'Europe, Frédéric de Clarac, Vol 4, page 90; Marble statue of Hermaphroditos wrestling with a satyr, Roman copy Some descriptions have this satyr be Silenus

-Statues Antiques de l'Europe, Frédéric de Clarac, Vol 4, page 90

-Satyr and Hermaphroditus, Altes Museum Berlin This is the only one that I like. Hermaphroditus looks happy and the interaction feels playful🥺

-Greek Anthology Book 9 (Anth.Pal.)

Sensitive Content Warning!

Graphic violence, torture and trauma depicted!

I tried a different approach with writing, this short story depicts how one of Silenos horns got broken. ------*------*------*------*------*------*------*------*------

//It hurts, it hurts so much. Stop it-please stop touching me. It hurts so much. Why are you laughing? Please, someone help me. No, don't take pictures-stop it-please stop it! Aniki, where are you, Aniki? Are you getting help? Aniki, please come back, please help me…//

"UGH!!"

//No, no, no, please, no, don't kick me, stop! I will…//

"Uwah that little bastard puked on my shoes! Hey, Boss, will this asshole finally pay, or do we need to go further?"

"Please, I'll get you the money by the end of the week!"

//Aniki? Aniki, you are still here? Please, Aniki, do something; please help me.//

"You had enough time to pay us back. Get the money, or your little buddy has to pay even more for your stupid decisions!"

sketches based on the manga Ad Astra: Scipio to Hannibal

1) Hannibal, Mago and Maharbal

2) 202 BC. Hannibal and Silenos read the terms of the peace treaty. A bottle (or rather, an amphora of undiluted) wine is essential.

3) Hannibal in the style of the manga Eurica

4) hot roman boy Scipio :3

We continue our journey down the gallery put together by the Museum of Wine to explore the depictions of Dionysos and his cohorts through the art... Previous item of the gallery was here. Today... Dionysos' entourage. And we begin with...

The Triumphal Cortege of Dionysos, by Maerten van Heemskerck

A) The Procession of Dionysos

(As usual all text here is loosely translated from the website)

The motif of the Procession of Dionysos, or Cortege of Bacchus, tends to be heavily inspired by Ovid's description of this triumphal parade within his Metamorphoses - but it is the culmination of Dionysos' entire earthly life.

To shield baby Dionysos from Hera's wrath, Zeus took him far away from Greece, into the land of Nisa, where he was entrusted to nymphs that raised him. Once adult, Dionysos discovered the grapevine and how to make wine. But Hera struck him with madness, and he wandered throughout Egypt and Syria, before finally reaching Phrygia where the goddess Cybele welcomed him, healed him, purified him and initiated him to her mystery cult. Now sane, he returned to Thrace where the ruling king, Lycurgus, proved himself hostile to the young man and tried to imprison him. Dionysos escaped Lycurgus by fleeing to the Nereid Thetis who welcomed him under the sea. But Lycurgus captured the Bacchants that were with Dionysos - before the god rescued them and struck Lycurgus with madness, making him cut his own leg and kill his son with an axe as he believed he was cutting Dionysos' plant, the grapevine. When Lycurgus regained his sanity, the land was cursed with sterility and the oracle announced only the king's death would return fertility to the soil: he was torn apart by four horses.

Dionysos then left Thrace to go to India. With a magical and supernatural army, he managed to wage war and conquer the land - and this is where the "triumphal procession" motif comes from, as he paraded in a (typically Roman way, since Ovid was the source of descriptions) chariot in a chariot pulled by panthers, decorated with ivy and vine, and followed by Silenos, satyrs, centaurs and Maenads.

Bacchus' Triumph, by Benvenuto Tisi

Bacchus' Triumph by Nicolaes Moeyaert

Here, Bacchus' chariot is a large barrel of wine pulled by two angry panthers. The cohorts of Dionysos are joyful and merry, drinking a lot of wine - but a few details have to be caught. To the right, there is a satyr vomitting. Behind him, there is a knight all in armor, and a sick old man visibly suffering from the gout. The painter was thus trying to warn the audience about the negative consequences of alcohol abuse: near Bacchus' procession, war and disease lurk.

Bacchus' Triumph by Nicolas Poussin

This painting depicts Dionysos' triumphal return after his victories in India. At the bottom right you can see a river-god: he symbolizes the river Indus, and by extension the entire Indian subcontinent. The Oriental nature of the journey is also shown by how a Maenad riding a horse is wearing a leopard's skin. Silenos has a vine in his hand, and while Bacchus holds a thyrsus, his traditional attribute, all the other symbols are however typical of a Roman general and of the "triumphs" of the military of Ancient Rome - for example the red cloak typical of triumphing Roman generals and Roman emperors.

B) Silenos

Silenos is both the teacher and adoptive father of Dionysos, and as such he follows him everywhere. But Silenos is also the personifiction of Drunkenness, and as such he is at the same level as the other minor deities present in Dionysos' parade, such as Comos (merriment/festivity) or Coros (Satiety). From Renaissance onward Silenos became a recurring pictural motif. Tradition depicts him as a joyful and pot-bellied old man, as ugly as he is lustful, his drunk state making him grotesque. "Silenus" also became a generic term to designate an old or elderly satyr.

The Misadventures of Silenus, by Piero di Cosimo

In this painting, Silenos actually appears three times. In chronological order, we first see him at the center of the picture. hile still riding his donkey, he tries to get honey from a hive in a hollow tree, only to be attacked by the bees. On the left we can see him being healed with berry juice, while on the right people are trying to put him back onto his feet.

Drunk Silenus, by Jose de Ribera

Here Silenos appears as an obese human. The one that holds his head is his father, the god Pan.

Drunk Silenus, by Pierre Paul Rubens

C) Satyrs

The satyrs are ambiguous creatures, half-goat half-man, who lived in the wilderness. Associated with the Maenads, they formed together the "Dionysian cortege" that paraded with the god. They are also associated with the god Pan. They are frequently hanging out or flirting with nymphs, minor deities renowned for their youth and beauty. Nymphs are female spirits that inhabit most places within the landscapes: they are found within woods and forests, in valleys and meadows, by streams and rivers, in mountains and grottos... They are also typically associated with various major deities - including Dionysos.

Nymph and Satyr, by Christiaen van Couwenbergh

Two Satyrs, by Peter Paul Rubens

Satyr drinking the juice of a pressed grape, by David de Haen

D) Maenads and Bacchants

The Maenads are the female followers of Dionysos, who escort him in all of his adventures, including his journey to India. They are his servants, not his priestesses, but they do have an important role in his religion and in his worship. They participate to all the mysteries and all the festivals in honor of the god. They are dressed with lion skins, their chest bare, and they hold the thyrsus, a lance surrounded by ivy. They personify the orgiastic spirits of nature, and are renowned for their frenetical dances that place them in a mystical ecstasy. Some heroes fell victim to their inhuman strength - the Bacchants (Roman name of the Maenads) were known to act like ferocious and savage beasts.

The Dance of the Bacchants, by Charles Gleyre

Pentheus hunted by the Maenads, Charles Gleyre

The Death of Orpheus, by Emile Lévy

E) Centaurs

The centaurs are creatures appearing as half-men half-horses. They are part of the Dionysian procession, and for the Ancient Greek they symbolized all of the bestial appetites (drunkenness and lechery). Their fight against the Lapiths was an allegory for the fight between civilization and savagery.

The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs, by Piero di Cosimo

The Battle of the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the wedding of Hippodomy, by Karel Dujardin

Battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs, by Lucas Giordane

These three paintings depict the same legend. Pirithoos married Hippodamia and invited all the Olympian gods to his wedding. However, since there were most guests than the palace could contain, Pirithoos had to place several of them within a cavern nearby - a fresh and shadowy, very pleasant grotto. Within this cavern were Nestor, Caeneus and several Thessalian princes, alongside Pirithoos' cousin the Centaurs. The Centaurs were not used to drinking wine. Upon sensing its smell, they rejected the fermented milk they had been offered, and swallowed all the wine. But in their ignorance, they took the wine without cutting it with water as it was tradition - as such, they took pure alcohol, and became so drunk that when the bride arrived with her handmaidens to salute them, a centaur named Eurytion broke all the furniture and took her by the hair to drag her away. All the other Centaurs imitated him, snatching away all the women and girls (and young boys) they could find, and trying to rape them all. Pirithoos, with the help of Theseus, went to rescue Hippodamia - he cut off Eurytion's nose and ears and, with the help of the other Lapiths, he threw the mutilated Centaur outside of the grotto.

A battle ensued that lasted all night, and during which Caeneus the Lapith was killed. This was the start of a very long war that would forever oppose the Centaurs and their neighbors the Lapiths.

F) A last thought

André Lhote's "Bacchant"

The character of the Bacchant reappeared within the art of the 19th century, all the way to the beginning of the 20th. Originally, the Bacchant attracted the artists in its role of member of the procession of Bacchus, the thiasis - the Bacchant (or Maenad) is primarily the priestess of Bacchus/Dionysos, and has specific attributes: a skin belonging to a wild animal (usually a panther), a cup of wine, a crown of ivy or vine, a thyrsus... But the Bacchant of the 19th century, entirely devoted to the service of the god of wine, becomes a being of flesh. She listens and obeys to her impulses, she shows a savage sensuality, she offers to the artists the possibility to depict an ecstatic, equivocal nudity - not to say licentious. Slowly, painters and sculptors will use the myth as an excuse to depict the eroticism of a body arching and rearing. The bacchant loses her mythological attributes, and becomes simply a naked woman, free from all constraints. However, the idea of drunkenness and sensuality is well-kept.