| Silenus | |
|---|---|
God ofdrunkenness andwinemaking | |
 Roman copy ofHellenistic statue of Silenus holding a bunch of grapes and a cup of wine,Vatican Museums (Pius-Clementine Museum, Room of the Muses), Rome | |
| Abode | Nysa |
| Symbol | Wine,grapes,kantharos,thyrsos,wineskin,panther,donkey |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Pan, orHermes andGaea |
| Consort | Hermaphroditus |
| Children | foster father ofDionysus,Pholus |
InGreek mythology,Silenus (/saɪˈliːnəs/;Ancient Greek:Σειληνός,romanized: Seilēnós,IPA:[seːlɛːnós]) was a companion andtutor to thewinegodDionysus. He is typically older than thesatyrs of the Dionysian retinue (thiasos), and sometimes considerably older, in which case he may be referred to as aPapposilenus.Silen[1] and its pluralsileni refer to the mythological figure as a type that is sometimes thought to be differentiated from a satyr by having the attributes of a horse rather than a goat, though usage of the two words is not consistent enough to permit a sharp distinction.[citation needed]
Silenus presides over otherdaimons and is related to musical creativity, prophetic ecstasy, drunken joy, drunken dances and gestures.[2]
In thedecorative arts, a "silene" is a Silenus-like figure, often a "mask" (face) alone.
The original Silenus resembled afolkloric man of the forest, with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse.[3] The later sileni were drunken followers of Dionysus, usually bald and fat with thick lips and squat noses, and having the legs of a human. Later still, the plural "sileni" went out of use and the only references were to one individual named Silenus, the teacher and faithful companion of the wine-god Dionysus.[4]
| Coin fromMende depicting Silenus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Obv: Inebriated Silenus reclining on adonkey, holdingkantharos with wine | Rev: Vine of four grape clusters within shallow linear incuse square, ΜΕΝΔΑΙΩΝ,of Mendians |
| Silvertetradrachm fromMende, 460–423 BC | |
A notorious consumer of wine, he was usually drunk and had to be supported by satyrs or carried by adonkey. Silenus was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysus, and was said inOrphic hymns to be the young god's tutor. This puts him in a company of phallic or half-animal tutors of the gods, a group that includesPriapus,Hermaphroditus,Cedalion andChiron, but also includesPallas, the tutor ofAthena.[5]
When intoxicated, Silenus was said to possess special knowledge and the power of prophecy. The Phrygian KingMidas was eager to learn from Silenus and caught the old man by lacing with wine a fountain from which Silenus often drank. As Silenus fell asleep, the king's servants seized and took him to their master. An alternative story was that when lost and wandering inPhrygia, Silenus was rescued by peasants and taken to Midas, who treated him kindly. In return for Midas' hospitality Silenus told him some tales and the king, enchanted by Silenus' fictions, entertained him for five days and nights.[6] Dionysus offered Midas a reward for his kindness toward Silenus, and Midas chose the power of turning everything he touched intogold. Another story was that Silenus had been captured by two shepherds, and regaled them with wondrous tales.
InEuripides'ssatyr playCyclops, Silenus is stranded with the satyrs inSicily, where they have been enslaved by theCyclopes. They are the comic elements of the story, a parody ofHomer'sOdyssey IX. Silenus refers to the satyrs as his children during the play.
Silenus may have become aLatin term of abuse around 211 BC, when it is used inPlautus'Rudens to describe Labrax, a treacherouspimp orleno, as "...a pot-bellied old Silenus, bald head, beefy, bushy eyebrows, scowling, twister, god-forsaken criminal".[7] In his satireThe Caesars, the emperorJulian has Silenus sitting next to the gods to offer up his comments on the various rulers under examination, includingAlexander the Great,Julius Caesar,Augustus,Marcus Aurelius (whom he reveres as a fellowphilosopher-king), andConstantine I.[8]
Silenus commonly figures in Roman bas-reliefs of the train of Dionysus, a subject forsarcophagi, embodying the transcendent promises of Dionysian cult.
In Book VI of Pausanias' Description of Greece, his grave is said to be "in theland of the Hebrews".
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Papposilenus is a representation of Silenus that emphasizes his old age, particularly as astock character insatyr play orcomedy. Invase painting, his hair is often white, and as in statuettes, Papposilenus has apot belly, flabby breasts and shaggy thighs. In these depictions, it is often clear that the Papposilenus is an actor playing a part. His costuming includes a body stocking tufted with hair (mallōtos chitōn) that seems to have come into use in the mid-5th century BC.[9]
A theme in Greek philosophy and literature is the wisdom of Silenus, which posits anantinatalist philosophy:
You, most blessed and happiest among humans, may well consider those blessed and happiest who have departed this life before you, and thus you may consider it unlawful, indeed blasphemous, to speak anything ill or false of them, since they now have been transformed into a better and more refined nature. This thought is indeed so old that the one who first uttered it is no longer known; it has been passed down to us from eternity, and hence doubtless it is true. Moreover, you know what is so often said and passes for a trite expression. What is that, he asked? He answered: It is best not to be born at all; and next to that, it is better to die than to live; and this is confirmed even by divine testimony. Pertinently to this they say that Midas, after hunting, asked his captive Silenus somewhat urgently, what was the most desirable thing among humankind. At first he could offer no response, and was obstinately silent. At length, when Midas would not stop plaguing him, he erupted with these words, though very unwillingly: 'you, seed of an evil genius and precarious offspring of hard fortune, whose life is but for a day, why do you compel me to tell you those things of which it is better you should remain ignorant? For he lives with the least worry who knows not his misfortune; but for humans, the best for them is not to be born at all, not to partake of nature's excellence; not to be is best, for both sexes. This should be our choice, if choice we have; and the next to this is, when we are born, to die as soon as we can.' It is plain therefore, that he declared the condition of the dead to be better than that of the living.
- – Aristotle,Eudemus (354 BCE), surviving fragment quoted in Plutarch,Moralia. Consolatio ad Apollonium, sec. xxvii (1st century CE) (S. H. transl.)
This passage is redolent ofTheognis'Elegies (425–428). Silenus' wisdom appears in the writings ofArthur Schopenhauer, who endorsed this famous dictum. Via Schopenhauer, Nietzsche discusses the "wisdom of Silenus" inThe Birth of Tragedy.
BothSocrates andAesop were sometimes described as having a physical appearance like that of Silenus, with broad flat faces and fat bellies.[10]
In theRenaissance, acourt dwarf posed for the Silenus-like figure astride a tortoise at the entrance to theBoboli Gardens, Florence.Rubens paintedThe Drunken Silenus (1616–17), now conserved in theAlte Pinakothek, Munich – the subject was also treated byvan Dyck andRibera.
During the late 19th century in Germany and Vienna, symbolism from ancient Greece was reinterpreted through a newFreudian prism. Around the same time,Vienna Secession artistGustav Klimt uses the irreverent, chubby-faced Silenus as a motif in several works to represent "buried instinctual forces".[11]
InGargantua and Pantagruel,Rabelais referred to Silenus as the foster father of Bacchus. In 1884Thomas Woolner published a long narrative poem about Silenus. InOscar Wilde's 1890 novelThe Picture of Dorian Gray, Lord Henry Wooton turns praise of folly into a philosophy which mocks "slow Silenus" for being sober. InBrian Hooker's 1923 English translation ofEdmond Rostand'sCyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano disparagingly refers to the ham actor Montfleury as "That Silenus who cannot hold his belly in his arms."
Professor Silenus is a character inEvelyn Waugh's first novel,Decline and Fall. He features as the disaffected architect of King's Thursday and provides the novel with one of its primary motifs. In the prophetic style of the traditional Greek Silenus he informs the protagonist that life is
a great disc of polished wood that revolves quickly. At first you sit down and watch the others. They are all trying to sit in the wheel, and they keep getting flung off, and that makes them laugh, and you laugh too. It's great fun... Of course at the very centre there's a point completely at rest, if one could only find it.... Lots of people just enjoy scrambling on and being whisked off and scrambling on again.... But the whole point about the wheel is that you needn't get on it at all.... People get hold of ideas about life, and that makes them think they've got to join in the game, even if they don't enjoy it. It doesn't suit everyone...[12]
Silenus is one of the two main characters inTony Harrison's 1990satyr playThe Trackers of Oxyrhynchus, partly based onSophocles' playIchneutae (5th century BC).
Carl Linnaeus used the feminine formSilene as the name of a genus of flowering plant.[13]
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