Editing Marsyas

{{Short description|Satyr musician in Greek mythology}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Marsyas_Istanbul_Archaeological_Museum_-_inv._400_T_01.jpg|thumb|upright|220px|''Marsyas receiving Apollo's punishment'', [[Istanbul Archaeology Museums|İstanbul Archaeology Museum]]]]

In [[Greek mythology]], the [[satyr]] ''' Marsyas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɑr|s|i|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Μαρσύας}}) is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double oboe (''[[aulos]]'') that had been abandoned by [[Athena]] and played it;<ref>The folk of [[Celaenae]] held "that the ''Song of the Mother'', an air for the flute, was composed by Marsyas", according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (x.30.9).</ref><ref name="West">{{cite book |last= West |first= Martin L. |title=Ancient Greek Music |publisher= [[Clarendon Press]] |quote="The single reed or clarinet mouthpiece was known to other ancient peoples, and I should not venture to assert that it was not known to the Greeks. But the evidence of both art and literature indicates that it was the double reed that was standard in the Classical period. Under the Hornbostel-Sachs system, therefore, the [[aulos]] should be classified as an oboe. It must be admitted that 'oboe-girl' is less evocative than the 'flute-girl' to which classicists have been accustomed, and that when it is a question of translating Greek poetry 'oboe' is likely to sound odd. For the latter case I favor 'pipe' or 'shawm.'" |date=January 1992 |isbn= 0-19-814975-1 |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=So-Qpz6WDS4C&pg=PA84 }}</ref> in the other, he challenged [[Apollo]] to a contest of music and lost his hide and life. Literary sources from [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] often emphasize the ''[[hubris]]'' of Marsyas and the justice of his punishment.

One strand of modern comparative [[mythography]] regards the domination of Marsyas by Apollo as an example of myth that recapitulates a supposed supplanting by the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian pantheon]] of an earlier [[Pelasgians|"Pelasgian"]] religion of [[chthonic]] [[Greek hero cult|heroic]] ancestors and [[Animism|nature spirits]].<ref>According to this theory, the antagonists in the [[Labours of Hercules|Labours of Heracles]] are, like Marsyas, representatives of the older religion; see Ruck and Staples 1994 ''passim''.</ref>
Marsyas was a devoté of the ancient [[Mother Goddess]] [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]/[[Cybele]], and the mythographers situate his episodes in [[Celaenae]] (or Kelainai), in [[Phrygia]], at the main source of the [[Meander]] (the river [[Büyük Menderes River|Menderes]] in [[Turkey]]).<ref>The river is linked to the figure of Marsyas by [[Herodotus]] (''Histories'', 7.26) and [[Xenophon]] (''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'', 1.2.8).</ref>

== Family ==
When a genealogy was applied to him, Marsyas was the son of the "divine" [[Hyagnis (mythology)|Hyagnis]].<ref>see [http://www.ehw.gr/asiaminor/forms/filePage.aspx?lemmaId=6575 Anthi Dipla:2001]</ref><ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' 10.233</ref> His father was called [[Oeagrus]]<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 165</ref> or [[Olympus (musician)|Olympus]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 1.4.2</ref> Alternatively, the latter was said to be Marsyas' son and/or pupil and ''[[eromenos]]''.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 273; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Graeciae Descriptio'' 10.30.9</ref><ref>Pseudo-Plutarch, [https://topostext.org/work/155#7 ''On Music'', 7].</ref><ref>Philostratus, [https://topostext.org/work/224#2.5.5 ''Lives of the Sophists'', 2.5.5].</ref>

== Mythology ==

===The finding of the aulos===
[[File:Altar Atrosokes MNAT M7010 n04.jpg|thumb|[[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] Marsyas playing the [[aulos]], with dedication in Greek to the god [[Oxus (god)|Oxus]], by "Atrosokes", a [[Greco-Bactria|Bactrian]] name. Temple of the [[Oxus]], [[Takht-i Sangin]], 200-150 BC. [[National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan]].<ref name="BAL">{{cite journal |last1=LITVINSKII |first1=B. A. |last2=PICHIKIAN |first2=I. R. |title=The Hellenistic Architecture and Art of the Temple of the Oxus |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=1994 |volume=8 |pages=47–66 |jstor=24048765 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24048765.pdf |issn=0890-4464}}</ref><ref name="RW2011">{{cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Rachel |title=Cultural convergence in Bactria: the votives from the Temple of the Oxus at Takht-i Sangin, in "From Pella to Gandhara" |journal=In A. Kouremenos, S. Chandrasekaran & R. Rossi ed. 'From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridization and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East' |date=2011 |publisher=Archaeopress |location=Oxford |pages=141–151 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3850105}}</ref>]]
Marsyas was an expert player on the double-piped [[double reed instrument]] known as the [[aulos]].<ref name="West"/> The dithyrambic poet [[Melanippides|Melanippides of Melos]] ({{circa}} 480 – 430 BC) embellished the story in his [[dithyramb]] ''Marsyas'',<ref>quoted in [[Athenaeus]]' [[Deipnosophistae]], 14.616e</ref><ref name="Poehlmann2017">{{citation|last=Poehlmann|first=Egert|date=2017|chapter=Aristotle on Music and Theatre (''Politics'' VIII 6. 1340 b 20 - 1342 b 34; ''Poetics'')|title=Theatre World: Critical Perspectives on Greek Tragedy and Comedy. Studies in Honour of Georgia Xanthakis-Karamenos|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6e05DwAAQBAJ&q=Athena+and+Marsyas&pg=PA330|editor1-last=Fountoulakis|editor1-first=Andreas|editor2-last=Markantonatos|editor2-first=Andreas|editor3-last=Vasilaros|editor3-first=Georgios|location=Berlin, Germany|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-051896-2|page=330}}</ref> claiming that the goddess [[Athena]], who was already said to have invented the aulos, once looked in the mirror while she was playing it and saw how blowing into it puffed up her cheeks and made her look silly, so she threw the aulos away and cursed it so that whoever picked it up would meet an awful death.<ref name="Poehlmann2017"/> Marsyas picked up the aulos and was later killed by Apollo for his [[hubris]].<ref name="Poehlmann2017"/> The fifth-century BC poet Telestes doubted that virginal Athena could have been motivated by such vanity.<ref>Telestes, Fr. 805, quoted in [[Athenaeus]]' ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' 616f</ref>

Later, however, Melanippides's story became accepted as canonical <ref name="Poehlmann2017"/> and the Athenian sculptor [[Myron]] created a group of bronze sculptures based on it, which was installed before the western front of the Parthenon around 440 BC.<ref name="Poehlmann2017"/> In the second century AD, the travel writer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] saw this set of sculptures and described it as "a statue of Athena striking Marsyas the Silenos for taking up the flutes [aulos] that the goddess wished to be cast away for good".<ref>Pausanias, i.24.1.</ref>

=== Marsyas and Apollo ===
[[File:José_de_Ribera_003.jpg|thumb|left|Apollo flaying Marsyas in ''[[Apollo and Marsyas (Ribera)|Apollo and Marsyas]]'' by [[José de Ribera]]]]
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - Marsyas tied.jpg|thumb|left|''Marsyas tied'', by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], [[Louvre Museum]]]]
In the contest between Apollo and Marsyas, which was judged by the [[Muse]]s or the Nysean nymphs,<ref name="auto">Diodorus Siculus, ''Library of History'' 5. 75. 3</ref><ref>Tmolus was judge in another musical contest, that of Apollo and [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]].</ref> the terms stated that the winner could treat the defeated party any way he wanted. Marsyas played his flute, putting everyone there into a frenzy, and they started dancing wildly. When it was Apollo's turn, he played his lyre so beautifully that everyone was still and had tears in their eyes.  
[[File:Attributed to Veronese, Apollo and Marsyas, NGA 54011.jpg|alt=pen and ink sketch on blue paper of Apollo tying Marsyas up |thumb|Apollo and Marsyas, attributed to [[Paolo Veronese]], [[National Gallery of Art]]]]
There are several versions of the contest; according to Hyginus, Marsyas was departing as victor after the first round, when Apollo, turning his lyre upside down, played the same tune. This was something that Marsyas could not do with his flute. According to Diodorus Siculus, Marsyas was defeated when Apollo added his voice to the sound of the lyre. Marsyas protested, arguing that the skill with the instrument was to be compared, not the voice. However, Apollo replied that when Marsyas blew into the pipes, he was doing almost the same thing. The Nysean nymphs supported Apollo's claim, leading to his victory.<ref name="auto"/><ref>The most elaborated accounts are given by Diodorus Siculus ''Library of History'', [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] (''Fabulae'', 165) and Pseudo-Apollodorus' ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' (i.4.2); see also [[Pliny's Natural History]] 16.89.</ref>

Yet another version states that Marsyas played the flute out of tune, and hence accepted his defeat. Out of shame, he chose the penalty of being skinned to be used as a winesack.<ref>Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 2 (trans. Fairbanks)</ref>

He was [[flaying|flayed]] alive in a cave near Celaenae for his [[hubris]] to challenge a deity. Apollo then nailed Marsyas' skin to a pine tree,<ref>-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]''i.4.2</ref> near [[Lake Aulocrene]] (''Karakuyu Gölü'' in modern Turkey), which [[Strabo]] noted was full of the [[Reed (plant)|reeds]] from which the pipes were fashioned.<ref>Strabo, ''Geography'' xii.8.15; {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070303182104/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/gazetteer/0063.html Hazlitt, ''The Classical Gazetteer'' ''s.v.'' "Aulocrene lac."]}}</ref> [[Diodorus Siculus]] felt that Apollo must have repented this "excessive" deed, and said that he had laid aside his lyre for a while,<ref>Diodorus, ''Library of History'' v.75.3.</ref> but [[Karl Kerenyi]] observes of the flaying of Marsyas' "shaggy hide: a penalty which will not seem especially cruel if one assumes that Marsyas' animal guise was merely a masquerade".<ref>[[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'' 1951:179.</ref> Classical Greeks were unaware of such [[shaman]]istic overtones, and the flaying of Marsyas became a theme for painting and sculpture.  His brothers, nymphs, gods, and goddesses mourned his death, and their tears, according to [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', were the source of the river [[Marsyas (river of Phrygia)|Marsyas]] in [[Phrygia]] (called Çine Creek today), which joins the [[Büyük Menderes River|Meander]] near Celaenae, where Herodotus reported that the flayed skin of Marsyas was still to be seen,<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'' vii.26.3.</ref> and [[Ptolemy Hephaestion]] recorded a "festival of Apollo, where the skins of all those victims one has flayed are offered to the god".<ref>Ptolemy Hephaestion, ''New History'' iii, summarised by [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]], ''Myriobiblon'' 190.</ref>

[[Plato]] was of the opinion that the skin of Marsyas had been made into a [[wineskin]].<ref>Plato, ''''[[Euthydemus (dialogue)|Euthydemus]]'', 285c.</ref>
[[File:Apollo flaying Marsyas by Antonio Corradini (1658-1752), V&A.JPG|thumb|''Apollo flaying Marsyas'' by Antonio Corradini (1658–1752), [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], [[London]]]]

[[Ovid]] touches upon the theme of Marsyas twice, very briefly telling the tale in ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' vi.383–400, where he concentrates on the tears shed into the river Marsyas, and making an [[allusion]] in ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'', vi.649–710, where Ovid's primary focus is on the ''aulos'' and the roles of flute-players rather than Marsyas, whose name is not mentioned.

== The wise Marsyas ==
The hubristic Marsyas in surviving literary sources eclipses the figure of the wise Marsyas that is suggested in a few words by the [[Hellenistic]] historian [[Diodorus Siculus]],<ref>Diodorus Siculus, iii.59-59.</ref> who refers to Marsyas as admired for his intelligence (''sunesis'') and self-control (''sophrosune''), not qualities found by Greeks in ordinary satyrs. In [[Plato]]'s ''Symposium'',<ref>''Symposium'' 215.b-c.</ref> when [[Alcibiades]] likens Socrates to Marsyas, it is this aspect of the wise satyr that is intended.{{fact|date=November 2024}} Jocelyn Small identifies in Marsyas an artist great enough to challenge a deity, who can only be defeated through a ruse.<ref>Jocelyn Penny Small, ''Cacus and Marsyas in Etrusco-Roman Legend'' ([[Princeton University Press]]) 1962:68.</ref> A prominent statue of Marsyas as a wise old [[silenus]] stood near the [[Roman Forum]].<ref>Pliny, 34.11; [[Horace]], Satires'' 1.6.119-21; noted by Niżyńska 2001:157.</ref>

This is the Marsyas of the journal, ''Marsyas: Studies in the History of Art'', published since 1941 by students of the Institute of Art, [[New York University]].

== Prophecy and free speech at Rome ==
Among the Romans, Marsyas was cast as the inventor of [[augury]]<ref>N.M. Horsfall, reviewing ''Cacus and Marsyas in Etrusco-Roman Legend'' by Jocelyn Penny Small (Princeton University Press, 1982), in ''Classical Review'' 34 (1984) 226–229, vehemently rejects Marsyas's connection with augury, but this is a minority view.</ref> and a proponent of free speech (the philosophical concept παρρησία, "[[parrhesia]]") and "speaking truth to power". The earliest known representation of Marsyas at Rome stood for at least 300 years in the [[Roman Forum]] near or in the [[comitium]], the space for political activity.<ref>[[Elaine Fantham]], "Liberty and the Roman People," ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 135 (2005), p. 221; on assemblies of the people, see [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]], ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', Bill Thayer's edition at [[LacusCurtius]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Comitia.html "Comitia."]</ref> He also was depicted as a ''[[Silenus|silen]]'',<ref>The distinction between a satyr and a silen was sometimes blurred in the later tradition.</ref> carrying a [[Bota bag|wineskin]] on his left shoulder and raising his right arm. The statue was regarded as an ''indicium libertatis'', a symbol of liberty, and was associated with demonstrations of the ''[[plebs]]'', or common people. It often served as a sort of [[kiosk]] upon which invective verse was posted.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''ad Aeneidos'' 3.20; T.P. Wiseman, "Satyrs in Rome? The Background to Horace's ''Ars Poetica''," ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 78 (1988), p. 4; Elaine Fantham, "Liberty and the Roman People," ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 135 (2005), p. 227; Ann L. Kuttner, "Culture and History at Pompey's Museum," ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 129 (1999), pp. 357–358.</ref>

Marsyas served as a minister for Dionysus or Bacchus, who was [[Interpretatio graeca|identified by the Romans with]] their [[Liber|Father Liber]], one of three deities in the [[Aventine Triad]], along with [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]] and Libera (identified with [[Persephone]]). These deities were regarded as concerning themselves specially with the welfare of the ''plebs''. The freedom that the [[Religious ecstasy|ecstasies]] of [[Cult of Dionysus|Dionysian worship]] represented took on a political meaning in Rome as the ''[[libertas]]'' that distinguished the free from the enslaved. The [[Liberalia]], celebrated March 17 in honor of Liber, was a time of speaking freely, as the poet and playwright [[Gnaeus Naevius]] declared: "At the Liberalia games we enjoy free speech."<ref>Rather alliteratively: ''libera lingua loquimur ludis Liberalibus''.</ref> Nonetheless, Naevius was arrested for his [[invective]]s against the powerful.<ref>T. P. Wiseman, ''Roman Drama and Roman History'' ([[University of Exeter Press]], 1998), ''passim'', explores the connections among Marsyas, the Aventine trinity, the ''plebs'', the Liberalia, and free speech. For a detailed discussion of the case of Naevius, see Harold B. Mattingly, "Naevius and the Metelli", ''Historia'' 9 (1960) 414–439. ''Marsyas'' was also the title of a work by the Roman playwright [[Lucius Pomponius]], possibly a [[satyr play]], in the second century BC.</ref>
[[Image:Censorinus denarius.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Denarius]] minted at Rome in 82 BC by L. Censorinus, with the head of Apollo and the figure of Marsyas holding a wineskin, based on the statue in the forum]]

Marsyas was sometimes considered a king and contemporary of [[Faunus#Festivals|Faunus]], portrayed by [[Vergil]] as a native Italian ruler at the time of [[Aeneas]]. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], in his [[Commentary (philology)|commentary]] on the ''[[Aeneid]]'', says that Marsyas sent Faunus envoys who showed techniques of augury to the Italians.<ref>Servius, ''ad Aen''. 3.59; T.P. Wiseman, "Satyrs in Rome?" ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 78 (1988), pp. 2–3 and p. 11, note 91, with additional sources on Marsyas p. 4, notes 26–28.</ref> The plebeian ''[[gens]]'' of the [[Marcius (family)|Marcii]] claimed that they were descended from Marsyas. [[Gaius Marcius Rutilus]], who rose to power from the ''[[plebs]]'', is credited with having dedicated the statue that stood in the Roman forum, most likely in 294 BC, when he became the first plebeian [[Roman censor|censor]] and added the ''[[cognomen]]'' [[Marcius Censorinus|Censorinus to the family name]].<ref>Robert Morstein-Marx, ''Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 99 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwkJh1cZb1YC&dq=Marsyas+silen+OR+silens+OR+silenus+OR+silenos+OR+satyr&pg=PA99 online.]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Marcius Rutilus was also among the first plebeian augurs, [[co-option|co-opted]] into their [[collegium|college]] in 300 BC, and so the mythical teacher of augury was an apt figure to represent him.<ref>T.P. Wiseman, "Satyrs in Rome?" ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 78 (1988), p. 4. The Marcii also claimed descent from [[Ancus Marcius]]. Morstein-Marx comments that the attribution of the statue to Marcius Rutilus Censorinus "is attractive, but perhaps over-bold" (''Mass Oratory and Political Power'', p. 99).</ref>

[[File:Sylenus Marsyas hanging - Louvre Ma542.jpg|thumb|150px|left|''The Torment of Marsyas'', [[Louvre Museum]], [[Paris]]]]
In 213 BC, two years after suffering one of the worst military defeats in its history at the [[Battle of Cannae]], Rome was in the grip of a reactionary fear that led to excessive [[religiosity]]. The [[Roman senate|senate]], alarmed that its authority was being undermined by "prophets and sacrificers" in the forum, began a program of suppression. Among the literature confiscated was an "authentic" prophecy calling for the institution of [[Ludi Apollinares|games in the Greek manner for Apollo]], which the [[Roman senate]] and [[Roman magistrates|elected officials]] would control. The prophecy was attributed to Gnaeus Marcius, reputed to be a descendant of Marsyas. The games were duly carried out, but the Romans failed to bring the continuing [[Punic Wars|wars with the Carthaginians]] to a victorious conclusion until they heeded a second prophecy and imported the worship of the Phrygian Great Mother, [[Cybele]], whose song Marsyas was said to have composed; the song had further relevance in that it was also credited by the Phrygians with protecting them from invaders.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] 10.30.9: "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 [into which he had been transformed after his flaying] and by the music of his flute." The Celtic-speaking invaders who founded [[Galatia]] controlled the Great Mother's center of worship at [[Pessinus]] from the end of the third century BC. One of the major deities of the Gauls [[interpretatio graeca|was identified with]] Apollo and may have suggested opposition to Marsyas; see [[Frederick Ahl]], "[[Amber]], [[Avalon|Avallon]], and Apollo's Singing Swan", ''American Journal of Philology'' 103 (1982) 373–411.</ref> The power relations between Marsyas and Apollo reflected the continuing [[Struggle of the Orders]] between the elite and the common people, expressed in political terms by ''[[optimates]]'' and ''[[populares]]''. The arrest of Naevius for exercising free speech also took place during this period.<ref>T. P. Wiseman, ''Roman Drama and Roman History'' (University of Exeter Press, 1998).</ref>

Another descendant of Marcius Rutilus, [[Marcius Censorinus|L. Marcius Censorinus]], issued coins depicting the statue of Marsyas, at a time when the [[Augur#Augurs in the Republic|augural college]] was the subject of political controversy during the [[Roman civil wars#Late Republic|Sullan civil wars of the 80s BC]].<ref>Peter Justin Moon Schertz, "Marsyas Augur: A Plebeian Augur in the Time of [[Sulla]]?", paper presented at the 103rd annual meeting of the [[Archaeological Institute of America]], abstract from ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 106 (2002), pp. 270–271. Sulla increased the number of augurs; the nature of the controversy is debatable, but seems to do less with the proportion of plebeians to [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] than a question of whether new augurs would be [[co-option|coopted]] by current members of the college or whether they would be elected by vote of the people.</ref> On the coin, Marsyas wears a [[Phrygian cap]] or ''[[pileus (hat)|pilleus]]'', an emblem of liberty.<ref>Robert J. Rowland, Jr., "[[Numismatic]] Propaganda under [[Lucius Cornelius Cinna]]," ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 97 (1966), p. 417.</ref> This Marcius Censorinus was killed by [[Sulla]] and his head displayed outside [[Praeneste]]. Sulla's legislative program attempted to curtail power invested in the people, particularly restricting the powers of the [[tribune|plebeian tribunes]], and to restore the dominance of the senate and the privileges of [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]].<ref>Ronald T. Ridley, "The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla", ''Historia'' 49 (2000), p. 220.</ref>

[[File:Le concours entre Apollon et Marsyas (Musée national d'archéologie, Athènes) (30673129491).jpg|260px|thumb|[[Mantineia Base]] depicting the contest of Apollo and Marsyas, c. 330–320 BC, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|NAMA]].]]

Marsyas was claimed as the [[eponym]] of the [[Marsi]] as well, one of the ancient peoples of Italy.<ref>T.P. Wiseman, "Satyrs in Rome?", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 78 (1988), pp. 2–3 and p. 11, note 91, with additional sources on Marsyas p. 4, notes 26–28.</ref> The [[Social War (91–88 BC)|Social War of 91–88 BC]], in which the [[Ancient peoples of Italy|Italian peoples]] fought to advance their status as citizens under Roman rule, is sometimes called the Marsic War because of the leadership of the Marsi. The Roman {{Lang|la|[[Colonia (Roman)|coloniae]]}} [[Paestum]] and [[Alba Fucens]], along with other Italian cities, set up their own statues of Marsyas as assertions of their political status.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''ad Aeneidos'' 3.20 and 4.58: "among the free cities, there was a statue of Marsyas, who was under the protection of Father Liber" (''in liberis civitatibus simulacrum Marsyae erat, qui in tutela Liberi patris est''). Also T. P. Wiseman, "Satyrs in Rome? The Background to Horace's ''Ars Poetica''", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 78 (1988), p. 4; Elaine Fantham, "Liberty and the Roman People", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 135 (2005), p. 227, especially note 52.</ref>

During the [[Principate]], Marsyas became a subversive symbol in opposition to [[Augustus]], whose propaganda systematically associated Augustus with Apollo as the torturer of sileni. Augustus's daughter [[Julia the Elder|Julia]] held nocturnal assemblies at the statue, and crowned it to defy her father.<ref>Elaine Fantham, "Liberty and the People in Republican Rome," ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 135 (2005), p. 227, citing Seneca, ''De beneficiis'' 6.32 and Pliny, ''Historia naturalis'' 21.6.8–9, both of whom characterize Julia's meetings as sexual congress with strangers.</ref> The poet [[Ovid]], who was ultimately exiled by Augustus, twice tells the story of Marsyas's flaying by Apollo, in his epic ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' and in the ''Fasti'', the calendrical poem left unfinished at his death.<ref>[[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''Metamorphoses'' 6.383–400 and ''Fasti'' 6.649–710.</ref> Although the immediate cause of Ovid's exile remains one of literary history's great mysteries, Ovid says that a "poem and transgression" were contributing factors; his poetry tests the boundaries of permissible free speech during Rome's transition from [[Roman Republic|republic]] to [[Principate|imperial monarchy]].<ref>Joanna Niżyńska samples the extensive scholarship on the subversive qualities of Ovid's poetry in her comparative study "Marsyas's Howl: The Myth of Marsyas in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' and [[Zbigniew Herbert]]'s ‘Apollo and Marsyas’", ''Comparative Literature'' 53.2 (Spring 2001), pp. 151–169.</ref>

[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] indicates that in the first century AD, the painting ''Marsyas religatus'' ("Marsyas Bound"), by [[Zeuxis (painter)|Zeuxis of Heraclea]], could be viewed at the [[Temple of Concordia]] in Rome.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Historia naturalis]]'' 35.66.</ref> The goddess [[Concordia (mythology)|Concordia]], like the Greek [[Harmonia (mythology)|Harmonia]], was a [[personification]] of both [[Music of ancient Greece|musical harmony as it was understood in antiquity]], and of [[social order]], as expressed by [[Cicero]]'s phrase ''concordia ordinum''. The apparent incongruity of exhibiting the tortured silenus in a temple devoted to harmony has been interpreted in modern scholarship as a warning against criticizing authority.<ref>Joanna Niżyńska, "Marsyas's Howl," ''Comparative Literature'' 53.2 (Spring 2001), p. 152.</ref>

===The Louvre's Apollo–Marsyas sarcophagus===
{{stack|[[File:Musée Louvre-Lens Sarcophage.JPG|thumb|300px|Competition between Marsyas and Apollo, Tuscan marble sarcophagus, {{Circa|290}}–300 CE, (Louvre).]]}}
A sarcophagus depicting the competition between Marsyas and Apollo, dating to around 300 CE, was discovered in 1853 on the bank of the river Chiarone in [[Tuscany, Italy|Tuscany]], on the former Emilia-Aurelia road. Its gathering of deities reads visually from left to right, starting from Athena with her staff and [[Erichthonius of Athens|Erichthonius]], forming her [[caduceus]], which is partially broken along with a portion of her arm. In Greek myth, Athena was once associated with the pipes that later became those of Marsyas, so that other narratives were developed explaining the transfer as Athena having discarded the instrument in a pique (as in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''). The flaying of Marsyas is set on the end opposite to Athena, on the extreme right.{{fact|date=January 2024}}

== In later arts ==
{{stack|[[Image:Marsyas MET DP228780.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Balthasar Permoser|Permoser]]'s bust of Marsyas (1680–1685).]]}}
In the art of later periods, [[allegory]] is applied to gloss over the somewhat ambivalent morality of the flaying of Marsyas. Marsyas is often seen with a [[flute]], [[pan pipes]], or even [[bagpipes]]. Apollo is shown with his [[lyre]], or sometimes a [[harp]], [[viol]], or other stringed instrument. The [[aulos|contest of Apollo and Marsyas]] is seen as symbolizing the eternal struggle between the [[Apollonian and Dionysian]] aspects of human nature and cultures.{{fact|date=January 2024}}

Paintings taking Marsyas as a subject include "Apollo and Marsyas" by [[Michelangelo Anselmi]] (c. 1492 – c.1554), "The Flaying of Marsyas" by [[Jusepe de Ribera]] (1591–1652), the ''[[Flaying of Marsyas (Titian)|Flaying of Marsyas]]'' by [[Titian]] (c. 1570–1576), "Apollo and Marsyas" by [[Bartolomeo Manfredi]] (St. Louis Art Museum), and "[[Apollo and Marsyas (Giordano)|Apollo and Marsyas]]" by [[Luca Giordano]] (c.1665).{{fact|date=January 2024}}

[[James Merrill]] based a poem, "Marsyas", on this myth; it appears in ''The Country of a Thousand Years of Peace'' (1959). [[Zbigniew Herbert]] and [[Nadine Meyer|Nadine Sabra Meyer]] each entitled poems "Apollo and Marsyas". Following Ovid's retelling of the Apollo and Marsyas tale, the poem "The Flaying Of Marsyas" features in Robin Robertson's 1997 collection "a painted field".{{fact|date=January 2024}}

[[Hugo Claus]] based his poem, ''Marsua'' (included in the 1955 poem collection [[Oostakkerse Gedichten]]), on the myth of Marsyas, describing the process of flaying from the perspective of Marsyas.{{fact|date=January 2024}}

In 2002, British artist [[Anish Kapoor]] created and installed an enormous sculpture in London's [[Tate Modern]] entitled, "Marsyas". Consisting of three huge steel rings and a single red [[PVC]] membrane, The work was impossible to view as a whole because of its size, but had obvious anatomical connotations.<ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/kapoor/default.htm "The Unilever Series: Anish Kapoor", exhibition information] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720025720/http://tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/kapoor/default.htm |date=2011-07-20 }}</ref>

A bridge that was built toward the end of the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] period on the river Marsyas is still called by the satyr's name, ''Marsiyas''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://avgg.sitemynet.com/arkeoloji/id7.htm |title=A. Güneygül on Archaeology |access-date=2006-01-21 |archive-date=2006-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060202232122/http://avgg.sitemynet.com/arkeoloji/id7.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The late composer Kyle Rieger wrote a duet for [[saxophone]] and [[piano]] based on the contest between Marsyas and Apollo titled "Aulos & Lyre".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rieger |first1=Kyle |title=Aulos & Lyre |url=https://www.riegermusic.com/aulos-and-lyre |website=riegermusic.com |access-date=2023-06-09 }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:M Anselmi Apolo y Marsyas 1540 National Gallery Washington Samuel H Kress col.jpg|''Apollo and Marsyas'' by [[Michelangelo Anselmi]]
File:Runeberg ateneum apollon ja marsyas.jpg|A marble sculpture of [[Apollo]] and Marsyas by [[Walter Runeberg]] at the arrivals hall of [[Ateneum]] in [[Helsinki]], [[Finland]]
Image:Athena and Marsyas Copenhagen.jpg|''Athena and Marsyas'': the discovery of the ''aulos'' in an imaginative recreation of a lost bronze by [[Myron]] (Botanic Garden, [[Copenhagen]])
File:Marsyas and Apollo, apparently but unidentified - Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas - Madrid, Spain - DSC08404.JPG|''Apollo and Marsyas'', porcelain from [[Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro]], 1760s.
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[Arachne]], a mortal woman who engaged in a weaving contest with Athena
*[[Babys (mythology)]], Brother of the satyr Marsyas, who also entered into a musical competition with Apollo

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

== References ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*[[Nonnus|Nonnus of Panopolis]], ''Dionysiaca'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863–1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.  [https://topostext.org/work/529 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
*Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0485 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*Ruck, Carl A.P. and Danny Staples, ''The World of Classical Myth'' (Carolina Academic Press) 1994.
* {{cite journal |last=Keer |first=Ellen van |title=The Myth of Marsyas in Ancient Greek Art: Musical and Mythological Iconography |journal=Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography |volume=29 |issue=1–2 |date=2004 |pages=20–37 |issn=1522-7464 }}

== External links ==
*{{Commons category-inline|Marsyas|Marsyas}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Marsyas |volume= XV | page=575 |short=1 }}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070303182116/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/gazetteer/0101.html The Ancient Library]}}.
* [http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/SatyrosMarsyas.html Theoi Project: Marsyas]. English translations of Classical texts.
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000251 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database: ca 280 images of Marsyas]

{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Deeds of Apollo]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Musicians in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Phrygians]]
[[Category:Satyrs]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into bodies of water in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:People executed by flaying]]