the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Satyrs
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or in Greek mythology, were daemonic companions of Bacchus. who represented the unrestrained and luxurious life in the Bacchic circle. They are not mentioned in Homer, and Hesiod does not describe their form, though he speaks of them as a useless race having no adaptability to labor. Later writers furnish a description about as follows: Bristly hair, a short, thick, and turned-up nose, pointed ears, the neck often marked with small lumps resembling horns, a horse tail, sometimes a goat tail over the coccyx. The endowment of these beings with horns and goats' feet was a misconception of later days by which they were identified with pans, paniscs, and fauns. The satyrs were said to be sons of Mercury and Iphthime, or of the naiads. The oldest and most prominent of them was named Silenus, and the older satyrs are called Sileni collectively. Marsyas, too, was a satyr. In substance, the satyrs were companions of Bacchus; they were excessively fond of wine, and are accordingly represented as drinking, as reeling with the thyrsus, as overcome with sleep, as wine pressers, or as playing on the flute or cymbal. Their attributes were the flute, the thyrsus staff, pandean pipes, the shepherd's staff, drinking vessels, and bottles. They were clothed in skins of beasts and crowned with vine branches, ivy, and pine twigs. They have frequently been the subject of artistic representation, and always in company with Bacchus. The Latin word satira (a satire), originally satura, has not the remotest connection with the Greek Satyri, and should not be in any way referred to them.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Satyrs'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/satyrs.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
