A Muscular Contorted Powerfully Portrayed Satyr

Epoque: 1st - 2nd century AD

Medium: Marble

Dimension: 22 cm (8⁵/₈ inches)

Provenance: Ex Private English collection

Literature: Satyrs were the followers and servants of the god Bacchus, the Greek god Dionysos. They are the spirits of the wild mountains and valleys, and are portrayed in ancient mythology as bestial in their desires and behaviour. Consequently they were given the bodies of horses or goats with human heads having horse-like ears or horns. Dionysos was a popular deity, and like Bacchus, was the potent god of wine, vegetation and ecstasy. His early wildness and his worship as the great remover of inhibitions was gradually tamed by the development of seasonable festivals, processions and sacred drama. As the god of fertile nature he is depicted on wine cups holding a vine branch while a horse tailed satyr pipes to him on a double flute.