Editing Silenus (section)

==Evolution==
The original Silenus resembled a [[folkloric]] man of the forest, with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse.<ref>Entry "Satyrs and silens", in: ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''</ref> 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.<ref>Kerenyi, p. 177.</ref>

{{Coin image box 1 double
| header =Coin from [[Mende (Chalcidice)|Mende]] depicting Silenus
| image = File:Mende 460-423 BC.jpg
| caption_left = '''[[Obverse and reverse|Obv:]]'''  Inebriated Silenus reclining on a [[donkey]], holding [[kantharos]] with wine
| caption_right = '''[[Obverse and reverse|Rev:]]''' Vine of four grape clusters within shallow linear incuse square, ΜΕΝΔΑΙΩΝ, ''of Mendians''
| width = 250
| footer = Silver [[tetradrachm]] from [[Mende (Chalcidice)|Mende]], 460–423 BC
| position = left| margin = 4
}}

A notorious consumer of wine, he was usually drunk and had to be supported by satyrs or carried by a [[donkey]]. Silenus was described as the oldest, wisest and most drunken of the followers of Dionysus, and was said in [[Orphic]] 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 includes [[Priapus]], [[Hermaphroditus]], [[Cedalion]] and [[Chiron]], but also includes [[Pallas (son of Lycaon)|Pallas]], the tutor of [[Athena]].<ref>Kerenyi, p. 177.</ref>

When intoxicated, Silenus was said to possess special knowledge and the power of prophecy. The Phrygian King [[Midas]] 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 in [[Phrygia]], 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.<ref>J. Thompson (2010). [http://www.mythopoetry.com/mythopoetics/scholar09_thompson.html "Emotional Intelligence/Imaginal Intelligence"], in: ''Mythopoetry Scholar Journal'' '''1'''.</ref> Dionysus offered Midas a reward for his kindness toward Silenus, and Midas chose the power of turning everything he touched into [[gold]]. Another story was that Silenus had been captured by two shepherds, and regaled them with wondrous tales.

In [[Euripides]]'s [[satyr play]] ''[[Cyclops (play)|Cyclops]]'', Silenus is stranded with the satyrs in [[Sicily]], where they have been enslaved by the [[Cyclopes]]. They are the comic elements of the story, a parody of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' IX. Silenus refers to the satyrs as his children during the play.

Silenus may have become a [[Latin]] term of abuse around 211 BC, when it is used in [[Plautus]]' ''[[Rudens]]'' to describe Labrax, a treacherous [[pimp]] or ''leno'', as "...a pot-bellied old Silenus, bald head, beefy, bushy eyebrows, scowling, twister, god-forsaken criminal".<ref>Plautus</ref> In his satire ''The Caesars'', the emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] has Silenus sitting next to the gods to offer up his comments on the various rulers under examination, including [[Alexander the Great]], [[Julius Caesar]], [[Augustus]], [[Marcus Aurelius]] (whom he reveres as a fellow [[philosopher-king]]), and [[Constantine I]].<ref>[http://www.mountainman.com.au/essenes/Julian_Caesares_Symposium_Kronia.htm ''The Caesars'' on-line English translation].</ref>

Silenus commonly figures in Roman bas-reliefs of the train of Dionysus, a subject for [[Sarcophagus|sarcophagi]], embodying the transcendent promises of Dionysian cult.

In Book VI of Pausanias' Description of Greece, his grave is said to be "in the [[Land of Israel|land of the Hebrews]]".

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170" caption="Silenus as member of the Dionysian entourage">
File:Sarcophagus Dionysos Ariadne Glyptothek Munich.jpg|Front side of a [[Roman sarcophagus]], depicting the wedding of [[Dionysos]] and [[Ariadne]], with old Silenus figuring in their entourage (sixth figure from the right), 150–160 CE ([[Glyptothek]], [[Munich]])
File:Terracotta bell-krater (mixing bowl) MET DP111867.jpg|Papposilenus in a Dionysian procession, bell-krater from [[Paestum]], [[Magna Graecia]], {{circa|355 BC}} ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]])
File:Borghese Vase-5-Hermitage.jpg|Satyr holding a [[thyrsus]], supporting a drunken ivy-wreathed silenus, from the [[Borghese Vase]], 1st century BC ([[Louvre]])
File:Pompeii - Casa del Centenario - Hermaphroditos.jpg|[[Hermaphroditos]] with Silenus and a [[maenad]], Roman [[fresco]] from the [[Casa del Centenario]], [[Pompeii]]
File:Pompeii - Hermaphroditus and Silenus.jpg|Hermaphroditus and Silenus. On the right a maenad with thyrsus. Roman fresco from [[Pompeii]], House of M. Epidi Sabini, IX.1.22.
File:Bacchus and Silenus BM 1899.2-15.1 n02.jpg|Bacchus pours out wine for a panther, while Silenus plays the lyre, painting from [[Boscoreale]], [[Campania]], {{circa|30 BC}} ([[British Museum]])
File:Roman fresco Villa dei Misteri Pompeii 005.jpg|Silenus playing a [[lyre]], detail of a fresco from the [[Villa of the Mysteries]], [[Pompeii]], {{circa|50 BC}}
</gallery>

===Papposilenus===
Papposilenus is a representation of Silenus that emphasizes his old age, particularly as a [[stock character]] in [[satyr play]] or [[Greek comedy|comedy]]. In [[vase painting]], his hair is often white, and as in statuettes, Papposilenus has a [[wikt:potbelly|pot 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.<ref>Albin Lesky, ''A History of Greek Literature,'' translated by Cornelis de Heer and James Willis (Hackett, 1996, originally published 1957 in German), p. 226; Guy Hedreen, "Myths of Ritual in Athenian Vase-Paintings of Silens", in: ''The Origins of Theater in Ancient Greece and Beyond: From Ritual to Drama'' (Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 151.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:Greek - Papposilenos Playing the Double Flute - Walters 541076.jpg|Papposilenus playing an [[aulos]], bronze from 3rd century BC, ([[Walters Art Museum]])
File:Papposilenoi Met 25.78.66 n01.jpg|Two papposilenoi as singers at the [[Panathenaia]] on an Attic [[red-figure pottery|red-figure]] [[krater|bell-krater]] attributed to [[Polion]], {{circa|420 BC}}
File:Altes romano 11.TIF|Actor as Papposilenus, {{circa|100 AD}}, after 4th century BC original ([[Altes Museum]], [[Berlin]])
</gallery>