We may next dismiss briefly the scenes which depict Maenads alone, usually as single figures. They sometimes appear in a state of frenzy (Fig. [121]),[[737]] dancing with snakes twisted round their arms,[[738]] or playing castanets,[[739]] or tearing a kid to pieces (χιμαιροφόνος).[[740]] In quieter fashion they ride on a mule[[741]] or bull,[[742]] or are seen accompanied by hinds, goats, and panthers,[[743]] or playing with a cat and bird.[[744]]
From Baumeister.
FIG. 121. MAENAD IN FRENZY (CUP AT MUNICH).
Satyrs in independent scenes often appear in burlesque guise, attired and acting as athletes,[[745]] or as warriors,[[746]] with the Amazonian pelta,[[747]] or even enacting the part of Herakles in the Garden of the Hesperides[[748]]; and are present in other scenes of a burlesque nature, which may often be derived from the Satyric drama, such as one in which they carry ghosts (εἴδωλα) with torches.[[749]] There is also a long list of scenes of miscellaneous character: a Seilenos washing,[[750]] or piling up bedding(?)[[751]]; fishing[[752]]; as potter, poking a furnace[[753]]; acting as footman to a girl and carrying a parasol[[754]]; flogging a youth,[[755]] or holding a boy Satyr on his hand[[756]]; caressing a hare[[757]]; and so on. Satyrs fight with torches[[758]]; sport with deer and other animals[[759]]; ride on goats, asses, and mules,[[760]] or lead them along[[761]]; and in one instance a Satyr has fallen off his mule, and a companion runs to help him[[762]]; in another, two Satyrs draw a third in a cart.[[763]] They are seen carrying chairs[[764]] and vessels of various kinds, such as amphorae, situlae, kraters, rhyta,[[765]] or wine-skins[[766]]; also seated on wine-skins or wine-jars,[[767]] playing games with jugs and wine-jars,[[768]] balancing drinking-cups on their backs,[[769]] pouring wine into a jar[[770]] or drawing it out from the mixing-bowl,[[771]] or playing games, such as see-saw or ball.[[772]] Many of these scenes are from the interiors of R.F. cups, to which they were well adapted, the varied attitudes giving so much scope for the ingenuity of the daring artists of the period. Scenes in which Satyrs play the lyre or flute are, very numerous.[[773]]
A feature of the numerous Dionysiac subjects on vases is the tendency to individualise Satyrs and Maenads by means of names, sometimes meaningless, sometimes names otherwise known in mythology, and frequently personifications of abstract conceptions, such as we shall see later to be very common on vases of all periods; in these cases they usually have some relation to the character or occupation of the personages to whom they are attached. The Satyrs Marsyas and Olympos sometimes appear in the larger compositions[[774]]; the former has been already mentioned in another connection. There is also a curious representation of Akratos,[[775]] the deity of unmixed wine (a liquid which to the Greeks implied an extravagance of revelry, owing to the intoxicating nature of the undiluted beverage). A type of Seilenos covered from head to foot with shaggy skin, and known as Papposeilenos, is often found on the later vases.[[776]] It is difficult to distinguish in all cases between Seileni and Satyrs on the vases, and the exact differences between the various types have not yet been properly elucidated, so that the terms are of necessity somewhat conventional.[[777]] The equine type of Satyr, with horse’s hoofs as well as tail, which is so frequently found on the sixth-century Ionic vases, has been noted elsewhere.[[778]] The young beardless Satyr is mostly found in the later period.
The number of vases on which Satyrs and Maenads are distinguished by name is very large, but only a few of the more important need be mentioned, along with some of the more curious names from the isolated instances.[[779]] On a vase in Berlin[[780]] no less than ten Maenads are named—Anthe (Flower), Choro (Dance), Chrysis (Gold), Kale (Beauty), Kisso (Ivy), Makaria (Blessed), Naia, Nymphe, Phanope, and Periklymene (Renowned); on one at Leyden[[781]] six—Dorkis, Io, Klyto, Molpe (Song), Myro, and Xantho (Fair-hair). On the former vase a Seilenos is expressly so named, and on the latter are four Satyrs with names; on a kylix by Brygos in the British Museum[[782]] the Seileni attacking Iris are styled Babacchos, Dromis, Echon, Terpon, etc.[[783]]
Other Satyr-names are Briacchos,[[784]] Dithyrambos,[[785]] Demon,[[786]] Hedyoinos (Sweet Wine),[[787]] Hybris (Insolence),[[788]] Hedymeles (Sweet Song),[[789]] Komos (Revelry),[[790]] Kissos (Ivy),[[791]] Molkos,[[792]] Oinos,[[793]] Oreimachos,[[794]] Simos (Snub-nose),[[795]] Tyrbas (Rout).[[796]]
The Maenads’ names are if anything more numerous: Bacche,[[797]] Choiros (Pig!),[[798]] Doro,[[799]] Eudia (Calm),[[800]] Eudaimonia (Happiness),[[801]] Euthymia (Good Cheer),[[802]] Erophyllis,[[803]] Galene (Calm),[[804]] Hebe (Youth),[[805]] Komodia (Comedy) and Tragoedia (Tragedy),[[806]] Kalyke (Bud),[[807]] Lilaia,[[808]] Mainas,[[809]] Nymphaia,[[810]] Opora (Harvest) and Oreias (Mountain-Nymph),[[811]] Oinanthe,[[812]] Pannychis (All-night Revel),[[813]] Polyerate (Well-beloved),[[814]] Philomela,[[815]] Sime (Snub-nose),[[816]] Terpsikome,[[817]] Thaleia,[[818]] Rodo (Rose),[[819]] Paidia,[[820]] and Kraipale,[[821]] a name which is not easy to render in classical English, but which denotes the results following on a night’s debauch.