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. 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. 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, the tutor of
Athena. 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's hospitality Silenus told him some tales and the king, enchanted by Silenus's fictions, entertained him for five days and nights. 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, 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's
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". In his satire
The Caesars, the 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. Silenus commonly figures in Roman bas-reliefs of the train of Dionysus, a subject for
sarcophagi, embodying the transcendent promises of Dionysian cult. In Book VI of Pausanias's
Description of Greece, his grave is said to be "in the
land of the Hebrews". 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, (
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, (
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,
Papposilenus Papposilenus is a representation of Silenus that emphasizes his old age, particularly as a
stock character in
satyr play or
comedy. In
vase painting, his hair is often white, and as in statuettes, Papposilenus has a
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. 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 bell-krater attributed to
Polion, File:Altes romano 11.TIF|Actor as Papposilenus, , after 4th century BC original (
Altes Museum,
Berlin) ==Wisdom==