Incertarum fabularum fragmenta (fr. 480)

241

Citation context Traced by Theodoridis to Diogenianus. Hsch. σ 639 σιληνοί·
σάτυροι (likewise attributed to Diogenianus by Hansen) appears to be an
abbreviated version of the same material.
Interpretation The collective term σάτυροι for the semi-human, semi-equine
creatures regularly depicted in the company of Dionysus and the nymphs is
attested already in Hesiod (frr. 10a.l8 = 123.2 “the race of worthless, impossible
satyrs”; subsequently at e. g. Ecphantid. Saturoi·, Hermipp. fr. 47.1 (Pericles as
“King of the satyrs”); Cratin. Dionusalexandros (a chorus of satyrs) and Saturoi·,
Phryn. Com. Saturoi·, Ar. Th. 157 (alluding to the genre “satyr play”); E. Cyc.
100; Ba. 130); the word is nowhere obviously treated as a personal name. Plural
σιληνοί are mentioned at hAphr. 262 and are labelled as such on the Frangois
Vase. But they are not mentioned in 5th-century literature, where ό Σιληνός
is always an individual creature (first at Pi. fr. 156 “the ecstatic dancer whose
feet beat the ground, whom Malea’s mountain raised, husband of a Naiad,
Silenos” and Hdt. 7.26.3 (the skin of Marysas the son of Silenos, which the
Phrygians report Apollo flayed off of him); 8.138.3 (Silenos caught in Midas’
gardens in Macedonia)). Thus in Euripides’ Cyclops the old Silenos (named
only at 539) is the father of the satyrs who make up the chorus (Cyc. 13, 16,
36, 82, 84), as seemingly routinely in the genre (cf. A. fr. 47a.8O5 (Diktuoulkoi)·,
S. fr. 314.53, 75,169, 203 (Ichneutai), although in neither case is Silenos named
in the preserved fragments of the play). “Silens” is attested again as a group-
name in the 4th century (e. g. X. Smp. 4.19; Pl. Smp. 215a, 221d; Lg. 815c). But
the implication of Photius’ note is that Eupolis used the word in a way unusual
for his own time, i. e. as a generic term for a group of what other authors would
have called “satyrs”.
The etymology of both names is unclear, and they may be separate regional
terms for the same creature. See in general Hartman 1927, esp. 39-40, 48-50;
Kossatz-Deissmann 1991; Hedreen 1992; Hedreen 1994. 47-69; Simon, LIMC
VIII.l.1108-10 (with extensive bibliography).

fr. 480 K.-A. (444 K.)
Phot, σ 259
σ ι ο κ ό λ ο ς · νεωκόρος. Εϋπολις
σιοκόλος Osann : f σιωκολλος f Phot.g: σιώκολλος Phot.z: σιοκόρος Hsch., Kaibel:
σιοκόμος Meineke : mel. σιόπολος

s i o k o I o s: temple-attendant. Eupolis