Rebecca Sopelak

11/16/13
Term Paper

For my archaeological report, I looked at the Greek kylix with satyrs and maenads.
When researching this, I touched briefly on what the maenads and satyrs were, when the kylix
was used, what it is used for, and how it was made. In this paper, I will go more in depth on a
few of these issues. I will first take a look at who the maenads and satyrs actually are. I will
look at their physical appearances, their personalities, and then their interactions with each other.
After that, I will look at the symposiums in which the kylix was often used at.

Maenads and Satyrs

Dr. Stevens a few months ago, claimed that the maenads and satyrs depicted on the kylix
the uncivilized followers of Dionysus (Personal Interview). What she said is true, but its not the
whole story. There is a lot more to maenads and satyrs than just being followers of Dionysus.
What I have discovered while researching is that the Maenads were the female followers
of Dionysus. Some of them are described as nymphs (Edwards, 80) while other times they are
referred to as human followers. They are often depicted in a short chiton, nebris, fawns skin or
sometimes not in clothes at all (Edwards, 79-80). You can see
in the kylix that is part of the Madison Art Collection, that the
maenads here were depicted as in the nebris (type of dress).
Often times the maenads are pictured with snakes. On the
discus of the cup it is visible that the maenad is holding a snake

that seems to be biting a satyr.

Apart from their looks, the maenads were known for their behaviors. As the followers of
Dionysus, they were often seen as the ones who prepare the wine for the festivals and in honor of
Dionysus (Maenads). As the followers of Dionysus, they tend to drink and drink fast.
According to Maenad they are known as the raving ones (Princeton). They tend to often be
seen dancing in a drunken intoxicated state. Once they get to this point, it all ends up going
down hill. The more they drink, the more violent they become. Maenad notes that they often
become animalistic in their drunken state and are called upon for mutilations (Princeton).
As for their male counterparts, they arent as violent, but are seen as animalistic, in both
the emotional and physical sense. Physically, they are known as half human, half horse. From
their torso up is human and from their torso down is a horses body. They also have horse ears.
The later art form of the satyr depicts them as more humanistic. They have a human body, a tail
and animal ears. They may also, but rarely, be depicted with hooves
in this humanized version of the satyr (Lissarague, 54). The satyrs
on this kylix are shown in their humanized form. As you can see,
they have a male anatomy, tail and animal ears. They dont have the
hooves from what I can tell, but that is due to the fact that hooves
were a rare occurrence in the depiction of the humanized satyr.
As for the satyrs animalistic behavior, this is shown through
their actions. You can see this through their ability to turn to the animal world to quench their
unsatisfied desires (Lissarague, 61). This is depicted in many ways throughout various art
pieces. For starters, they are almost shown in motion. According to Edwards, satyrs are defined
as padded dancers (79) due to the fact that they are constantly moving and dancing with what

seems like an inexhaustible energy (Lissarague, 53). They are generally associated with
activities such as drinking, specifically wine, music, and love (Lissarague, 54).
You can see the depiction of their need, want, wish, and desire for love through their
sexual behavior. Satyrs are often drawn naked, in a frontal facing position. You can see this on
both the discus and the outside of the kylix from the Madison Art Collection. The artist of this
kylix chose to depict these satyrs in the frontal
facing pose, while nude. This shows their
openness about their sexuality as well as tying
back into their sexual nature. Besides this artistic
depiction, you can find their sexual nature in their
names that when translated they are often linked to
and associated with sexual acts, behaviors, and anatomy. Today, people use the word satyr to
mean some sort of reprehensible behavior as according to Lissarague in his article about the
satyrs (57). Besides these depictions and connotations that people receive about the satyrs from
how the artists decided to draw them, you can see their desire through love with how they
interact with maenads in the drawings and how the satyrs are often trying to pursue the maenads.
Maenads and satyrs are both followers of Dionysus and are both often found at the same
festivals, in the same places, at the same time. Today, people tend to lump them together as a
unit simply because they were two groups whom both are followers of Dionysus. This union is
seen in the art with these two groups almost always being shown together on the art pieces. Its
rare to see satyrs shown on a piece of art without a maenad because according to Edwards,
satyrs are almost always depicted with the maenads (80). The maenads could have been
shown without the satyrs, but if they are, its always only by themselves or with other maenads

seeing as how maenads were never shown with other men, only satyrs (Edwards, 82). You can
see how these statements hold true on the kylix from the Madison Art Collection. As you see
here, both maenads and satyrs are depicted together on the discus and the outside of the cup.
This seemed to be a common occurrence through most of the art pieces I saw throughout my
research and on other pieces of art we have seen in Biers this year.

Symposium
Symposiums were large extravagant parties. According to various sources, but most
specifically Slater, symposiums were seen as a
microcosm of life (161) in Ancient Greek society.
They generally were a private affair being held at
someones home. They tended to be held after a
banquet and usually were for the males only. There
may have been females allowed into the event, but
from what I have found in my research, no females have been brought up as being in attendance
of these events. A few of the pottery pieces have shown women aiding to men playing games at
the symposium, but they seemed scantly clad and from talking to Professor Allain, these women
were probably maenads or women that they paid to have at the symposium for entertainment and
sexual desires (Conversation). This leads me to believe that the symposiums were generally a
male only event and if they were male only, they were definitely male dominated events seeing
as the men are more talked about at being in attendance at the symposium than women.
As for the event itself, it is normally a special occasion. It is generally held in someones
or somethings honor. For example, after the Trojan war there was a symposium held in Athens

for Ajax, a war hero of the time (Van Der Valk, 10). Other causes for the celebration could have
been a holiday, the Olympic games, the ending of a war, etc. This is shown in another
symposium that was held in Agathons honor. In Platos symposium, Agathon has just won first
place for his drama. To celebrate he invites people back to his house for a party. This party is
another symposium, but is held for the celebration of an award from a play instead of for a war
hero like the symposium for Ajax.
These events, as I have mentioned before, were held in private residences and were seen
to be private events. Only did outsiders know about them going on if you saw one accidently
spill out onto the streets from over intoxicated guests. Other than that, they were seen as private,
invite only type of events. Often the guests were seen as members of the group in whose home
they had been invited.
The secrecy of these events made many people see symposiums as an event for the elite.
Symposiums were generally held for people of importance. For example, the symposium held in
Athens was held for Ajax and the symposium in Platos Symposium was held for Agathon, in
Agathons home, for a selected group of people that he invited. Because of this, most people did
see these events as for the men in power in the polis. Many accounts say that they were often
held in the homes of the higher-class citizens (Garnsey, 129). Most of the symposiums were for
the people seen as the aristocracy (Garnsey, 130).
As for what took place at these events that varies from symposium to symposium. Some
symposiums were used as times of gathering, for the men to eat, drink, and talk like in Platos
Symposium where instead of getting drunk they decided to each take a turn speaking about
love (Arkins). Other times they were seen more as a joyous, eventful occasion with lots of
music, dancing, and of course more drinking (Garnsey, 129). No matter what the symposium

was for, there was always some kind of entertainment, something to eat, and the wine was
always flowing.
Most of the times, with the amounts of wine being consumed at the symposiums, the
gathering could become quite rowdy. The wine was always mixed with water, but depending on
who the symposiat (today they would be known as the host) was, depended on how strong the
wine was going to be. It was the symposiat who prepared the wine for the evening, so the
symposiat was the one who called the shots. If the symposiat wanted it to be a more gleeful
evening for a more celebratory occasion, the symposiat would put less water in the wine, but if
the symposium was supposed to be a more serious, learned conversation dominated (Garnsey,
131) occasion, the symposiat would put more water in the wine. The event, the host, and the
strength of the wine would determine how the course of the evening would play out.
At the more rowdy symposiums, the symposiat would have a stronger wine allowing for
the guests to get a tad bit intoxicated a little too quickly. At these events, you would often see
people having hallucinations induced by wine (Slater, 165). Some of the guests would use the
hallucinations to commence games of kottabos and engage in signing drinking songs, skolia, that
were often poems to the gods. These often lead to more drinking seeing as they brought up
sorrows in their lives causing the guests to drink away their sorrows and in turn leading to them
drinking more. Once it got past the point of over intoxication is when the party would,
unintentionally, fall out onto the streets and turn from a private event to a public spectacle.
Leading up to this public spectacle is the bringing up of emotions that cause the men to
drink to the point of intoxication. Generally these events are for happy purposes, but as the
games begin, the feeling surface, and the intake of the wine increases. One of the most popular
of games during symposium was the game of kottabos. Originally, Dr. Stevens described

kottabos as a drinking game in which you swirl the wine in the kylix and fling the dregs at a
target (Personal Interview). For the most part, what she said is correct, but there is a little bit
more too the game.
Kottabos is played with the kylix and a target, often times some sort of metal object or a
basin. Once you drink the wine in the kylix, there are dregs leftover in the bottom. The person
playing swirls the dregs in the bottom to form a big clump of all the dregs. He then proceeds to
throw the dregs out of the kylix towards the basin. As he does so, he states the name of his lover,
his desired women, or the one he loves. Depending on the sound at which the dregs hit the
target, if the person even hits the target, gives the man a determination on her feelings about him
and if he should pursue her or not (Schmitz, 366). As we all know, if he does not get the desired
sound/reaction that he wants, this will often times lead to more drinking to cover up this newly
brought upon sorrows.
As for the skolia bringing up emotional pain to cause drinking, it is similar to the way
that the kottabos happens, but instead of a woman that is the object of the mans affection, it is
something that he wishes to have in life. Most of the skolia are poems that are written to a
specific god (Van der Valk, 1). The god that the skolia is written to corresponds with what the
man currently desires. Most of the skolia are written in the want for wealth and prosperity (Van
der Valk, 3). This is because wealth, prosperity, and health are the three things that a Greek man
valued the most (Van der Valk, 3). Seeing as there was no specific god for health, most of the
poems were directed at the gods that helped the men achieve a better harvest, money, riches,
land, etc.
Once at symposium, the men would recite the poems as they were originally written, but
as the night grew longer, they were often times turned into drinking songs (Van der Valk, 16).

The more they sang them, the more they realized the things they didnt have, increasing their
sorrows and using wind to cover it up. Conversely, the songs could also bring up great pride fro
what the men did have, seeing as most of them were in the upper class of society, causing them
to cheers and drink to the good fortune of their lives. The more good fortune that was
mentioned, the more drinking that arose from it to celebrate.
Eventually, the symposiums became less of importance. When the polis started to turn
into towns and the individual leaders started to go away, so did the symposiums. By the 4th
century, the symposiums were pretty much nonexistent in Greek civilizations and got replaced
by dinner parties, banquets, and festivals. Today, symposiums are used more for educational
gathering rather than aristocratic parties.

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