Marsyas
Marsyas, a satyr, flayed by Apollo
- a satyr who challenged Apollo to a trial of skill on the flute, and whom the latter vanquished and flayed alive, Liv. 38, 13, 6; Ov. F. 6, 705; id. M. 6, 383; Ap. Flor. 1, 3, p. 113; Luc. 3, 207; Stat. Th. 4, 186; near his statue in the Roman forum was the place for the transaction of business, Hor. S. 1, 6, 120; Mart. 2, 64, 8; Sen. de Ben. 6, 32, 1; cf. Juv. 9, 2.
- A river in Greater Phrygia, which flows into the Maeander, now Tschinar Tchai, Ov. M. 6, 400; Liv. 38, 13, 6.—
- II The name of two rivers in Syria, Plin. 5, 23, 19, § 81; id. 5, 24, 21, § 86.
- , Μαρσύας, a satyr, flayed by Apollo, L., O., Iu.—A statue of Marsyas in the forum, H.
MA´RSYAS[COLONIAVol. 1. p. 481 a. ]
MA´RSYAS(Μαρσύας).
1.A tributary of the Maeander, having its sources in the district called Idrias, that is in the neighbourhood of Stratoniceia, and flowing in a north-western direction past Alabanda, discharged its waters into the Maeander nearly opposite to Tralles. On its banks were the λευκαὶ στῆλαιnear which the Carians held their national meetings. (Hdt. 5.118.) The modern name of this river is Tshina, as is clearly proved by Leake (Asia Minor, p. 234, &c.); while earlier geographers generally confound this Marsyas with the Harpasus.
2.A small river of Phrygia, and, like the Carian Marsyas, a tributary of the Maeander. Herodotus (Hdt. 7.26) calls it a καταρράκτης; and according to Xenophon (Xen. Anab. 1.2.8) its sources were in the market-place of Celaenae, below the acropolis, where it fell down with a great noise from the rock (Curt. 3.1.) This perfectly agrees with the term applied to it by Herodotus; but the description is apparently opposed to a statement of Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.41), according to whom the river took its origin in the valley of Aulocrene, ten miles from Apamea. (Comp. Strab. 12. p. 578; Max. Tyr. 8.8.) Strabo, again, states that a lake above Celaenae was the source of both the Maeander and the Marsyas. Comparing these accounts,says Col. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 160), with Livy (Liv. 38.38), who probably copied from Polybius, it may be inferred that the lake or pool on the summit of a mountain which rose above Celaenae was the reputed source of the Marsyas and Maeander; but that in fact the two rivers issued from different parts of the mountain below the lake.By this explanation the difficulty of reconciling the different statements seems to be removed; for Aulocrene was probably the name of the lake, which imparted its own name to the plain mentioned by Pliny. The Marsyas joined the Maeander a little way below Celaenae. (Comp. MAEANDERand Hamilton's Researches, 1. p. 499.) [L.S]
MARSYAS(Μαρσύμς), a river of Coelesyria, mentioned only by Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.23) as dividing Apameia from the tetrarchy of the Nazerini. It was probably the river mentioned-without its name--by Abulfeda as a tributary of the Orontes, which, rising below Apameia, falls into the lake synonymous with that city, and so joins the Orontes. The modern name Yarmukis given by Pococke, who places it in his map on the east of the Orontes. (Abulfeda, Tabula Syriae, ed. Koehler, pp. 151, 152; Pococke, Description of the East, vol. 2. p. 79.) It doubtless gave its name to Marsyas, a district of Syria, mentioned by Strabo, who joins it with Ituraea, and defines its situation by the following notes:--It adjoined the Macra Campus, on its east, and had its commencement at Laodiceia ad Libanum. Chalcis was, as it were, an acropolis of the district. This Chalcis is joined with Heliopolis, as under the power of Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, who ruled over Marsyas and Ituraea. (Strab. xvi. pp. 753, 755.) The same geographer speaks of Chalcidice ἀπὸ τοῦ Μαρσύου καθήκουσα (p., 153), and extends it to the sources of the Orontes, above which was the Αὐλὼν βασιλικός (p. 155), now the Bekaa. From these various notices it is evident that the Marsyas comprehended the valley of the Orontes from its rise to Apameia, where it was bounded on the north probably by the river of the same name. But it extended westward to the Macra Campus, which bordered on the Mediterranean. (Mannert, Geographic von Syrien, pp. 326, 363.) [ITURAEA; ORONTES.]
[G.W](Μαρσύας). A Silenus of Phrygian legend (really god of the river of the same name near the old Phrygian town Celaenae), son of Hyagnis or of Olympus. He was the typical player on the flute. Among the Phrygians the flute entered into the worship of Cybelé and Dionysus, and Marsyas is said to have instructed Olympus in playing upon that instrument. According to a Greek legend, Athené had invented the flute, and then cast it aside because it distorted the features of the player. Marsyas took it up, and became so skilful as to challenge Apollo, the patron god of the lyre. The Muses having declared him vanquished, the god flayed him; his skin was hung up in the cave from which the river Marsyas issued, and was said to move about joyfully when a flute was played. King Midas, who had decided in his favour, received as punishment from Apollo a pair of ass's ears. The contest was a favourite subject in art. See Midas.
(Μαρσύας). (1) A small but rapid river of Phrygia, emptying into the Maeander at Celaenae.
(2) A river of Caria, falling into the Maeander nearly opposite Tralles.
(3) A tributary of the Orontes in Syria.
(4) The plain of Syria, through which the upper Orontes flows.
- Hdt. 5.118
- The better known Marsyas in Phrygia is called Catarrhactes by Herodotus: Hdt. 7.26; Paus. 2.7.9, Paus. 10.30.9