Silenus

The Silenoi were followers of Dionysus. They were drunks, and were usually bald and fat with thick
lips and squat noses, and had the legs of a human. Later, the plural "silenoi" 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, 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 a fountain from
which Silenus often drank. As Silenus fell asleep, the king's servants seized and took him to their
master.

Silenus shared with the king a pessimistic philosophy: That the best thing for a man is not to be born,
and if born, should die as soon as possible.
An alternative story was when lost and wandering in Phrygia, he was rescued by peasants and taken to
King Midas, who treated him kindly. Dionysus offered Midas a reward for his kindness, and Midas
chose the power of turning everything he touched into gold. Another story was that Silenus has 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 Cyclops. They are the comic elements of the story, which is basically a play on
Homer's Odyssey IX. Silenus refers to the satyrs as his children during the play.

A poinçon bearing the head of Silenus in relief. It is believed to be an artist's die, from which potters'
sunk dies would be cast; a roman remain discovered at Holt, eight miles south of Chester.
Silenus was also possibly a Latin term of abuse around 211 BC, being used in Plautus' 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”