MAR'SYAS (Lat., from t:k. Maperks). One of the Sileni of Asia Minor, and therefore at once a spirit of the water and of music, especially of the flute, which was associated with the worship of the great goddess Cybele. as whose devoted servant Marsyas appears in the Phrygian legend. Thus he is called the son of Ilyagnis, to whom was attributed sometimes the invention of the flute, and a teacher of Olympus, to whom the development of the art was assigned. Under (reek and especially Attic influence other fea tures were added to t he legend. Athena, so ran the story, had invented the flutes, lint, observing the reflection of her distorted face, threw them from her. They were found by the Silent's, or satyr, Marsvas, who became so skillful that he ven tured to challenge the god of the eithara, Apollo, to a musical contest. lb re two versions According to one, King Midas as judge gave the decision to Marsyas. whereupon Apollo be stowed on the umpire asses' ears for his poor judgment. In the other version the muses were the arbiters, and gave the decision to Apollo, as his instrument allowed him to add song. In both
versions the god hung his presumptuous rival to a tree and Ilayed him alive, or caused him to be flayed by a Scythian slave. At Ceteme in Phryoia Nlarsyas was worshiped at the eavern whenee flows the tributary of the \brander that bears his name. and here also was shown his skin, which had been hung up in warning by the vietorions Marsyas was a favorite figure in art. The Athenian sculptor Alyron made a famous group therm and Marsyas. of which the latter figure sci ins reprodueed in a marble statue in the Lateran. Another celebrated group is represented by the statutes of Marsyas hung from the tree, and the celebrated Florentine figure of the Scythian whetting his knife: of the other figures of this grump no certain copies have been identified. The eompetition was also represented on the base of the statues of Leto. Apollo, and Artemis at Man tinea, by Praxiteles, and of this composition three of the four slabs are now in the Museum at Athens.