A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

MARSYAS. MARSYAS. 963Marsy s ipon the flute; and it was not till the in fact only two. (See Bernhardy, ad Suid. 1. ci;
former added his voice to the music of his lyre that Droysen, Hellenism. vol. i. p. 679.)
the contest was decided in his favour. As a just 1. Son of Periander, a native of Pella, in Macepunishment for the presumption of Marsyas, Apollo donia, was a contemporary of Alexander, with
bound him to a tree, and flayed him alive. His whom, according to Suidas, he was educated. The
blood was the source of the river Marsyas, and same author calls him a brother of Antigonus, who
Apollo hung up his skin in the cave out of which was afterwards king of Asia, by which an uterine
that river flows.. His flutes (for, according to some, brother alone can be meant, as the father of Anthe instrument on which he played was the double tigonus was named Philip. Both these statements
flute) were carried by the river Marsyas into the point to his being of noble birth, and appear
Maeander, and' again emerging in the Asopus, were strangely at variance with the assertion that he
thrown on land by it in the Sicyonian territory, and was a mere professional grammarian (ypalAuaTo~iwere dedicated to Apollo in his temple at Sicyon. a'LoKaXos), a statement which Geier conjectures
(Apollod. Bibl. i. 4. ~ 2; Palaeph. de Ineredib. plausibly enough to refer in fact to the younger
48; Liban. Narrat. 14, p. 1104; Nonn. Narrat. Marsyas [No. 2]. Suidas, indeed, seems in many
ad Greg. Invect. ii. 10, p. 164; Diod. iii. 58, points to have confounded the two. The only
59; Paus. ii. 7. ~ 9; Herod. vii. 26; Xen. Anab. other fact transmitted to us concerning the life of
i. 2. ~ 8; Plut. de FlZv. 10; Hygin. Fab. 16-5; Marsyas, is that he was appointed by Demetrius
Ovid, Metam. vi. 382, 400.) The fable evidently to command one division of his fleet in the great
refers to the struggle between the citharoedic and sea-fight of Salamis, B.c. 306. (Diod. xx. 50.)
auloedic styles of music, of which the former was But this circumstance is alone sufficient to show
connected with the worship of Apollo among the that he was a person who himself took an active
Dorians, and the latter with the orgiastic rites of part in public affairs, not a mere man of letters.
Cybele in Phrygia. It is easy to apply this ex- It is probable that he followed the fortunes of his
planation to the different parts of the legend; and step-brother Antigonus.
it may be further illustrated by other traditions HIis principal work was a history of Macedonia,
respecting Marsyas. He is made by some the in ten books, commencing from the earliest times,
inventor of the flute, by others of the double flute. and coming down to the wars of Alexander in
(Plut. de Mus. p. 1132, a.; Suid. s. Iv.; Athen. iv. Asia, when it terminated abruptly with the rep. 184, a, xiv. p. 616, 617; Plin. H. N. vii. 56.) turn of that monarch into Syria, after the conquest
By a confusion between the mythical and the his- of Egypt and the foundation of Alexandria. (Suid.
torical, the flute-player Olympus is made his son, 1. c.) It is repeatedly cited by Athenaeus, Pluor by some his father. He is spoken of as a fol- tarch, Harpocration, and other writers..Whether
lower of Cybele (Diod. 1. c.), and he occupies, in the T& 7repl'A'CarBpov which are twice quoted
fact, the same place in the orgiastic worship of by Harpocration (s..'ApoTlwv, MapSYlrs) formed
Cybele that Seilenus does in the worship of Dio- merely a part of the same work, or were altogether
nysus: Pausanias (l.e.) actually calls him Seilenus, distinct, is uncertain, but the former hypothesis
and other writers connect him with Dionysus. seems the more probable. Some authors, however,
The story of Marsyas was often referred to by assign these fragments to the younger Marsyas.
the lyric and epigrammatic poets (Bode, Gesch. Suidas also speaks of a history of the education
d. LIyr. Dichtk. vol. ii. pp. 296, 297; Brunck, Anal. of Alexander (aTvro0 ero'AAetdy8pou d-yw'yrv) as
vol. i. p. 488, vol. ii. p. 97), and formed a favourite a separate work, and ascribes, moreover, to the
subject for works of art.. (MiUller, Archaiol. d. elder Marsyas a. treatise on the history or anti.
Ifunst, ~ 362, n. 4.) In the fora of ancient cities quities of Athens ('ATLKad), in twelve books,
there was frequently placed a statue of Marsyas, which Bernhardy and Geier consider as being the
with one hand erect, in token, according to Servius, same with the dpXaloAoyta, the work of the
of the freedom of the state, since Marsyas was a younger historian of this name.
minister of Bacchus, the god of liberty. (Serv. in 2. Of Philippi, commonly called the Younger
Aen. iv. 528.) It seems more likely that the (Jd Yee'epos), to distinguish him from the preceding,
statue, standing in the place where justice was ad- with whom he has frequently been confounded.
ministered, was intended to hold forth an example The period at which he flourished is uncertain:
of the severe punishment of arrogant presumption. the earliest writers by whom he is cited are Pliny
(Buttiger, Kleine Schrifien, vol. i. p. 28.) The and Athenaeus. The latter tells us that he was
statue of Marsyas in the forum of Rome is well priest of Heracles. (Athen. xi. p. 467, c.) The
known by the allusions of Horace (Sat. i. 6. 120), works of his which we find cited, are, i. MaKceoJuvenal (Sat. ix. 1,2), and Martial (ii. 64. 7). This vied, whether a geographical or strictly historical
statue was the place of assambly for the courtesans treatise is uncertain; it contained at least six
of Rome, who used to crown it with chaplets of books. (Harpocr. s. v. AnTr,) 2.'ApXatokoy[a,
flowers. (Plin. H. AN. xxi. 3; Senec. de Benef. vi. in twelve books, mentioned by Suidas; probably,.32; Lipsius, Antiq. Led. 3.) [P. S.] as suggested by Geier, the same with the'ATTICa
MA'RSYAS (MaparSas), general of the Alex- attributed by the lexicographer to the elder Marandrians in their revolt against Ptolemy Physcon. syas. 3. Muvuca, in seven books.
He was taken prisoner by Hegelochus, the com- The two last works are erroneously attributed
mander of the king's forces, and carried before by Suidas, according to our existing text, to a
Ptolemy, who, however, spared his -life, (Diod, third Marsyas, a native of Taba, but it has been.Esc. Vales. p. 603.) [E. H. B.] satisfactorily shown that this supposed historian is
MA'RSYAS (MapaGas), literary. Three his- no other than the mythical founder of the city of
torical writers of this name are mentioned by Taba (Steph. Byz. s.. Tcg), and that the works
Suidas (s. i,. Mapor'as), but there seems no doubt ascribed to him belong in fact- to Marsyas of Phithat this arises either from an error of Suidas him- lippi.
self or a corruption of his text, and that there were A*l! the questions concerning both the elder and
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