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<p>[QUOTE="TIF, post: 3419561, member: 56859"]I remember when you ID'd that coin, Chris. What a cool find!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Nice coin!!</p><p><br /></p><p>I have the same questions and don't have definite answers.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, why is the head of Silenos on coins often called a mask rather than a head? How do we know it is intended to represent a mask rather than a head? I'm not sure but if the depiction doesn't show his neck, perhaps it is called a mask, but how can you tell on the facing portraits when his long beard would hide any neck?</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, why a "mask" in the first place? That question is a little easier. In Greek satyr plays the leader of the chorus wore a mask of Silenos. What are "satyr plays"? Short comedic sketches performed between acts of or after a Greek drama or tragedy. "The rowdy satyrs intrude upon a standard myth, stir up comic havoc, nearly disrupt its set course, but in the end the traditional resolution of the myth is preserved and the satyrs head off for another jolly adventure." (<a href="https://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm" rel="nofollow">source</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>Silenos is an interesting character. You'd think a raunchy drunken licentious satyr would be lighthearted and carefree but his philosophy would make Nietzsche proud, although Silenos was an antinatalist rather than nihilist. When Silenos was drunk-- which seems to be whenever he was awake-- he had powers of prophecy. Here is the recorded "Wisdom of Silenos":</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">"...<b>but for humans, the best for them is not to be born at all</b>, not to partake of nature's excellence; not to be is best, for both sexes. This should be our choice, if choice we have; and the next to this is, when we are born, to die as soon as we can.' It is plain therefore, that he declared the condition of the dead to be better than that of the living."</span></p><p style="text-align: right">—<b>Aristotle</b>, <i>Eudemus</i> (354 BCE), surviving fragment quoted in Plutarch, <i>Moralia</i>, <i>Consolatio ad Apollonium</i>, sec. xxvii</p> <p style="text-align: right"><br /></p><p>What a downer, eh? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="TIF, post: 3419561, member: 56859"]I remember when you ID'd that coin, Chris. What a cool find! Nice coin!! I have the same questions and don't have definite answers. First, why is the head of Silenos on coins often called a mask rather than a head? How do we know it is intended to represent a mask rather than a head? I'm not sure but if the depiction doesn't show his neck, perhaps it is called a mask, but how can you tell on the facing portraits when his long beard would hide any neck? Also, why a "mask" in the first place? That question is a little easier. In Greek satyr plays the leader of the chorus wore a mask of Silenos. What are "satyr plays"? Short comedic sketches performed between acts of or after a Greek drama or tragedy. "The rowdy satyrs intrude upon a standard myth, stir up comic havoc, nearly disrupt its set course, but in the end the traditional resolution of the myth is preserved and the satyrs head off for another jolly adventure." ([URL='https://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm']source[/URL]) Silenos is an interesting character. You'd think a raunchy drunken licentious satyr would be lighthearted and carefree but his philosophy would make Nietzsche proud, although Silenos was an antinatalist rather than nihilist. When Silenos was drunk-- which seems to be whenever he was awake-- he had powers of prophecy. Here is the recorded "Wisdom of Silenos": [COLOR=#0000ff] "...[B]but for humans, the best for them is not to be born at all[/B], not to partake of nature's excellence; not to be is best, for both sexes. This should be our choice, if choice we have; and the next to this is, when we are born, to die as soon as we can.' It is plain therefore, that he declared the condition of the dead to be better than that of the living."[/COLOR] [RIGHT]—[B]Aristotle[/B], [I]Eudemus[/I] (354 BCE), surviving fragment quoted in Plutarch, [I]Moralia[/I], [I]Consolatio ad Apollonium[/I], sec. xxvii [/RIGHT] What a downer, eh? :D[/QUOTE]
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