The Iconography of the Satyr in Greece and Rome

The satyr is a ubiquitous figure in ancient art and this work explores the changing iconography of the satyr, from his inception in the visual record in archaic Athens to his usage in the Roman imperial period, using the Pouring Satyr statue type as a specific example. The Pouring Satyr type first appeared in Athens in the fourth century BCE; although a full-scale statue from this period does not survive, the figural type is found on several contemporary Athenian relief sculptures. The statue type is then recreated in a number of copies from the Roman period. Traditionally, this statue type is discussed as a work of the fourth century sculptor Praxiteles, and examined only within his oeuvre, but this volume instead focuses on the display and context of the works themselves, in Greece, Rome, and in the modern museum. This allows for exploration of the very different meanings one statue can have depending on its context. The Pouring Satyr, and the satyr himself, meant something very different to a fourth-century BCE Athenian than it did for second-century CE Roman, or for a twenty-first century audience viewing these works in a museum setting. Through this iconographical study the book addresses a broader question in the study of ancient material culture, that of context and reception.