The Athena Marsyas Group was a bronze sculptural group by Myron that stood on the Acropolis of Athens in the high classical period, dated to c 450 BCE. Now lost, it has been reconstructed from copies, coins, other visual sources and literary testimonia. The work depicted the satyr Marsyas picking up an aulos dropped by Athena.

Literary testimonia

The sculpture is mentioned twice in the ancient sources. Pausanias writes: “In this place is a statue of Athena striking Marsyas the Silenus for taking up the flutes that the goddess wished to be cast away for good.”1.27.1 Pliny records: “His other works include Ladas and a ‘Discobolos’ or Man Throwing a Discus, and Perseus, and The Sawyers, and The Satyr Marvelling at the Flute and Athene”.Nat. Hist. 34.57 In 1830, K. O. Müller first connected these bare notes in the literature with one another and two archaeological testimonies, an Attic coin from the imperial periodKlaus Junker, Die Athena-Marsyas-Gruppe des Myron, JdI, 117, 2002, p.141, Illus. 16 and a late republican relief krater, the so-called "Finlay Krater",NAMA 127 both of which depict Athena in a dramatic confrontation with Marsyas, and within which the depictions of the satyr show close similarity.K. 0. Müller. Handbuch der Archäologie der Kunst (1830) 371 § 6.

Myth and auletics

In Greek mythology, Athena was thought to be the inventor of the aulos, with which, according to the poet Pindar, she imitated the funeral dirge of the Gorgons after the beheading of her mortal sister Medusa and gave it as a gift to humans for this purpose.Pindar, Pythian Ode 12. See Deborah Steiner, The Gorgons’ Lament: Auletics, Poetics, and Chorality in Pindar’s Pythian 12, American Journal of Philology, 134, 2013, pp. 173-208. Even Apollo was so taken with the instrument that, according to the Greek poet Korinna, he learned the aulos playing.Plutarch, De musica 14p 1136b. Athena, however, who saw her reflection in a lake while playing, threw the new instrument away horrified at the disfiguration of her face.Ovid, fasti 6,697–709; Ars amatoria 3.505 ff. The discarded instrument was found by a satyr who soon mastered the art of playing to such an extent that he challenged Apollo to compete.Ovid, fasti 6.697-709. As a result, the satyr was defeated in the competition – which was the subject of another sculpture group – and was flayed alive.Adolf H. Borbein: Die Statue des hängenden Marsyas. In: Marburger Winckelmannsprogramm. 1973, pp.37–52. Hugo Meyer: Der weiße und der rote Marsyas. Eine kopienkritische Untersuchung in Münchener Archäologische Studien. Band 2. Fink, München 1987. Raimund Wünsche: Marsyas in der antiken Kunst. In: Reinhold Baumstark, Peter Volk (eds.): Apoll schindet Marsyas. Über das Schreckliche in der Kunst. Katalog zur Ausstellung des Bayerischen Nationalmuseums in München vom 15. März bis 18. Juni 1995. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, München 1995. Skulpturhalle Basel, Marsyas-Schleifer-Gruppe, Inv.-Nr.: 01-4 (240); 78-103 (SH 1209). According to Hyginus, Marsyas was the name of the satyr, and not only was the reflection in the water but also the laughter of Juno and Aphrodite the cause of Athena letting the aulos drop. Hyginus also writes that Athena cursed anyone who would play the instrument in the future.Hyginus, Fabulae 165.

Since the late 18th. century the fundamental work on the subject has been "Pallas Musica and Apollo Marsyas-Töter" by Karl August Böttiger.Karl August Böttiger: Pallas Musica und Apollo Marsyas-Töter. In: Wieland’s attisches Museum. Jahrgang 1, Heft 2, 1796, pp.279–385. In Carl August Böttiger, Julius Sillig (eds), C. A. Böttiger’s kleine Schriften archäologischen und antiquarischen Inhalts gesammelt und herausgegeben. Band 1. Arnold, Dresden/Leipzig 1837. It has been argued that the aulos fell out of fashion following the Persian Wars, which was accompanied by an anti-Boeotic attitude, since the sound of the instrument was too reminiscent of the shawms of the Persian army and the Boetians fighting by their side. The advocates of this theory invoked the anecdote handed down by Plutarch,See, for example, Georg Daltrop, Peter Cornelis Bol: Athena des Myron (= Liebieghaus monograph. Volume 8). Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p. 16. See discussion Helga Bumke, Statuarische Gruppen in der frühen griechischen Kunst. In Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Ergänzungs-Heft 32. De Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2004. p.151 ff. And especially, Klaus Junker: Die Athena-Marsyas-Gruppe des Myron auf der Akropolis von Athen. In JdI. Band 117, 2002, pp.148–158. that Alcibiades had refused to learn the instrument.Plutarch, Alkibiades 2. However, this is contradicted by the speech of Alcibiades in Plato's Symposium, in which he compares the verbal power of Socrates with the musical effect of aulos and Socrates directly with Marsyas.Plato, Symposium 251 a. 216 c. Nevertheless, Plato rejected the "flute-makers and flute-players" as useless in the Republic.Plato, Republic, 399 d–e. Aristotle followed him here and invoked directly the disdain of Athena, but thought the story of the distortion of her face as too superficial a reason for her reluctance and sought to intellectualized the interpretation: since one cannot blow and speak at the same time, the aulos is not conducive to spiritual development.Aristotle, Politics 1341b.

Rediscovery

Like almost all bronze original works of Greek antiquity, the original of the Athena–Marsyas group of Myron is lost. Karl Otfried Müller, who was the first to relate the passages to the myth of Pliny and Pausanias, recognized representations of the Athena–Marsyas group in Athenian coins of the Roman Empire and in the relief of the "Finlay Krater" located in Athens.NAMA 127 This prompted the Kopienkritik search amongst the stock of Roman copies for the original Greek models. In 1824, the antiquarian Ignazio Vescovali carried out excavations in Via dei Quadro Cantoni on the Esquiline Hill, in which, among many other finds, he discovered the statue of a satyr. A year later, the statue was acquired for the Pontifical Museum, but only exhibited in 1852 in the Museo Gregoriano Profano. As a result of an in-depth stylistic analysis, Heinrich Brunn recognized this statue as based on the Myronic Marsyas.Heinrich Brunn: Bullettino dell'Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica. 1853, p. 145 ff. See also, Il Marsia di Mirone. In: Annali dell'Istituto. Volume 30, 1858, p. 374–383 Bruno Sauer proposed in 1907 to connect the Marsyas statue with a statue of Athena, which is present in various replicas in Paris, Toulouse and Madrid.Bruno Sauer: Die Athena-Marsyasgruppe des Myron. In: Wochenschrift für klassische Philologie. Band 24, 1907, pp.1243–1249; ders.: Die Marsyasgruppe des Myron. In: JdI. Band 23, 1908, pp.125–162. A year later, at the suggestion of Adolf Furtwängler, Johannes Sieveking presented the first reconstruction of the group in plaster and a replica in copper.Johannes Sieveking: Myrons Gruppe der Athena und des Marsyas. In: Archäologischer Anzeiger. 1908, pp.341–343. Ludwig Pollak published the Frankfurt Athena in 1909, the best-preserved replica of the Athena type, as a counterpart to the Marsyas of the Esquiline.Ludwig Pollak: Die Athena der Marsyasgruppe des Myron. In: Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Instituts.Band 12, 1909, pp.154–165. 221 ff.

Other visual representations

The oldest testimony of the group is the depiction on a red-figure oinochoe found at Vari, Attica. It was made around 440 BCE, and is located in the State Museums in Berlin. Athena is in strict right profile, holding a lance with her left hand, throwing away with the outstretched right hand the aulos, which can still be seen falling to the right of her. She wears a helmet and aegis and an ankle-length chiton. From the right, a satyr with a horse's tail, pointed animal ears and shaggy beard approaches the centre of the picture. His forward right leg sits roughly where the aulos will land, but he seems to be retreating with his right knee poised as if jumping. His right arm is raised high, his downward left arm balances the receding movement of his left leg.

The same scene is also depicted on a Neo-Attic marble krater of around the middle of the 1st century BCE., which is located in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, known as the "Finlay Crater".Dagmar Grassinger: Römische Marmorkratere, in Monumenta artis romanae.Band 18. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1991, p. 156 f. Cat.-N. 2. However, this not quite finished work is a mirror reflection of the oinochoe: Marsyas is on the left, Athena on the right. Accordingly, Marsyas raises his left arm. His movement floating between approach and retreat is also less dramatically accentuated. Athena, who is rushing into the right of the scene, which is clearly perceived by the movement of her robe, she holds a shield in her left hand, with the right she has just thrown down the aulos.

Coin portraits of the Roman imperial era also reflect the group, in two variants: a coin of the Hadrianic period shows the lanceless Athena on the left side of the picture;Jean N. Svoronos: Les monnaies d’Athènes.Band 6. München 1923, Tafel 89, 26–30; Arvid Andrén: Der lateranische Silen und die Gruppe von Athena und Marsyas. In: Opuscula archaeologica, 3, 1944, p. 7 Illus. 1 and 14 on another coin, from the time of Gordian, she is on the right.Jean N. Svoronos: Les monnaies d’Athènes.Band 6. München 1923, Tafel 89, 33–34; Arvid Andrén: Der lateranische Silen und die Gruppe von Athena und Marsyas. In: Opuscula archaeologica, 3, 1944, p. 9 Illus. 2 What both types have in common is the arm of the Marsyas, which is raised towards the centre of the picture.

The replicas

Numerous copies of the group statues, some of which were only fragmentary, could be found in European collections of the nineteenth century. For example, there is one full statue replica of the Athena, seven body replicas and at least three head replicas.Replica list with literature by Georg Daltrop, Peter Cornelis Bol: Athena des Myron, in Liebieghaus Monographie. Band 8. Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p.74 ff. So far, a body replica, three torsos and three head replicas have been identified for the Marsyas.Replica list with literature by Georg Daltrop, Peter Cornelis Bol: Athena des Myron, in Liebieghaus monograph. Volume 8. Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main 1983, p. 75 ff. In addition, there are representations in vase painting, in relief sculpture and on coins. All this allows a fairly confident reconstruction of the group, even if individual details continue to be the subject of discussion. Nevertheless, there are mainly American researchers who in principle deny the pertinence of the reference of Pliny and Pausanias and do not want to recognize traces of the Athena–Marsyas group in either the coin representations or in the statuary traditions.Represented, for example, by: Rhys Carpenter: Observations on Familiar Statuary in Rome, in Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Volume 18. New York 1941, pp. 5–7; Brunilde Sismondo Ridgway: The Severe Style in Greek Sculpture. Princeton University Press, Princeton (NJ) 1970, p. 85 f.; ibid, Roman copies of Greek sculpture: the problem of the originals. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1984, p. 53 f. 62 n. 34. It has also been proposed to divorce the statues discussed by Pliny and Pausanias into two groups: one by Myron, whose site was not known, and one on the Acropolis of Athens, which could not be assigned to a sculptor.H. Anne Weis: The 'Marsyas' of Myron: Old Problems and New Evidence. In: American Journal of Archaeology. Volume 83, 1979, p. 214-219.

Athena statue