The Gruesome Tale of Marsyas, or, How We Got the Flute
Like today, music played a great role in ancient Mediterranean cultures. From religious practices to parades, pageants to theater, sporting events to triumphs, music of different types was played on different instruments depending on the setting, time period, or circumstances. In ancient Greece, some of these instruments had particular myths affiliated with them, like Apollo and his lyre. The flute, specifically the double flute or aulos, has a rather gruesome story which also features Apollo along with some others people may or may not be familiar with. I myself first looked into this myth when I saw an ancient Roman sculpture at the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Only the torso remains of this sculpture, carved out of red marble. Yet the piece was definitively identified as “Marsyas.” How in the world, I wondered, could they know who this was? There were no real identifying marks or symbols that would give a hint. Then I did some research into Marsyas and said, “Oooohhhh…” followed by, “Sick!”
So, who was Marsyas? Legend has it he was either a satyr or a peasant (he is depicted as both in artwork of the time) who came from Phrygia in modern-day Turkey. Stories don’t agree on his parentage. Some say his mother was a nymph, others say he was the son of Olympus, Oeagrus, or Hyagnis. He was a follower of the goddess Cybele or Rhea.
The Story of Marsyas
One day, the goddess Athena crafted a flute and began to play it. She happened to catch a glimpse of herself in a pool of water, and saw that as she blew into the instrument, despite its beautiful music, the instrument made her cheeks puff out. She thought she looked ridiculous, and so, in disgust, she threw away the flute.
A peasant or satyr named Marsyas came across the flute and decided to try playing it. As soon as he blew into the instrument, it played the most beautiful notes, as only an instrument crafted by divine hands could. Marsyas thought his music was so beautiful that he challenged Apollo, the god of music himself, to a contest to see who could play their chosen instruments the best. The winner, he said, could do whatever they wanted with the loser.
Sources vary on who the judges of this contest were. Some say the Muses, others say the Nycaeans. There seems to have been more than one round to the contest. Apollo played his kithara, or lyre, and Marsyas played his double-flute. During one round, Marsyas played a song that made the judges dance themselves into a frenzy; in another, Apollo made them weep with the beauty of his tune. The beginning of the end came when Apollo issued a challenge that they play their instruments upside down. The lyre could be played so; the flute could not. Marsyas was truly doomed when Apollo added his voice to the tune of his lyre. The judges were overcome with the beauty of his music and had no choice but to declare him the winner.
The Greek and Roman gods did not suffer the hubris of humans and other lesser beings lightly. As punishment for Marsyas’s audacity to challenge a god, Apollo had him strung up to a tree and flayed alive. The blood that poured from him formed a river named after him, the Marsyas. While some versions of the story say that Apollo hung his skin in a cave, others say he made it into a wine skin. Marsyas’s flute was swept away downstream and came ashore in the Sicyonian territory. They were brought to the Temple of Apollo in Sicyon, where they were dedicated to the god.
So that’s why red marble was used in ancient Rome to make statues of Marsyas: because it showed Apollo’s grotesque punishment in a way possibly no other medium could.
Because this myth is so old, it has not only been told and retold in writing, but it’s been depicted in many forms of artwork as well. From pottery to mosaics, paintings to sculpture, from Greece to Rome and beyond, the tale of Marsyas lives on in all its gruesome glory, reminding us mortals to not give in to hubris.
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