Satyri and Sileni

Excerpt

Satyri and Sileni constituted a category of demons in the old Greek and Roman religion which represented the mysterious forces acting before the cosmic order was established. They were thought to reside in the most secret and hidden parts of mountains and forests. Their iconography was set up around fifth century b.c. The satyri were depicted with a tail and goat legs, whereas the sileni, generally in more advanced age, were depicted with a tail and horse legs. In the following centuries, the animalized features were progressively abandoned, and the portrait of these demons became that of a man with a tail and minimally visible horns. …