Silenus/Seilenos- god of drunkenness, wine, folklore, rustic life. The teacher, foster father and companion of Dionysus.
The son of Gaia, Hermes, Pan or some unknown nymph.
He may have been father to the Sileni, drunken followers of Dionysus, depicted as bald and fat with thick lips and flat noses. They were named Maron/Maro, Leneus and Astraeus/Astraios. Maron was Dionysus' charioteer and a priest of Apollo, he was also sometimes said to be a son of Dionysus, Euanthes or Oenopion.
With the Naiad Melia he had sons Dolion and Pholus/Pholos a centaur who entertained Heracles by offering him wine and died when the smell of the wine brought other centaurs and he was accidentally shot by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows.
Another nymph, the Naiad/Okeanid Nais is said to be his wife.
When drunk he could be prophetic and in one tale King Midas had his servants seize him when he was unconscious after drinking so that he could hear a prophecy. Silenus told him it was better for man to not be born and if he was to die as soon as possible. In another version of the tale Silenus was drunk and lost in Phrygia and either found by peasants and taken to Midas or found by Midas himself. Midas treated him hospitably. Dionysus rewarded Midas by offering him whatever he wanted and he asked to be able to turn everything he touched to gold. When he found he could not eat he begged Dionysus to reverse the gift, Dionysus did this by instructing him to wash his hands in a river.
He was depicted as an old man with the tail, legs and ears of a horse, though later he was depicted with human legs, and rarely he was shown with horns. Usually he was being supported by satyrs or on a donkey.
His Roman counterpart is sometimes considered to be Silvanus though he was more popularly viewed as Pan's Roman counterpart.
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