SEILENOS
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SEILENOS (Silenus) was the old rustic god of wine-making and drunkenness.
He was the foster-father of the god Dionysos who was entrusted to his care by Hermes after his birth from the thigh of Zeus. The young god was raised by Seilenos and nursed by the Nysiad nymphs in a cave on Mount Nysa.
Once, when Dionysos was travelling through Phrygia, Seilenos became lost and was captured by King Midas. The king treated him hospitably and as a reward, Dionysos granted him his golden touch.
Seilenos was the father or grandfather of the tribes of Satyroi (Satyrs) and Nymphs. He was sometimes multiplied into a triad or large band of Seilenoi (Silens).
Seilenos was depicted as a jovial old man, hairy and balding, with a pot-belly, snub-nose, and the ears and tail of an ass. He rode in the train of Dionysos seated on the back of a donkey.
Seilenos was, in essence, the spirit of the treading dance of the wine-press, his name being derived from the words seiô, “to move to and fro,” and lênos, “the wine-trough.”
Seilenos was closely identified with a number of other minor rustic divinities. These include:– Hekateros (Hecaterus), grandfather of the Satyroi (Satyrs) and Oreiades (Oreads); Nysos and Lamos, alternate foster-fathers of Dionysos; Aristaios (Aristaeus), the god of shepherds, and another foster-father of Dionysos; Oreios (Oreus), father of the Hamadryades; Pyrrhikhos (Pyrrhichus), a Kourete (Curete) of the rustic dance; and Marsyas, a flute-playing satyr.
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