SILENUS

DIONYSUS’ EDUCATOR

Abstract

This article introduces a new interpretation about the Silenus’s character, or at least, a more specific explanation about him. Silenus is shone in the myths about god of wine, Dionysus, there he plays the role of partner and preceptor of divine being. On the tradition and legends, Silenus is almost never noticed in his educational character. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), in his book, The birth of tragedy, configures such an amazing exception, when he dedicates one important part of that book to speak about Silenus’s wisdom. Based on a small part of Nietzsche’s text, we analyse the characters who play on Dionysiac mythology, as well as the main idea of Dionysus’s myth. Such a thing aiming to demonstrate the cult of wine’s god goes through the whole adaptation process, whereas it turns from a countryside event to a city celebration, when its raises the same level as gods of the city. Neverthelass, our first subject is to claim that Silenus character would somehow have already point out sophistication in the habits of the countryside, thus preparing the ground for the urbanization of god’s wine.