Is it really Silvanus?

Abstract

In research on the cult of Silvanus, the Roman god of forests andflocks and natural or agricultural prosperity, the province of Dalmatiaholds a special place. Within the province, the locality ofDanilo, located to the northeast of Šibenik, is also a place thatcannot be disregarded. One especially intriguing relief from Danilo,damaged and worn, represents a male figure in movement.The figure has horns on his head, long hair, a bearded face andhairy thighs, and it appears that the figure is either dancing orshown in some kind of movement to his left. In scholarly literature,the figure represented is always named Silvanus, as thiswas the way he was usually presented on the votive monuments of Dalmatia. Still, contemporary theoretical contextualizationof existing material (e.g. votive monuments, reliefs) is reliant oncomprehensive revalorization of (the predominant) data. In thispaper, I will offer a short overview of Silvanus’s representationsfrom Dalmatia. On the basis of that overview I will argue the realcharacter of the figure portrayed, and why this representationmight fit more appropriately into the pastoral scenes of Dionysiacmythology.