Dancing Satyr, Greece, Boeotia, 500–475 BCE. Painted terracotta, 8.4 x 11 x 5.6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1992.352.1.

Dancing Satyr, Greece, Boeotia, 500–475 BCE. Painted terracotta, 9.5 x 8 x 5.5 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1992.352.2.

Dancing Satyr, Greece, Boeotia, 500–475 BCE. Painted terracotta, 9.8 x 10.8 x 4.7 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1992.352.3.

Part man and part beast, satyrs were mythical woodland creatures. In art, they were depicted with the ears and tail of a goat or horse, sometimes with hooves, and in a high state of sexual arousal. Satyrs often accompanied Dionysus, the god of wine, in his drinking bouts and other escapades. These three probably once decorated the rim of a large punch-bowl-shaped vessel for serving wine.