IS IT REALLY SILVANUS?

In research on the cult of Silvanus, the Roman god of forests and flocks and natural or agricultural prosperity, the province of Dalmatia holds a special place. Within the province, the locality of Danilo, located to the northeast of Sibenik, is also a place that cannot 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 and hairy thighs, and it appears that the figure is either dancing or shown in some kind of movement to his left. In scholarly literature, the figure represented is always named Silvanus, as this was the way he was usually presented on the votive monuments of Dalmatia. Still, contemporary theoretical contextualization of existing material (e.g. votive monuments, reliefs) is reliant on comprehensive revalorization of (the predominant) data. In this paper, I will offer a short overview of Silvanus's representations from Dalmatia. On the basis of that overview I will argue the real character of the figure portrayed, and why this representation might fit more appropriately into the pastoral scenes of Dionysiac mythology.