In Greek mythology, Marsyas was a satyr who challenged Apollo to a contest of music. Marsyas was an expert player on the double reed pipe known as the aulos. He found the instrument on the ground where it had been tossed by its inventor Athena, after the other gods made sport of how her cheeks bulged when she played. Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; Απελλων) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. ... A double reed is a type of reed which allows various wind instruments to create sound. ... Satyr playing an aulos The ancient Greek aulos, often mistranslated as flute, was a double-piped reed instrument. ... Athena from the east pediment of the Afea temple in Aegina After a sculpture of Athena at the Louvre. ...

In the contest between Apollo and Marsyas The deal was, that the winner could treat the defeated party any way he wanted. Since the contest was judged by the Muses, Marsyas naturally lost and was flayed alive in a cave near Calaenae in Phrygia for his hubris to challenge a god. His blood turned into the river Marsyas. For other uses see Muse (disambiguation). ... Michelangelos Last Judgment - Saint Bartholomew holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin Flaying is the removal of skin from the body. ... In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of the Anatolian highlands, part of modern Turkey, from ca. ... Hubris or hybris (Greek ύβρις), is, according to its modern definition, exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retribution. ...

There are several versions of the contest; according to some Marsyas was departing as victor when Apollo, turning his lyre upside down, played the same tune. This was something that Marsyas could not do with his flute. According to another version Marsyas was defeated when Apollo added his voice to the sound of the lyre. Marsyas protested, arguing that the skill with the instrument was to be compared, and not the voice. However, Apollo replied that when Marsyas blew into the pipes, he was doing almost the same thing as himself. The Muses found Apollo's claim to be the most just, leading to his victory.

In the art of later periods, Marsyas is often seen with a flute, pan pipes, or even bagpipes. Apollo is shown with his lyre, or sometimes a harp, viol, or other stringed instrument. The contest of Apollo and Marsyas is seen as symbolizing the eternal struggle between the Apollonian and Dionysian aspects of human nature. This article is about the musical instrument. ... Pan pipes (also known as the panflute or the syrinx or quills) is an ancient musical instrument based on the principle of the stopped pipe, consisting usually of ten or more pipes of gradually increasing length. ... A bagpipe performer in Amsterdam. ... A lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity. ... The harp is a chordophone which has its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ... Various sizes of viol, from Michael Praetorius Syntagma musicum (1618) The viol or viola da gamba is a family of musical instruments and is related to and descending from the vihuela, rebec. ... Satyr playing an aulos The ancient Greek aulos, often mistranslated as flute, was a double-piped reed instrument. ...

MARSYAS (http://sourceforge.net/projects/marsyas) is also a toolkit for extracting musically relevant signal features in the field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR).

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