Satyres, when depicted as half man and half goat are part of Roman mythology. I’m not sure if the poem that accompanied this image is part of that mythology or from the imagination of the artist, so to further explain this illustration, I’ve included that poem.
The Satyr
The Satyr lived in times remote,
A shape half-human and half-goat,
Who, having all Man’s faults combined
With a Goat’s nature unrefined,
Was not what you would call a bright
Example or a shining light.
Far be it from me to condone
The Satyr’s sins, yet I must own
I like to think there were a few
Young Satyrs who to Heaven flew,
And when Saint Peter, thunder browed,
Seeing them, cried, “No goats allowed!”
Although the gate slammed quickly to,
Somehow their human halves got through;
Whereat the kindly saint relented,
And that’s how Cherubs were invented.
The author of The Mythological Zoo introduced the children of 1912 to a menagerie full of mythological beasts, heroes and villians. All of them were brought to life by the artist Oliver Herford (1863-1935).
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.