In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (gr. Μαρσύας) appeare in two vignettes: in one, he picked up the double flute (aulos) that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life. In Antiquity, most accounts emphasise the hubris of Marsyas and the justice of his punishment. Marsyas was a devoté of the ancient Mother Goddess Rhea/Cybele.In modern comparative mythography Marsyas is seen as one of numerous figures emblemmatic of an earlier "Pelasgian" religion of chthonic heroic ancestors and nature spirits supplanted by the Olympian pantheon, personified in this case by Apollo.