Original subtitles

Did you know that Apollo once skinned a man alive just because he could play the

flute?

Marcius was a satyr, half man and half goat, wandering the hills of Phrygia.

One day he stumbled upon a flute lying abandoned.

This wasn't just any flute.

It was the olos, crafted by Athena herself.

She had thrown it away after realizing that playing it puffed out her cheeks

and distorted her face.

Marcius picked it up, blew into it.

and discovered that it produced music so enchanting it seemed to rival the gods

themselves.

Soon he became a master of the instrument, and pride swelled in him.

Drunk on his own talent, Marsyas made the fatal mistake of boasting that he

could play better than Apollo, the god of music, poetry, and the lyre.

Apollo accepted the challenge, and the contest was set.

The judges varied in different tellings, sometimes the Muses, sometimes King

Midas. sometimes the mountain god Timolis.

But the stage was the same, a duel between divine order and mortal daring.

Marcius played the flute with wild passion, filling the air with notes that

stirred the heart and body.

Apollo answered with a lyre, weaving harmonies that seemed to balance the

cosmos itself.

For a while the contest was close, and Marcius' confidence grew.

But Apollo, clever and ruthless, shifted the rules.

He played his lyre while singing at the same time, then demanded Marsyas do the

same. The flute, of course, could not accompany song.

Apollo then turned his lyre upside down and played it, insisting Marsyas do

likewise.

Again the flute failed.

The contest was rigged, and Apollo declared himself the victor.

But Apollo was not content with mere victory.

He punished Marsyas for his audacity in challenging a god.

The satyr was seized, bound to a tree, and flayed alive.

His screams echoed through the land as Apollo peeled the skin from his body,

leaving his flesh raw and exposed.

When it was done, Apollo hung Marcius' skin upon a pine tree as a grim warning

to all who might dare to rival the gods.

From Marcius' blood and tears, the river Marcius was said to have sprung, flowing

forever through Phrygia as a memorial to his suffering.

Moral of the story?

Don't challenge the gods.

If you enjoyed the video make sure to subscribe and if you have any myth you

want me to break down next then drop it in the comments.