He represents the art of playing the flute as opposed to the lyre - the one the accompaniment of the worship of Cybele, the other that of the worship of Apollo.
Marsyas, as well as Midas and Silenus, are associated in legend with Dionysus and belong to the cycle of legends of Cybele.
Later we find the worship of Isis and of Cybele,the latter being especially flourishing, with large corporations of dendrophori (priests who carried branches of trees in procession) and cannofori (basketcarriers); the worship of Mithras, too, had a large number of followers.
To the south-west of the conspicuous temple alluded to are the remains of a temple of Cybele, with a portico.
His worship was closely connected with that of the great mother Cybele and of Attis.
