Artists also began to widely represent scenes of nymphs repelling the unwanted advances of amorous satyrs. Scenes of this variety were used to express the dark, beastly side of human sexuality at a remove by attributing that sexuality to satyrs, who were part human and part animal. In this way, satyrs became vehicles of a metaphor for a phenomenon extending far beyond the original narrative purposes in which they served during earlier periods of Greek history. Some variants on this theme represent a satyr being rebuffed by a hermaphrodite, who, from the satyr's perspective, appears to be a beautiful, young girl. These sculptures may have been intended as kind of sophisticated erotic joke.