[13] Like other gods of woods and flocks, Silvanus is described as fond of music; the syrinx was sacred to him,[2] and he is mentioned along with the Pans and Nymphs.

In particular the initiation rituals of the evocati appear to have referenced Silvanus as a protective god of raiding for women and cattle, perhaps preserving elements of earlier Etruscan worship.

[20] Xavier Delamarre suggests the epithet Callirius may be related to Breton theonym Riocalat(is) (attested in Cumberland Quarries), and both mean "(God) With Wild Horses".

[2][6][22][23][24] In Cato's De Agricultura an offering to Mars Silvanus is described, to ensure the health of cattle; it is stated there that his connection with agriculture referred to only the labour performed by men, and that females were excluded from his worship.

Virgil relates that in the very earliest times the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians had dedicated a grove and a festival to Silvanus,[9] a symbol for the wilderness of the god.