Satyress is the female equivalent to satyrs. They are entirely an invention of post-Roman European artists, as the Greek satyrs were exclusively male and the closest there was to female counterparts were the nymphs, altogether different creatures who, however, were nature spirits or deities like the satyrs. Later on, Romans described their counterpart of the satyr -- the faunus -- as having a female counterpart, the fauna. Although effectively the same creature as the then-inexistant satyress, it actually came to be part of the Roman religion. The creation of gender-complementary pairs of deities serving the same function was a typically Roman religious characteristic.