Satyr play
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Papposilenus playing the crotals, theatrical type of the satyr play, Louvre |
Satyr plays were an
ancient Greek form of comedy, similar to the modern-day
burlesque style. Though they did not always include
satyrs or even a reference to the
mythological creatures, they contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality (often including large
phallic props), pranks and general merriment. At the
Athenian Dionysia, playwrights usually submitted four plays to the competition: three
tragedies and one satyr play.
Satyric drama was one of the three varieties of Athenian
drama (the other two being tragedy and
comedy). Its origin can be traced back to
Pratinas of
Phlius (about
500 BC). It is probable that, after settling in Athens, he adapted the old
dithyramb with its
chorus of
satyrs, which was customary in his native place, to the form of tragedy which had been recently invented in Athens. This new kind of drama met with so much approval, and was so much developed by Pratinas himself, as well as by his son
Aristeas, by
Choerilus, by
Aeschylus, and the dramatists who succeeded him, that it became the custom to act a satyric drama after a set of three tragedies. The seriousness of the preceding plays was thus relieved, while the chorus of satyrs and
Sileni, the companions of
Dionysos, served to indicate the original connexion between that divinity and the drama.
The material for a satyric drama, like that for a tragedy, was taken from an
epic or legendary story, and the action, which took place under an open sky, in a lonely wood, the haunt of the Satyrs, had generally an element of tragedy; but the characteristic solemnity and stateliness of tragedy was somewhat diminished, without in any way impairing the splendour of the tragic costume and the dignity of the heroes introduced. The amusing effect of the play did not depend so much on the action itself, as was the case in comedy, but rather on the relation of the
chorus to that action. That relation was in keeping with the wanton, saucy, and insolent, and at the same time cowardly, nature of the satyrs. The number of persons in the chorus is not known, although there were probably either twelve or fifteen, as in tragedy. In accordance with the popular notions about the satyrs, their costume consisted of the skin of a goat, deer, or panther, thrown over the naked body, and besides this a hideous mask and bristling hair. The dance of the chorus in the satyric drama was called
sicinnis, and consisted of a fantastic kind of skipping and jumping.
The only satyr play to survive in its entirety is
Euripides'
Cyclops. Scholars also have large fragments of a
Sophocles comedy called
Ichneutae (
Tracking Satyrs), and still smaller pieces of other satyr plays exist.
The Romans did not imitate this kind of drama in their literature, although, like the Greeks, they used to have merry after-pieces following their serious plays.
*Seyffert, Oskar;
Dictionary of Classical Antiquities,
"Satyric Drama" (1894)
