Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy
A drinking cup, c. 490–480 B.C., depicting a maenad and a satyr.
The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is strong; satyr plays were written by tragedians, and satyr plays were performed in the Dionysian festival following the performance of a group of three tragedies. The satyr play's mythological-heroic stories and the style of language are similar to that of the tragedies. Its connection with comedy is also significant – it has similar plots, titles, themes, characters, and happy endings. The remarkable feature of the satyr play is the chorus of satyrs, with their costumes that focus on the phallus, and with their language, which uses wordplay, sexual innuendos, references to breasts, farting, erections, and other references that do not occur in tragedy. As Mark Griffith points out, the satyr play was "not merely a deeply traditional Dionysiac ritual, but also generally accepted as the most appropriate and satisfying conclusion to the city’s most complex and prestigious cultural event of the year."[1][2][3]
The satyric drama may be traced back to Pratinas of Phlius, c. 500 BC. After settling in Athens, he probably adapted the dithyramb, customary in his native home, with its chorus of satyrs, to complement the form of tragedy which had been recently invented in Athens. It met with approval and was further developed by his son Aristeas, by Choerilus, by Aeschylus, and others.
^Shaw, Carl, A. Satyric Play; The Evolution of Greek Comedy and Satyr Drama. Oxford University Press. (2014). pp. 2–3. ISBN 9780199950942
^Griffith, Mark. Greek Satyr Play; Five Studies. California. pp. 14–16. ISBN 9781939926043
^Shaw (C. A.) "Satyric Play. The Evolution of Greek Comedy and Satyr Drama." The Classical Review, 65 (2014): 358–360. (Print). ISBN 978-0-19-995094-2. DOI: 10.1017/S0009840X15001250.
The satyrplay is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking...
engaging in bestiality. In classical Athens, satyrs made up the chorus in a genre of play known as a "satyrplay", which was a parody of tragedy and known...
personal vendetta to organized litigation. Oresteia originally included a satyrplay, Proteus (Πρωτεύς), following the tragic trilogy, but all except a single...
Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia, along with comedy and the satyrplay. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC...
honoured the god Dionysus. Tragedy (late 500 BC), comedy (490 BC), and the satyrplay were the three dramatic genres emerged there. Athens exported the festival...
festival also included the SatyrPlay. Finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyrplay eventually found its way...
for satyr plays) is a "tragedy", featuring Heracles as a satyric hero in conventional satyr-play scenes: an arrival, a banquet, a victory over an ogre (in...
Aeschylus often wrote such trilogies. The satyrplays that followed his tragic trilogies also drew from myth. The satyrplay Proteus, which followed the Oresteia...
The Resting Satyr or Leaning Satyr, also known as the Satyr anapauomenos (in ancient Greek ἀναπαυόμενος, from ἀναπαύω / anapaúô, to rest) is a statue...
the open air, on the side of a hill, and performances of a trilogy and satyrplay probably lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to...
Palamedes. This trilogy was presented at the Dionysia along with the comedic satyrplay Sisyphos. The plots of this trilogy were not connected in the way that...
Ichneutae (Tracking Satyrs) were discovered in Egypt in 1907. These amount to about half of the play, making it the best preserved satyrplay after Euripides'...
city-state of Athens produced three genres of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyrplay. Their origins remain obscure, though by the 5th century BC, they were...
regaled them with wondrous tales. In Euripides's satyrplay Cyclops, Silenus is stranded with the satyrs in Sicily, where they have been enslaved by the...
tetralogy was a group of three tragedies followed by a satyrplay, all by one author, to be played in one sitting at the Dionysia as part of a competition...
in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyrplay). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy...
the Odyssey. The satyrplay of Euripides is dependent on this episode apart from one detail; Polyphemus is made a pederast in the play. Later Classical...
ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyrplay. Athenian tragedy—the oldest surviving form of tragedy—is a type of dance-drama...
with Online in 2013 to become Online Searcher Searchers, or Ichneutae, a satyrplay by Sophocles Searchers, enemies from the video game Bendy and the Ink...
Global Information