Satyric Drama
One of the three varieties of the Attic drama. Its origin may be traced back to Pratinas of
Phlius (about B.C. 500). 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 intensity of the preceding plays was
thus relieved, while the chorus of Satyrs and Sileni, the companions of Dionysus, served to
indicate the original connection 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 tragedies
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;
probably there were 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
σίκιννις or
σίκιννον, and consisted of a fantastic kind of skipping and
jumping. The only satyric play now extant is the
Cyclops of Euripides
(translated into English by Shelley), though the
Alcestis of the same poet has
some satyric features. The Romans did not imitate this kind of drama in their literature
(Marius Victor, in
Gram. Lat. vi. 82), although, like the Greeks, they composed
amusing afterpieces following their serious plays. See Welcker,
Griech.
Tragödie, 1361; and Exodium.
