Euripides : Cyclops and major fragments of Greek satyric drama

Satyric is the most thinly attested genre of Greek drama, but it appears to have been the oldest and according to Aristotle formative for tragedy. By the 5th Century BC at Athens it shared most of its compositional elements with tragedy, to which it became an adjunct; for at the annual great dramatic festivals, it was performed only together with, and after, the three tragedies which each poet was required to present in competition. It was in contrast with them, aesthetically and emotionally, its plays being considerably shorter and simpler; coarse and half-way to comedy, it burlesqued heroic and tragic myth, frequently that just dramatised and performed in the tragedies. Euripides' Cyclops is the only satyr-play which survives complete. It is generally held to be the poet's late work, but its companion tragedies are not identifiable. Its title alone signals its content, Odysseus' escape from the one-eyed, man-eating monster, familiar from Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey. Because of its uniqueness, Cyclops could afford only a limited idea of satyric drama's range, which the many but brief quotations from other authors and plays barely coloured. Our knowledge and appreciation of the genre have been greatly enlarged, however, by recovery since the early 20th Century of considerable fragments of Aeschylus, Euripides' predecessor, and of Sophocles, his contemporary – but not, so far, of Euripides himself. This volume provides English readers for the first time with all the most important texts of satyric drama, with facing-page translation, substantial introduction and detailed commentary. It includes not only the major papyri, but very many shorter fragments of importance, both on papyrus and in quotation, from the 5th to the 3rd Centuries; there are also one or two texts whose interest lies in their problematic ascription to the genre at all. The intention is to illustrate it as fully as practicable. Cover 1 Title Page 2 Copyright Page 3 Contents 4 General Editor's Foreword 6 Prefaces I and II 8 General Introduction 12 1. Satyric Drama: 'Tragedy at Play' 12 2. Satyrs: Ambivalent Creatures for an Ambivalent Genre 19 2.1 The Satyr as Transgressor 20 2.2 More Positive and Paradoxical Features of Satyrs 28 3. Aspects of Satyric Drama 33 3.1. Origins and Functions 33 3.2. Themes of Satyric Drama 39 4. Euripides' Cyclops 50 4.1. Theories about the Date of the Play 50 4.2. Euripides' Cyclops as Satyr Play: an Overview 52 General Bibliography 70 Common Abbreviations 83 Cyclops 84 Note on the Greek Text and Critical Apparatus 85 Greek Text and Translation 87 Commentary 141 Major Fragments of Greek Satyric Drama 238 Introductory Note 240 Bibliography and Abbreviations 243 Advice to Readers 246 Bibliographical Guidance 250 Pratinas 4 F 3: Hyporchema 253 Aeschylus Glaucus the Sea-god (Glaucus Marinus) 259 Net-Fishers (Dictyulci) 265 Sacred Delegates or Isthmian Contestants (Theori or Isthmiastae) 277 Prometheus the Fire-Kindler (Prometheus Pyrkaeus) 293 Sisyphus: one play or two? 301 F 281a, b, *451n: from a 'Justice' play 309 Sophocles Lovers of Achilles (Achillis Amatores) 317 Inachus 325 Trackers (Ichneutae) 347 Oeneus, F **1130 389 Euripides Autolycus A and B 395 Eurystheus 403 Sciron 409 Syleus 415 Ion of Chios 19 F 17a–33a, *59: Omphale 425 Achaeus I Selected shorter fragments, from The Games (Ludi, 20 F 3–4), Aethon (F 6–11), Alcmeon (F 12–14), Hephaestus (F 17), Linus (F 26), The Fates (Fata, F 27–8), Omphale (F 33–4) 437 Critias (?) 43 F 19: from a 'Sisyphus' play 451 Python 91 F 1: Agen 459 Sositheus 99 F 2–3: Daphnis or Lityerses 467 Lycophron 100 F 2–4: Menedemus 473 Anonymous Adespota F 646a 479 Adespota F 655: an 'Atlas' play 489 Adespota F 667a: a 'Medea' play 499 A new (2007) adespoton: satyric (?) 509 Appendix: summary details of some other satyr-plays, by Pratinas, Aeschylus, Aristias, Sophocles, Euripides, Astydamas II and Chaeremon 513 Index of Motifs and Characters 520 Addenda 524 General Index 526