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The article focuses on the rebellious subplot of William Shakespeare's The Tempest that forms around Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo, and reads it as a satyr play. Demonstrated is how the Dionysian subplot stands in close analogical connection with the play's main action. It is also argued that the storyline emphasises a dimension of the play that is of high relevance to the analysis of its metatheatrical implications. The correspondences between the main action and the satyr play elements highlight the important role that intemperance, excess and the suspension of control play in the Shakespearean theatrical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Masked revelry, the quaffing of large amounts of wine and the sound of flutes ... this cavalcade would pass through the streets of Rome every 13th June, even crossing the forum itself. As we will show later on, a connection can be established between this celebration (the Quinquatrus minusculae) and the statue of Marsyas, the acolyte of Dionysus, which stood in the forum and was associated with freedom, wine and charivari. In turn, this connection will open the way for a new interpretation of the multiple meanings of the feast and the satyr in the highly charged political atmosphere of Late Republican Rome. The main aim of this study will be to show, in the third part of this article, how populares politicians tried to exploit the opportunities presented to them by religious festivities and ludi to draw more of the public into their contiones or to obtain a favourable verdict in a political trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men's hypersexuality was called in ancient Greece “satyriasis” (Greek: Σατυρίαση). Satyrs, were depicted in ancient Greek mythology as half men and half goats, given to lecherous revelry in their dedication towards the exaggerated appetites, being lower class deities who accompanied Dionysus. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, gave a masterful description of the disease, supporting the Hippocratic doctrine of the four humours, and considering the excess of the blood inside the big arteries of the kidneys as the main pathological cause of the penile erection. He had proposed various remedies, and considered that Satyriasis was an acute fatal disease that could kill the sufferer within seven days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores a unique phalera (horse brass) found in Noin-Ula Barrow No. 20 (Northern Mongolia). The form and decoration of the medallion, its style and the composition of the scene (depicting a satyr chasing a maenad - a subject which can be traced back to metal-working of the 4th century BC) - show that the phalera must have been made between the late-2nd or mid-1st century BC, most probably in a Pontic workshop and from the medallion of a silver plate, a phiale or a conic cup, perhaps manufactured in Asia Minor in the second half of the 1st century BC. The phalera was placed in a Hunnu burial-ground no later than in the middle of the 1st century AD, since a Chinese lacquered cup dated to the fourth year of the Yuanyan Era (9 BC) was found in the same grave. The phalera is to date the easternmost find of Hellenistic silver plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sophocles' Ichneutai 176-202 someone (most likely Silenos) is calling by name several Satyrs of the Chorus. This is the only passage in surviving Satyr Play that provides names of individual Satyrs-Choreuts, but the practice of naming Satyrs is common in vase-paintings. The article describes and contextualizes this practice, and goes on to investigate each of the Satyric names that occur in the Ichneutai. The scene in question is a parody of ancient hunting, in which the Satyrs assume the role of tracking hounds. For this reason the names of the Satyrs have been merged with names of hounds. The article, as well as including a thorough introduction and up-to-date bibliography, elucidates the etymology of problematic cases, offers new insight into the reference of some names, contributes important details on all of them, gives a rough translation of each name, and generally displays the links that these names have with both the Satyric and the canine nomenclatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the discovery of the so-called Oineus fragment, which can with some certainty be attributed to Sophocles, it has been believed that the appearing Satyrs are a parody of the Sophists. This supposition has consequences for our understanding of the Satyr play: Usually, only Euripides' Cyclops is believed to include contemporary allusions, but a closer examination of further fragments besides the Oineus fragment yields the conclusion that comic effects based on similar allusions might have been a common and regular feature of Satyr plays. So my aim is firstly, after a brief discussion of the fragment, to prove that the Satyrs are in fact a parody of the Sophists; in a second step I will analyze the Cyclops and some further fragments for contemporary allusions and then compare them with the Oineus fragment, until I finally draw my conclusion with regard to the appropriate interpretation of the Satyr play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his Roman Archaeology, Dionysius of Halicarnassus describes the official ceremonial procession which set off once a year from the Capitoline and terminated at the hippodrome, where sacrifices to the gods were organized and games were held. Stimulated by the thinking of the contemporary Italian humanist, Giorgio Agamben, an attempt is made to approach this procession, known as pompa circensis, as a phenomenon relating to the genealogy of authority and specifically to the relations developed between legal order and human life, and between authority and official doxastic ceremonies. There is particular discussion of the role and the significance of the Silens and Satyrs which participate in the procession, parading in the midst of the young people and ephebes of Rome on the one hand and those carrying the busts of the gods on the other, and making fun of everyone and everything. Such kinds of anomic behaviours should not be correlated only with the other bodies (youths, athletes, kithara-players) taking part in the procession, but mainly with the dominant political authority of Rome, which in any case heads the procession. In the second part of the article the issue of the content of events such as the pompa circensis is raised. These are ceremonies which endeavour to unfold in a large part of the urban space of Rome, seeking a mass popular character and aiming at reinforcing consensus between citizens. This aim is achieved -if it is achieved- by projecting at the level of religion of the city-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The canonical statue known as the Barberini Faun is roundly viewed as a mysterious anomaly, The challenge to interpret it is intensified not only by uncertainties about its date and origin but also by the persistent idea that it represents a generic satyr. This paper tackles this assumption and identifies the statue with the satyr that King Midas captured in the well-known myth, Iconographic analysis of the statue's pose supports this view. In particular, the arm bent above the head, the twist of the torso, and the splay of the legs are paralleled in many well-understood figures and furnish keys to interpreting the Barberini Faun as an extraordinary sleeping beast, intoxicated and fit for capture. The paper then explores the links between kings and satyrs in the Hellenistic age and finds grounds for understanding the statue within the context of royal patronage before the mid-second century BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Archaic Athenian vase-painting, silens (satyrs) are often sexually aroused, but only sporadically satisfy their desires in a manner acceptable to most Athenian men. François Lissarrague persuasively argued that the sexuality of silens in vase-painting was probably laughable rather than awe-inspiring. What sort of laughter did the vase-paintings elicit? Was it the scornful laughter of a person who felt nothing in common with silens, or the laughter of one made to see something of himself in their behavior? For three reasons, I argue for the latter interpretation. First, some vase-paintings are constructed so as to invite the viewer to adopt imaginatively the persona of a silen. Second, parallels for the less-than-triumphant sexuality of silens occur in Archaic iambic poetry. Like the vase-paintings, the poetry was often constructed so that performers of the poems are incorporated into the narratives as all-too-human protagonists. Third, certain formal features of classical satyr-play encouraged the audience to identify with the point of view of the satyr-chorus, while others reminded it that there were better role models than silens. In all three media, a negative characterization of male characters or silens is combined with a manner of presentation that invites the viewer or performer to see himself among those characters despite their negative traits. That form of humor may have been common in Archaic symposia, but its presence in satyr-play suggests that it may also be a fundamental characteristic of silens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Plato's "Phaedrus," Socrates compares the soul to a team of two horses, one obedient and one unruly, driven by a human charioteer. This article argues that essential clues to the psychological ideas expressed in this myth are provided by the imagery of the dance and that of the unruly horse, which resembles not only a satyr but also Socrates himself. Satyrs are daimonic beings with the ability to mediate between mortals and gods. They can thus represent qualities that are essential to the psychic equilibrium of a soul moving in what Socrates characterizes as choral dances led by the gods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the origins of Cyclops, a satyr play by Euripides during the fifth-century BCE in Athens, Greece. Cyclops as a combination of reflexivity and comic of satyr drama; Exploration of the ethnographic nature of Odyssey; Description of a satyr play; Evaluation of ideological categories of civilized and savage in the context of imperialism.

The article discusses some of the images and ideas that led to the portrayal of Greek deity Eros with the attributes of Herakles which were developed and elaborated in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The author claims that unusual attributes have been used to portray Eros in the fifth century BC, but it was probably not until well after the middle of the fourth century that Eros started to acquire the attributes of Herakles. It is stated that the idea of satyrs stealing Herakles' attributes was probably first generated in the theater and then frequently reworked.

In Python's comic satyr play Agen (perhaps actually written by Alexander of Macedon) Harpalus, Alexander's errant treasurer, is mocked for erecting costly buildings left and right to honour his dead lover, the notorious prostitute Pythionice:ἔστιν δ’ ὅπου μὲν ὁ κάλαμος πέϕυχ’ ὅδε†ϕέτωμ’ ἄορνον, οὑξ ἀριστερᾶς δ’ ὅδεπόρνης ὁ κλεινὸς ναός, ὃν δὴ Παλλίδηςτεύξας κατέγνω διὰ τὸ πρᾶγμ’ αὑτοῦ ϕυγήν.(TrGF 91 F 1. 1–4)1–2 πέϕυκε· ὁ δ’ εϕετωμα ορνον Athenaei cod. A: ὅδε scr. Dindorf, ἄορνον Fiorillo †ϕέτωμ’ vox desperata: ϕάτνωμ’ Fiorillo, ἕλωμ’ Meineke, πέτρωμ’ Pezopulus, ϕλέωμ’ A. von Blumenthal, στόμωμ’ Erbse, ϕηγὼν Friebel [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]