Satyr-Drama, in ancient Athens, burlesque plays which followed, and served as ribald comments on, the statutory tragic trilogy (see TETRALOGY) in the annual dramatic contest in connection with the Dionysia. In the satyr-plays a heroic figure, sometimes the chief character of the preceding trilogy but very often Hercules, was shown in a farcical situation, always with a chorus of Sileni, or satyrs. These were the legendary companions of Dionysus, and were portrayed as being half-human, half-animal, with the ears and tail of a horse. The characteristics of satyr-drama were swift action, vigorous dancing, boisterous fun, and much indecency in speech and gesture. Although Aristotle said that Greek tragedy ‘developed from the satyr-play’, the connection between them is not clear and must date from long before the time of the first official festival in 534 BC. Only one satyr-play has survived in its entirety, the Cyclops of Euripides, though there are also fragments of an Ichneutae by Sophocles. The popularity of the satyr-play declined during the second half of the 5th century.
There is no connection between satyr-drama and modern satire, or between satyr-drama and any form of Greek comedy.
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