1. Primitive Sophistication
4/24/2017
Euripides’ Cyclops
Primitive Sophistication

2. Agenda Euripides’ Cyclops Introduction to Satyr Drama
4/24/2017
Agenda
Euripides’ Cyclops
What do you Think?
Introduction to Satyr Drama
What, When, Why, How
Production, Myth
Cyclops: Frivolous or Serious?
plus Agon Pages 23–5
What Would Plato Say?
What Would You Say Back?

3. 4/24/2017
Euripides’ Cyclops
What do you Think?

4. Cyclops: Your Reactions …
4/24/2017
Cyclops: Your Reactions …
To Characters
Odysseus
Cyclops
Silenus
Satyrs
To Humor
cannibalism
sexuality
Helen
“When you took that woman, did you all take turns?” (Satyr Coryphaeus, p. 19)
Silenos, Cyclops
“It’s a bitter wine I’ll have to drink now” (Silenos p. 36)
How different from tragedy/comedy?

5. Cyclops: Your Reactions …
4/24/2017
Cyclops: Your Reactions …
more fun to read
adventure
mythological parody
liked
relationship between c s strange
sexual humor
toilet humor
farts

6. Introduction to Satyr Drama
4/24/2017
Introduction to Satyr Drama
What, When, Why, How

7. Satyr with pipes and holder, Athenian cup, Epiktetos circa 510 BCE
4/24/2017
Satyr / Silenos
rustic
pleasure-addicted
divine-immortal
Dionysus’ retinue
define a non- civilized-human-urban other
rustic (versus urban-civilized)
wine-sex-addicted (versus sober / self-controlled)
godlike license
unpunished attempted rape of hera
unleashed within mortal sphere
divine-immortal (versus human)
thiasos (retinue) of Dionysus
Satyr with pipes and holder, Athenian cup, Epiktetos circa 510 BCE

8. Dionysus with Satyrs, Athenian cup (“Brygos painter”) circa 510 BCE
4/24/2017
Dionysus with Satyrs, Athenian cup (“Brygos painter”) circa 510 BCE

9. Satyr Drama: Origins Dionysian 533 BCE (ca.) tragedy
4/24/2017
Satyr Drama: Origins
Dionysian
komos
thiasos
533 BCE (ca.) tragedy
Late 500s, satyr drama
Dionysian
komos
thiasos
533 BCE (ca.) tragedy
Late 500s, satyr drama
1st, separately
then, as part of tetralogy
Dionysia: fourth on bill (not at Lenaea)
complaint about the mature tragedy: “nothing to do with Dionysus!” (Chamaeleon fr. 38)
“satyric” performances on Dionysian themes led to serious drama (i.e., “tragic” tragedy) at city Dionysia
i.e., tragedy as losing touch with the qualities associated with things like the satyr-dithyramb
complaint “that’s got nothing to do with Dionysus” led to institution of satyr plays (Zenobius)
cf. farcical Kyogen from (originally more farcical) No
English antimasque from (originally more comic-grotesque) court masque
TV situation comedy (Mash) evolving toward more serious themes
Satyr drama as restoring Dionysian element to tragic competition (Richard Seaford)
satyrs and dionysian ritual
PUBLIC satyric komoi during Anthesteria (February)
Anthesteria …
secret sacrifice
revelation to queen of secret objects (quasi-initiatory)
hieros gamos of “queen” with dionysus
hint at sacred marriage in the marriage of Cyclops to Silenos
MYSTIC initiatory satyric thiasoi (probably during Anthesteria)
public-private dimension
PRIVATE revelation-immortality
PUBLIC fertility, well-being of community
likely satyr-, maenad-impersonation
identification of deceased thiasos-members with deified satyrs
terror-levity dichotomy
revelation-release
reflected in traditions associating Silenus (father of satyrs, foster parent of Dionysus) with superior wisdom
Return of Dionysus

10. Satyr Drama: Elements Structure earlier satyr drama
4/24/2017
Satyr Drama: Elements
Structure
earlier satyr drama
loose, agitated
“tragic” Cyclops (late 400s)
prologue
parodos
4 episodes
one with agon
stasimon choral interludes
off-stage “killing” scene (656 ff.)
exodos
Humor, theme, treatment
profanity
sexuality
paratragedy
topicality?
elements
myth-burlesque plots
Rustic, non-political
Folktale patterns
captivity, liberation
of characters
of satyrs
marvelous inventions
AFFIRMATION, REVELATION, (RE)INTEGRATION, REGENERATION
topicality?
earlier, no
but Cyclops?
characters, chorus
mythological figures
(Pappo)silenos
both independent character and …
quasi-chorus leader (in addition to coryphaeus)
father of satyrs
satyr chorus
11 choreuts
youthful versions of Silenos

11. “Pronomos Vase” late 400s BCE Athenian (Naples Museum)
4/24/2017
“Pronomos Vase” late 400s BCE Athenian (Naples Museum)

12. Satyr choreuts (chorus members) Coryphaeus (chorus leader)
4/24/2017
Satyr choreuts (chorus members)
Coryphaeus (chorus leader)
Playwright Demetrius

13. Charinus (kithara player) Pronomos (piper) King-character
4/24/2017
Dionysus and Ariadne
Queen-character
Himeros (= Eros)
Heracles
(Pappo)silenos
satyr drama
dionysia: fourth on bill (not at lenaea)
myth-burlesque plots
myth-characters
(Pappo)silenos
both independent character and …
quasi-chorus leader (in addition to coryphaeus)
father of satyrs
satyr chorus
youthful versions of Silenos
11 choreuts (include. coryphaeus) + Silenos = regular chorus of 21
Charinus (kithara player)
Pronomos (piper)
King-character

14. 4/24/2017
Euripides’ Cyclops
Production, Myth

15. Production Composed Produced Tetralogy ? Prize ? post 411 ca. 408
4/24/2017
Production
Composed
post 411
Produced
ca. 408
Tetralogy ?
Prize ?
Actor playing Silenus in a satyr drama (from Pronomos Vase)

16. Italy Greece Sicily Troy Ithaca Lydians Aetna Athens 4/24/2017
Dionysus (“prequel”)
from pirates
Silenus, satyrs; Odysseus, crew
from Cyclops
Troy
Greece
Ithaca
Lydians
Aetna
Sicily
Athens

17. Mount Aetna from Taormina, by Thomas Cole (1844)
4/24/2017
Mount Aetna from Taormina, by Thomas Cole (1844)

18. Odysseus and men blinding Cyclops (archaic vase painting)
4/24/2017
Odysseus and men blinding Cyclops (archaic vase painting)

19. Blinding of Cyclops, with Satyrs (circa 413)
4/24/2017
Blinding of Cyclops, with Satyrs (circa 413)

20. Cyclops: Frivolous or Serious?
4/24/2017
Cyclops: Frivolous or Serious?
plus Agon Pages 23–5

21. Political Resonances ODYSSEUS Where are the walls and city-towers?
4/24/2017
Political Resonances
ODYSSEUS Where are the walls and city-towers?
SILENUS This is no city, No man inhabits here.
ODYSSEUS Who does inhabit it? Wild animals?
SILENUS The Cyclopes. They live in caves, not houses.
ODYSSEUS Who governs them? Or do the people rule?
SILENUS They are savages. There is no government.

22. Odysseus and Cyclops: Traditional Treatment
4/24/2017
Odysseus and Cyclops: Traditional Treatment
Odysseus
crafty
intelligent
resourceful
Cyclops
stupid
barbaric
naive

23. … in Agon in Cyclops Odysseus crafty intelligent resourceful Cyclops
4/24/2017
… in Agon in Cyclops
Odysseus
crafty
intelligent
resourceful
Cyclops
atheist
relativist
egoist-sophist
Cyclops sophist
rejects gods
rejects conventional law (nomos): “As for those who embroider human life with their little laws - damn the lot of them”
asserts selfish satisfaction of desires as supreme law
Seaford on resemblance to Callicles in Gorgias: “strong individuals have duty, based on [nature], to satisfy their desires at the expense of [laws], which are to be despised as the creation of weak individuals”
“equality under the law” an axiom of democracy
might is right
in essence, rejects democracy like some oligarch from 411, or like some tyrant
Cyclops’ ate??
antinomian, antipolitical, anticultural Cyclops immediately falls for the attractions of the Dionysian
to be destroyed - to free his “subjects” - he has to be convinced not to be sociable, not to share, not to create society among the savage, hermetic, misanthropic Cyclopes
ironically, the rustic, non-urban satyrs participate in this fatal socialization of the Cyclops
therein lies the Dionysian, poetic justice
the clash of his superhuman and subhuman qualities, of his hubristic rejection of sociality, creates in him the irresistible urge for sociality
like Oedipus, he is blinded and even more radically cut off
with suffering comes initiation into knowledge, but knowledge too late, knowledge that blinds
so beware the rejection of Dionysus!!
end of the Cyclops’ reign, destruction of his house
a very tragic satyr drama
play seems to punish wickedness - to punish the barbarism of Cyclops, who refuses to acknowledge the Greekness of his home island, Sicily
yet we can view Cyclops as a victim too: of Greek hubris, that, like Athenian hubris during invasion of Sicily, feels it can overrun and devastate any land it wants (Troy, e.g.)
in Medea, we are left with a sense of the vast gulf between the human and the divine
here, of redintegration of the human with the divine within a communal-Greek context
but the cruelty of the humor - violence, rape - is disturbing
could it be that this play marks the human-male realm as possessing a streak of the satyric: wantonness, violent incontinence?
“Forget this sacrilege and do what is right. Many have paid the price for base profits.”
“To eat, to drink from day to day, to have no worries—that’s the real Zeus for your clever man.”

24. What Would Plato Say?
What Would You Say Back?

25. What would… Plato say? foolish imitation
doesn’t like that c speaks ill of z
or other impieties
Plato would like punishment part
Plato would criticize the “for a woman”
exemplifies value of good government
wouldn’t like it – violates hierarchy
the war thing – Cyclops oversimplifies
Plato would not want debate
the symbolism perhaps above our heads
the ugly representing the ugly
you say back?
meant to be entertainment
i’m up to it
doing it to survive
goes with the tragedy thing
validates tragedy more generally
agrees with the Helen thing