Evidently this standard type of theatrical satyr took its genesis from an amalgamation of the caprine satyrs and the equine sileni. It is significant that in Euripides’ Cyclops and Sophocles’ Trackers Silenus is one of the characters and is the father of the chorus. These satyr-plays were brought out in the vicinity of 440 B.C.[71] The question now arises: Was this conventional type the invention of Pratinas or did it develop later? It will be remembered that in the list of fifteen fifth-century vases from Attica on which representations of goat-men occur (see [p. 25], above), one was mentioned as having a possible connection with the theater. The single exception is a crater in the British Museum of about 450 B.C. ([Fig. 9]).[72] The larger design on the same side of the vase represents the decking of Pandora, and it is commonly thought that the two scenes belong together and are derived from a satyr-play dealing with Pandora. However that may be, the presence of a flute-player would seem to indicate that at least [Fig. 9] is theatrical. If so, the choreutae are not of the type which we have been studying, but true satyrs with caprine hoofs, horns, and tails.[73] About their loins they wear trunks, which in three cases are painted black (to represent a goatskin?) but in one case are left unpainted. Now from Aeschylus’ satyric drama entitled Prometheus the Fire-Kindler is preserved a line “O goat, you will mourn (lose) your beard,” which was addressed by Prometheus to a satyr who wished to kiss a flame and which has been used as proof that the choreutae were caprine in appearance.[74] Again, in Sophocles’ Trackers occur the words: “For though you are young with a flourishing beard, you revel as a goat in the thistles.”[75] Finally, in Euripides’ Cyclops the chorus speak of wandering about “with this poor goatskin cloak.”[76] Although these passages do not constitute proof that the dramatic satyrs were of caprine appearance, they gain considerably in point if we may suppose that they were, and to that extent they confirm the evidence of the British Museum crater.
Fig. 9.—Satyrs on a British Museum Crater of About 450 B.C.
Fig. 10
A BRITISH MUSEUM PSYKTER BY DURIS OF ABOUT 480 B.C., PROBABLY SHOWING INFLUENCE OF CONTEMPORANEOUS SATYRIC DRAMA
Such, then, is the penultimate stage in the evolution of the satyric chorus, and many authorities are content to stop here. But there remains evidence for a still earlier stage. A British Museum psykter by Duris ([Fig. 10])[77] represents ten “choreutae” and a herald, and a British Museum cylix by Brygus contains two scenes, in one of which three “choreutae” are attacking Iris before Dionysus and his altar and in the other Hermes and Heracles are protecting Hera from four “choreutae.”[78] These vases belong to about 480 B.C., and the “choreutae” upon them have human feet, no horns, no loin-bands, and equine ears and tails. Reisch is undoubtedly correct in recognizing in these scenes at least the indirect influence of the satyr-play.[79] Furthermore, a similar figure appears upon a Würzburg cylix of about 500 B.C. ([Fig. 11]).[80] This bears the inscription ΣΑΤΡΥΒΣ, a manifest mistake for σάτυρος. Here we have the earliest representation of a satyr in Attica. And though it does not belong to a theatrical scene, its divergence from contemporaneous satyrs of the Peloponnesus and from Attic satyrs of a later period can be explained only on the basis of the appearance of the choreutae in contemporaneous satyr-plays. The Duris psykter and the Brygus cylix show that this type did not at once disappear.