Euripides``The Cyclops` is the only satyr play to have
survived from antiquity. Satyr plays were comic performances given at the end of a day
of tragic performance; normally, a full day at a tragic theatrical festival consisted of
three tragedies and a satyr play by the same playwright. The satyr play was
distinguished by having Silenus and a troop of satyrs as a
chorus.
`The Cyclops`is based on Book IX of the Odyssey,
but adds to it the element of satyrs and Silenus also captured by Polyphemus. Much of
the comic business includes homosexual encounter and drunkeness involving the satyrs.
Rather than being a figure of terror, Polyphemus is more of a buffoon in the Euripidean
version. The essential plot elements, with the exception of the presence of the satyrs,
are similar.
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