Ebook: Euripides: Cyclops: A Satyr Play

In Athens, during the fifth-century BCE, tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides staged three successive tragedies at the yearly festival in honor of the god Dionysus, and after each trilogy, they presented a fourth performance, a satyr play. With their ribald chorus of ithyphallic, half-man / half-horse creatures, satyr plays were a peculiar part of the Athenian theatrical experience. Euripides: Cyclops is the first book-length study of this fascinating genre’s only complete, extant production, a theatrical version of Odysseus encounter with the one-eyed Homeric monster Polyphemus. Shaw begins with a history of the genre, following its development from early sixth-century religious processions through the Classical period up to the Hellenistic era. He examines the Cyclops’ mythological background (book nine of Homer’s Odyssey), and the date and text of Euripides’ satyr play. He also offers a comprehensive analysis of the play’s plot and performance, using ancient literary fragments and visual evidence to determine the original viewing experience. Although the Cyclops treats many of the same themes as Homer’s Odyssey, Shaw shows that Euripides updates the archaic epic for the fifth-century Athenian stage, adapting Homer’s plot to fit current religious, philosophical, and historical contexts. A detailed examination of the play’s literary history also reveals that Euripides uses various comedic techniques to establish the Cyclops as a sophisticated and nuanced vehicle for literary criticism.