Satyr plays - Definition and Overview

Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of comedy, similar to the modern-day burlesque style. Though they did not always include satyrs or even a reference to the mythological creatures, they contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality (often including large phallic props), pranks and general merriment.

At the Athenian Dionysia, playwrights usually submitted four plays to the competition: three tragedies and one satyr play.

The only satyr play to survive in its entirety is Euripides' Cyclops. Scholars also have large fragments of a Sophocles comedy called Ichneutae (Tracking Satyrs), and still smaller pieces of other satyr plays exist.