Hi my name is Cameron Holzman and my presentation will explaining why Saytr plays for the next developments in theater when they were created, and how it affected satire in the future. As we have learned in this very class Greek religious festivals with the first instance of theater that we’ve seen in our Eurocentric view of history. Slowly the process of theater developed first when one person started breaking out from the crowd and speaking independent of the chorus. Then two actors and the several began to break away from the chorus and deliver spoken lines that started to transform into stories of myth and religion. From that point people started to want to see theater on it own individually because they found it entertaining. So then a competition begin to take place for people to perform their theater works yearly. Most of the conception that time was drama and when 3 pieces of intense drama was performed in a row, people found that a bit dramatic. So they began to add any sort of distraction in between performances every third play known as the satyr play. This combined satire religious ceremonies and practices with overall lewd and crude behavior is that would make the audience laugh.
In ancient Greek mythology, satyrs were the henchmen or cronies of Dionysus, the god of festival and wine, who had a human-like presence with goat features added, often in the legs and tail. They were often depicted with constant erections. They were originally depicted with Silini, very similar in creation and image. They represented the sinful nature of the festivals of Dionysus and their debauchy was well know at the time because of their stories from geek myth
Satyr Plays start date in Athens is not as well known since no early literary evidence can be found and no records preserve this information but with the discovery of vases the depicting the satyrs around the end of the six century, it implies that this type of theater begin shortly before 500 B.C.E. The first instance of the change from archaic satyrs to the plays came in the pottery in 490 BCE. the earliest depiction of some type of performer wearing a Satyr costume comes from a fragment of a piece of pottery around 490 to 470 BC E Satyr plays were influenced by archaic satyr processions found on vases and cups. Scholars believe that satyr plays themselves heavily influenced the development of old comedy as it lead into Rome and also set the foundation for comedy as we know it today. Old comedy started in 423 bcE with a play called The Clouds. This would the development chronologically as well. They both transition that of the same phallic songs and both developed along the same pre-comic precursors. Both probably had their own influences as well, But their root in dithyrambs lead historians to believe that satiric drama was the first of it kind on a path of broader comedy
The church made it very clear their views on this type of satire because although satyrs were shown as being a lustful and somewhat troublesome. They were never portrayed in Greek mythology as the servants of Satan However in Roman religious performances, the satyrs were seen coming out of the hellmouth. One of the Mansions used in Theatrical performance in Rome. This hellmouth signified that these working for Satan and they would attempt to coerce you to descending with them into hell. satire had no place in anyone's lives that believes truly in the church. This above all other statements set the church and satire on two separate sides in finality. Church performances had been the birthplace of satyr plays, but their constant mockery of the church and general myth made the church declare clearly for years in their pronouncements and in their performances that anyone who attended these plays would belong in hell.
In summation, satyr place where a development and drama that were created out of Greek religious festivals and dithraymss and where the next line of progression in theater because they led into old comedy and they steered drama and religious plays into a certain angle creating completely separate forms of drama that would progress into the dramatic performances of the future. The satyr plays created a new side to art The religious dramatics. and the comedic form developed from these plays and satyrical satyrs.