Sophistische Satyrn

Abstract

Abstract Since the discovery of the so-called Oineus fragment, which can with some certainty be attributed to Sophocles, it has been believed that the appearing Satyrs are a parody of the Sophists. This supposition has consequences for our understanding of the Satyr play: Usually, only Euripides᾿ Cyclops is believed to include contemporary allusions, but a closer examination of further fragments besides the Oineus fragment yields the conclusion that comic effects based on similar allusions might have been a common and regular feature of Satyr plays. So my aim is firstly, after a brief discussion of the fragment, to prove that the Satyrs are in fact a parody of the Sophists; in a second step I will analyze the Cyclops and some further fragments for contemporary allusions and then compare them with the Oineus fragment, until I finally draw my conclusion with regard to the appropriate interpretation of the Satyr play.