Editing Satyr (section)

===Behavior===
[[File:Crátera ática de columnas (M.A.N. 1999-99-65) 02.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Detail of a [[krater]], dating to {{circa}} 560–550 BC, showing a satyr [[Masturbation|masturbating]]. Athenian [[satyr play]]s were characterized as "a genre of 'hard-ons.'"{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=5}}]]

One of the earliest written sources for satyrs is the ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', which is attributed to the [[Boeotia]]n poet [[Hesiod]]. Here satyrs are born alongside the [[nymph]]s and [[Kouretes]] and are described as "good-for-nothing, prankster Satyrs".{{sfn|West|2007|page=293}}{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=179}} Satyrs were widely seen as mischief-makers who routinely played tricks on people and interfered with their personal property.{{sfn|West|2007|page=293}} They had insatiable sexual appetites and often sought to seduce or ravish both nymphs and mortal women alike,{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=233}}{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=179}}{{sfn|Roman|Roman|2010|page=432}}{{sfn|Room|1983|pages=270–271}} though these attempts were not always successful.{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=233}} Satyrs almost always appear in artwork alongside female companions of some variety.{{sfn|Henrichs|1987|pages=100–101}} These female companions may be clothed or nude, but the satyrs always treat them as mere sexual objects.{{sfn|Henrichs|1987|page=100}} A single elderly satyr named [[Silenus]] was believed to have been the tutor of Dionysus on [[Nysa (mythology)|Mount Nysa]].{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=233}}{{sfn|Fracer|2014|page=326}}{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=179}} After Dionysus grew to maturity, Silenus became one of his most devout followers, remaining perpetually drunk.{{sfn|Riggs|2014|pages=233–234}}

This image was reflected in the classical Athenian [[satyr play]].{{sfn|West|2007|page=293}}{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=5}} Satyr plays were a genre of plays defined by the fact that their [[Greek chorus|choruses]] were invariably made up of satyrs.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=5}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=279}}{{sfn|March|2014|page=436}}{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=156}} These satyrs are always led by Silenus, who is their "father".{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=156}} According to Carl A. Shaw, the chorus of satyrs in a satyr play were "always trying to get a laugh with their animalistic, playfully rowdy, and, above all, sexual behavior."{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=5}} The satyrs play an important role in driving the plot of the production, without any of them actually being the lead role, which was always reserved for a god or tragic hero.{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=159}} Many satyr plays are named for the activity in which the chorus of satyrs engage during the production, such as {{langx|grc|Δικτυουλκοί|Diktyoulkoí|Net-Haulers|label=none}}, {{langx|grc|Θεωροὶ ἢ Ἰσθμιασταί|Theōroì ē Isthmiastaí|Spectators or Competitors at the Isthmian Games|label=none}}, and {{langx|grc|Ἰχνευταί|Ichneutaí|Searchers|label=none}}.{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=159}} Like tragedies, but unlike [[Ancient Greek comedy|comedies]], satyr plays were set in the distant past and dealt with mythological subjects.{{sfn|Slenders|2015|pages=155–156}} The third or second-century BC philosopher [[Demetrius of Phalerum]] famously characterized the satiric genre in his treatise ''De Elocutione'' as the middle ground between tragedy and comedy: a "playful tragedy" ({{langx|grc|τραγῳδία παίζουσα|tragōdía paízdousa|label=none}}).{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=14}}{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=156}}
[[File:Komos Douris BM E768.jpg|thumb|upright=1|A bald, bearded, horse-tailed satyr balances a winecup on his penis, on an Attic red-figure ''[[psykter]]'' ({{circa}} 500–490 BC)]]
The only complete extant satyr play is [[Euripides]]'s ''[[Cyclops (play)|Cyclops]]'',{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=234}}{{sfn|Roman|Roman|2010|page=432}}{{sfn|March|2014|page=436}}{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=155}} which is a [[burlesque]] of a scene from the eighth-century BC epic poem, the ''[[Odyssey]]'', in which [[Odysseus]] is captured by the [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]] [[Polyphemus]] in a cave.{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=234}} In the play, Polyphemus has captured a tribe of satyrs led by Silenus, who is described as their "Father", and forced them to work for him as his slaves.{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=233}} After Polyphemus captures Odysseus, Silenus attempts to play Odysseus and Polyphemus off each other for his own benefit, primarily by tricking them into giving him wine.{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=233}} As in the original scene, Odysseus manages to blind Polyphemus and escape.{{sfn|Riggs|2014|page=233}} Approximately 450 lines, most of which are fragmentary, have survived of [[Sophocles]]'s satyr play ''[[Ichneutae]]'' (''Tracking Satyrs'').{{sfn|Slenders|2015|page=155}} In the surviving portion of the play, the chorus of satyrs are described as "lying on the ground like [[hedgehog]]s in a bush, or like a monkey bending over to [[Flatulence|fart]] at someone."{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=15}} The character Cyllene scolds them: "All you [satyrs] do you do for the sake of fun!... Cease to expand your smooth phallus with delight. You should not make silly jokes and chatter, so that the gods will make you shed tears to make me laugh."{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=5}}

In [[Dionysius I of Syracuse]]'s fragmentary satyr play ''Limos'' (''Starvation''), Silenus attempts to give the hero [[Heracles]] an [[enema]].{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=15}} A number of vase paintings depict scenes from satyr plays, including the Pronomos Vase, which depicts the entire cast of a victorious satyr play, dressed in costume, wearing shaggy leggings, erect phalli, and horse tails.{{sfn|March|2014|page=436}} The genre's reputation for crude humor is alluded to in other texts as well.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|pages=1, 5}} In [[Aristophanes]]'s comedy ''[[Thesmophoriazusae]]'', the tragic poet [[Agathon]] declares that a dramatist must be able to adopt the ''[[persona]]e'' of his characters in order to successfully portray them on stage.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=1}} In lines 157–158, Euripides's unnamed relative retorts: "Well, let me know when you're writing satyr plays; I'll get behind you with my hard-on and show you how."{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=1}} This is the only extant reference to the genre of satyr plays from a work of ancient Greek comedy{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=1}} and, according to Shaw, it effectively characterizes satyr plays as "a genre of 'hard-ons.'"{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=5}}
[[File:Penelope Painter ARV 1301 7 satyr swinging a woman - satyr escorting the Basilinna (02).jpg|left|thumb|254x254px|Satyr escorting the ''[[Basilinna]]'' (Queen), Attic red figure ''[[skyphos]]''. {{Circa|440 BC}}]]
In spite of their bawdy behavior, however, satyrs were still revered as semi-divine beings and companions of the god Dionysus.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=18}} They were thought to possess their own kind of wisdom that was useful to humans if they could be convinced to share it.{{sfn|West|2007|page=293}}{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=18}} In [[Plato]]'s ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]'', [[Alcibiades]] praises [[Socrates]] by comparing him to the famous satyr Marsyas.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=17}} He resembles him physically, since he is balding and has a snub-nose,{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=17}} but Alcibiades contends that he resembles him mentally as well, because he is "insulting and abusive", in possession of irresistible charm, "erotically inclined to beautiful people", and "acts as if he knows nothing".{{sfn|Shaw|2014|pages=17–18}} Alcibiades concludes that Socrates's role as a philosopher is similar to that of the paternal satyr [[Silenus]], because, at first, his questions seem ridiculous and laughable, but, upon closer inspection, they are revealed to be filled with much wisdom.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|page=18}} One story, mentioned by [[Herodotus]] in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' and in a fragment by [[Aristotle]], recounts that [[Midas|King Midas]] once captured a silenus, who provided him with wise philosophical advice.{{sfn|West|2007|page=293}}