The ''Ichneutae'' ( grc, Ἰχνευταί, ''Ichneutai'', "trackers"), also known as the ''Searchers'', ''Trackers'' or ''Tracking Satyrs'', is a fragmentary

satyr play The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is str ...

by the fifth-century BC

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

. Three nondescript quotations in ancient authors were all that was known of the play until 1912,Hunt (1912) 31. when the extensive remains of a second-century CE

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

roll of the ''Ichneutae'' were published among the

Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a group of manuscripts discovered during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by papyrologists Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt (, mo ...

. With more than four hundred lines surviving in their entirety or in part, the ''Ichneutae'' is now the best preserved ancient satyr play after

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

' '' Cyclops'', the only fully extant example of the genre.

Plot

The plot of the play was derived from the inset myth of the ''

Homeric Hymn The ''Homeric Hymns'' () are a collection of thirty-three anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. The hymns are "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter—dactylic hexameter—as the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'', ...

to Hermes''. A newborn

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...

has stolen

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

's cattle, and the older god sends a chorus of satyrs to retrieve the animals, promising them the dual rewards of freedom and gold should they be successful. The satyrs set out to find the cattle, tracking their footprints. Approaching the cave in which baby Hermes is hiding, they hear him playing the lyre, which he has just invented. Scared by the strange sound, the satyrs debate their next move. The nymph of the mountain in which Hermes is hiding, Cyllene, explains to them the nature of the musical instrument. Outside the cave the satyrs see some sewn cow-hides and are convinced that they have found the thief. Apollo returns as the papyrus breaks off.

English translations

* ''The Incheutae of Sophocles'', edited and translated by Richard Johnson Walker (1919) London: Burns and Oates Ltd. * "The Searchers" (Ιχνευται), pp. 140–177 in ''Sophocles, vol. 3'', translated by

Hugh Lloyd-Jones Sir Peter Hugh Jefferd Lloyd-Jones FBA (21 September 1922 – 5 October 2009məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ..., in 1982, and spent his last 27 years at their home in Wellesley. Major publicat ...

(1996) Loeb Classical Library Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard.

Bibliography

* Hunt, A.S. (1912) ''The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: Part IX''. London. * Milne, H.J.M. (1927) ''Catalogue of the Literary Papyri in the British Museum''. London. * Seaford, R.A.S. (1984) ''The Cyclops of Euripides''. Oxford. * Antonopoulos, A.P. (2010) ''Sophocles' Ichneutai 1-220, edited with introduction & commentary''. (diss.) Exeter. * Antonopoulos, A.P. (2013) 'Select Notes on the Papyrus Text of Sophocles' ''Ichneutai'' (P.Oxy. IX. 1174)', ''ZPE'' 186, 77–91. * Antonopoulos, A.P. (2014) 'Sophocles' ''Ichneutai'' 176-202: A lyric dialogue (?) featuring an impressive mimetic scene', ''Hermes'' 142, 246–254.
Antonopoulos, A.P. (2014) 'A Puzzling Threat by Silenos: On Sophocles’ ''Ichneutai'' 168’, ''GRBS'' 54, 579-583.

Notes

External links

English translation
of the ''Ichneutae'' by Ann Mahoney (accompanied by the Greek text from P.Oxy. IX) at the

Perseus Digital Library The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University, which assembles digital collections of humanities resources. Version 4.0 is also known as the "Perseus Hopper", and it is hosted by the Department of Classical Studies. The proj ...

.
English translation
of the ''Ichneutae'' by

Roger Lancelyn Green Roger Gilbert Lancelyn Green (2 November 1918 – 8 October 1987) was a British biographer and children's writer. He was an Oxford academic who formed part of the Inklings literary discussion group along with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkie ...

at the Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University * A.S. Hunt,
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: Part IX
', including the editio princeps of the first discovered fragments at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. Plays by Sophocles Satyr plays Music in Greek mythology Plays set in ancient Greece Plays based on classical mythology {{AncientGreece-stub

Plot

English translations

Bibliography

See also

Notes

External links