Ichneutae
Sign in to saveAlso known as Searchers, Trackers, Ichneutai, The Searchers, The Trackers, Soph. Ich.
The Ichneutae (), also known as the Searchers, Trackers or Tracking Satyrs, is a fragmentary satyr play by the fifth-century BC Athenian dramatist Sophocles. Three undistinguished quotations in ancient authors were all that was known of the play until 1912, when the extensive remains of a second-century CE papyrus roll of the Ichneutae were published among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. 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' Cyclops, the only fully extant example of the genre. The manuscript
Key facts
- Play.place
- Athens
- Play.name
- Ichneutae
- Play.image
- P.Oxy. IX 1174 col. iv-v.jpg
- Play.caption
- Lines 96–138 of the Ichneutae on a fragment of the papyrus roll that provides the basis for our knowledge of the play (P.Oxy. IX 1174 col. iv–v)
- Play.writer
- Sophocles
- Play.chorus
- Satyrs
- Play.characters
- Apollo Silenus Cyllene (oread) Hermes (not present in the extant fragments)
- Play.setting
- Mount Cyllene in Arcadia
- Play.genre
- Satyr play
- Play.orig_lang
- Ancient Greek
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Author
- Sophocles
- Genre
- satyr play
- Narrative location
- Mount Kyllini
- Image
- P.Oxy. IX 1174 col. iv-v.jpg
Show 7 more facts
- title
- Ἰχνευταί
- language of work or name
- Ancient Greek
- location of first performance
- Classical Athens
- characters
- Greek chorus
- form of creative work
- play
- entry in abbreviations table
- Soph. Ich.
- Commons category
- Ichneutae
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Plot
- English translations
- Bibliography
- See also
- Notes
- External links
The Ichneutae (), also known as the Searchers, Trackers or Tracking Satyrs, is a fragmentary satyr play by the fifth-century BC Athenian dramatist Sophocles. Three undistinguished quotations in ancient authors were all that was known of the play until 1912, when the extensive remains of a second-century CE papyrus roll of the Ichneutae were published among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. 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' Cyclops, the only fully extant example of the genre. The manuscript is now kept in the British Library in London.
== Plot == The plot of the play was derived from the inset myth of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. A newborn Hermes has stolen Apollo'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 where 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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ichneutae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.