Nadie me hizo leer esto.
Tengo que admitir que me reí demasiado con el sátiro que casi termina como Ganímedes

A Drunken Retelling of the Cyclops Saga
11 November 2018

tWell, once again that large collection of books containing a bunch of the world’s classical works has come in handy. The reason being is that I don’t seem to have another copy of this particular Euripidean play, so since I have been slowly making my way through all of the Greek plays (and other works) I haven’t had to resort to scouring the internet to attempt to locate a copy, not that that would’ve been too much of a problem. Actually, it has come to my attention that Percey Shelly actually did a translation of the play, which somehow didn’t surprise me in the least.

tHowever, I wouldn’t actually consider it to be what I would consider romantic. Then again, the romance poets probably were more interested in romance in the form of pertaining to Rome as opposed to romance in the form of Mills and Boon. In fact I do wonder at times how it is that the likes of Mills and Boon took the name Romance, since when we use the word Romance in connection to languages, it isn’t that we are suggesting that the language itself is sexy (though some people would beg to differ) but rather that it originated from Latin.

tI seem to be drifting a bit here so I better get back on track. I’m surprised that this play didn’t appear in one of the four Penguin volumes of Euripdes’ plays, particularly since there is something very, very unique about it – it is the only extant copy of a satyr play that we have. Satyr plays are basically plays that would be performed after a trilogy of tragedies, and tended to be a lot more light hearted. I guess that should be expected, because if you had just spent the entire day watching three films like, say, Apocalypse Now, you probably would want to finish the day off with something a lot less serious, say Dumb and Dumber. Okay, I’m not suggesting that the Cylops is anything like Dumb and Dumber, particularly since these plays probably wouldn’t be all that suitable for children (not that they actually had ratings back in the days of the Ancient Greeks).

tThe story itself is pretty straight forward, and would be familiar to those who know the Odyssey. Yes, it is basically the story where Odysseus lands up on the island of the cyclops and has to use all his skills to be able to escape. However, there is an added catch, a bunch of satyrs are here as well, and they have been bound by the cyclops to act as shepherds. The thing with satyrs is that they are happy go lucky types of individuals who like wine, women, song, and basically the good old party atmosphere. Needless to say these satyrs tend to also be pretty crude, you know the big phallus and all that, though this is not necessarily mentioned in the play, it is just that we are pretty well versed in what went on – Greek plays, like Shakespeare’s plays, didn’t have the details stage instructions that many of the plays today have.

tIn a way, this is a rather light hearted play, though I wouldn’t consider it to be one of those laugh out loud types of plays that Aristophanes would write. However, there are parts that make us think, particularly the idea of law and order. Of course the cyclops, whom we aren’t supposed to sympathise with, you know with the killing and eating of Odysseus’ men and all that, argue that laws only exist to protect the weak from the strong. Well, in a way that is true, expect for the fact that when the strong get into power they have this habit of watering down the laws for their benefit. This happens all to often these days – how many politicians are ever prosecuted for corruption, or corporate leaders ever prosecuted for financial fraud and environmental violations.

tYeah, while we do live in a civil and ordered society, it only ever seems that it is the street criminal that ends up in gaol, and when they end up in gaol it only works to push them further into the arms of the criminal underworld. Then again, in that underworld there certainly is no law, and you will quickly find out that it is there that the strong certainly rule.

25/7/22
Crítica pendiente.

LMAOOOO THIS ONE IS SO FUNNY!!!!!! super fast easy funny read. originally thought it would be like cyclopses building a wall? or the ones who crafted zeus's thunderbolts? but it was polyphemus which in retrospect shouldve been obvious. but yeah it was really funny i did like this one.

notes:
- “you horny old head of the household” HELLO???
- this is just wrong sisyphus is NOT odysseus’s dad???
- HES GONNA HAVE SEX W THE WINE??
- EW shut UP goatman dont talk about helen that way
- “WHOS THAT OLD BALDIE THERE” LMAOOOOOOO
- STOP CALLING HELEN A WORTHLESS WHORE. SAYS U MR BLIND AND SOON TO BE DECEASED
- DAAAAMN not him being like im equally as god as zeus is LMAOOO signing ur own death warrant idiot
- “YOURE MORE A ZERO THAN A ZEUS” LMAOOOOOO
- LMAOOO THEY WANT TO KILL HIM BC HES BAD AT SINGING
- HES GAY????? “BOYS ARE ALWAYS MORE APPEALING”?????
- OHMIGOD HES TRYING TO SLEEP W THE OLD MAN SATYR??? HELLO???
- HAHAAA SPRAINED HIS LEG FROM STANDING THERE
- “CLOPSY WOPSY”????! HAHAHAHAHAH

#kyklops #euripides #cyclops #hasanaliyücelklasikleri #klasikkitaplar #tragedya #satyricondrama #yunanklasikleri
Uzun zamandır merak ettiğim kitabı sonunda okudum zaten kısa ve eğlenceli bir okumaydı. Bu arada "kiiklopas" diye okunması ben şok etti. Satyrikon dram diye adlandırılıyor metin. Yani tragedyabın tersiymiş kişiler biraz daha komik tasvir ediliyor ve mutlu sonlar içeriyor. Dionysos kültürü de içinde yerleşik.bu metin de günümüze kadar tam metin gelen tek satyrikon dramaymış

The only extant Satyr play, Cyclops is unique. It's hilarious. I actually laughed out loud at the whining satyrs, the drunken Polyphemus and Silenus, the taunting songs of the chorus of Satyrs, the sexuality jokes. Cyclops focuses around Bacchus' sacred wine, with hilarious results. Silenus, the old satyr, is drunk off his ass, making lewd jokes and fumbling around. Polyphemus confesses his love.

The juxtaposition of men being eaten and raucous drunken revelry is effective, and Euripides obviously knew what he was doing. Cyclops makes me wish more than one Satyr play was extant. Let's hope for a chance papyrus find.

نمایشنامه سایکلوپس از اوریپید تنها ساتیرنمای باقی‌ مونده از یونان باستانه؛ اثری که با هجو و طنزی گزنده، اسطوره رو از هیبت تراژیکش عاری می‌کنه. اوریپید تو این اثر، برخورد اولیس با سیکلوپ رو از دل اودیسه هومر برمی‌گیره، اما اون رو با فضای طنزآمیز و بی‌پروای ساتیرنمایی درمی‌آمیزه. سیکلوپ، که در حماسه هومری نمادی از بی‌تمدنی و وحشی‌گریه، اینجا بیشتر مضحک و مسخره به نظر می‌رسه؛ همچنان خطرناک، اما در عین حال مضحکه‌ای از زیاده‌روی و لذت‌جویی کورکورانه. اوریپید با زبانی هوشمندانه، هم اسطوره رو به بازی می‌گیره و هم نقدی اجتماعی ارائه می‌دهه—قدرت، شهوت، و غریزه، وقتی بی‌مهار میشن، چه در یک دیو یک‌چشم و چه در انسان، به یک اندازه مضحک و ویرانگرن‌.

A fun but short play.

It's a bit more shallow than other plays by Euripides but that's because it's a satyr play: it was written to be much lighter fare than the tragedies that would have accompanied it. I understand that, as a result of the genre, it's going to be more ribald, more fun, and ultimately more shallow -- but it's hard not to compare this to Euripides' famous, heartbreaking, melodramatic tragedies.

The story from the Odyssey of Odysseus blinding and escaping from the cyclops Polyphemus is re-told here -- there are some novel variations (e.g., the presence of a bunch of satyrs who mingle with both Polyphemus and Odysseus) but nothing about this particular play ends up standing out, which is such a shame!

Escrita está muy equis. Lo gracioso es ver las representaciones teatrales... Pero, digo, es una obra de teatro, fue escrita para ser vista, no leída.

داستان خود نمایشنامه به‌طور کلی جالب بود و ارزش یک‌بار خواندن را دارد ولی نمی‌توان آن را در زمره شاهکارهای نمایشنامه‌نویسی کلاسیک به شمار آورد. قسمت مفیدتر و حتی جالب‌تر کتاب مقاله‌ای است که در پایان کتاب پیوست شده است و درباره نمایشنامه‌های 《ساتیر》 توضیح داده است.

A bizarre story which dirty jokes. Odyseus lands on an island dominated by a mean and merciless cyclop named Polifemos, which reduces humans as food and slaves, and also disregards the gods. He also misses the wine and... ah yes, and he also chooses to drink from the fairy cup. But such secret could not be revealed without the invocation of Dyonisius.

It is a retelling of the encounter with Polifemos in The Odyssey, in the form of a greek satire.

Unlike the gory hilarity of the  Bacchae, here Euripides intentionally wrote a comedy, and it is the only full Satyr play still in existence (a burlesque type performance with a group of Satyrs replacing the usual chorus). As comedies go, Euripides is not quite up there with Aristophanes, and he should perhaps have stayed in his usual place on the comedy ladder: underneath it, so others may take the piss out of him.

The plot is taken from the well known Cyclops incident in  The Odyssey: come to the island for supplies, get kidnapped by a Cyclops, Noman, burning sticks, and Odysseus completely undermines this line from the beginning of his wikipedia article:

Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility

by deliberately revealing his true name as he escapes the injured and extremely peeved Cyclops. A Cyclops who's Dad is Psoeidon. Psoeidon who is the God of the sea that Odysseus is currently sailing on. It's a nice example of the Greek's obsession with slapping down hubris, but it seems mightily out of place for a man lauded as some clever epic hero, both during the Odyssey and the Trojan War.

As for the comedy itself, Euripides is, again, no Aristophanes. The imprisoned shepherd and Satyr Silenus, who rats out Odysseus at the first sign of danger to himself and thus gets half the crew eaten, has a less funny and frankly more horrific comeuppance. Odysseus gets the Cyclops drunk so they can stab him in the soft part, but rather than quickly falling into a drunken slumber, the giant Cyclops grins at Silenus, proclaims him his Ganymede and proceeds to drag him into the cave. Jesus... Silenus, it seems, is saved before the Cyclops does a Zeus on him but its the most uncomfortable 'joke' here.

This isn't my favourite Euripides. There's no compelling moral quandries like in  Medea, no likeably boisterous Hercules as in  Alcestis and no series of roaringly gruesome, 'what the hell was that?' antics like in the  Bacchae. There's just the argument of why eating people is wrong, which isn't really an intellectual conundrum most of us muse over, at least not until we truly hit the days of Soylent Green, and Odysseus' silver tongue is lost on the Cyclops anyway: an immovable, inhuman character that embodies amorality.
A disappointment and I'm kind of glad I have nothing but Euripides' more meaty tragedies left to read.