Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

TRAGOEDIA.'RAGOEDIA. 1141
and his straggles in passing from one state to to which the choreutae sang and danced. (MUiller,
another, were not only represented and sym- Literat. of' Greece, p. 204; Dorians, iv. 7. ~ 8.)
pathised in by the Dithyrambic singers and dan- In fact the connection of the Dorian choral poetry
cers, but they also carried their enthusiasm so fatr, with the worship of Apollo, the direct opposite to
as to fancy themselves under the influence of the that of Dionysus, and its consequent subjection to
same events as -the god himself, and in their at- established rules and forms, admitting too, from
tempts to ide:itify themselves with him and his the Dorian character but little innovation, affords
fortunes, assumed the character of the subordinate the most obvious explanation of the striking cirdivinities, the Satyrs, Nymphs, and Panes (Ngn7- cumstance that nothing decidedly dramatic sprang
phasr2umque leves cus, SZrtris chowi), who formed the from it, as from the dithyrarnmbic performances.
mythological'train of the god. Hence, as is ex- (Bode, p. 16.) Still there were some points in
plained under DIONYSIA (p. 410, b), arose the which the Dorian worship of Apollo resembled
custom of the disguise of Satyrs being taken by the that of Dionysus, e.g. the dances with which the
worshippers at the festivals of Dionysus, from the former god was honoured, and the kind of mimicry
choral songs and dances of whom the Grecian tra- which characterised them. Other circumstances
gedy originated, " being from its commencement also, on which we cannot here dwell, would proconnected with the public rejoicings and ceremo- bably facilitate the introduction of the Dionysian
nies of Dionysus in cities, while comedy was more Dithyramb amongst the Dorian states, especially
a sport and merriment of the country festivals." In after the improvements made in it by Arion (B. C.
fact the very name of Tragedy (rpayqyia), far from 600), which were so great, that even the invention
signifying anything mournful or pathetic, is most of that species of poetry is ascribed to him, though
probably derived from the goatlike appearance of it had been known in Greece for a century before
the Satyrs who sang or acted with mimetic gesticula- his time. The worship of Dionysus was celebrated
tions (lpXl~rls) the old Bacchic songs, with Silenus, at his native place, Methymnae in Lesbos, with
the constant companion of Dionysus, for their leader. music and orgiastic rites; and as Arion travelled
(Bode, Gesch. d. Hellen. Dichtkernst, vol. iii. p. 31.) extensively in the Dorian states of Hellas, he had
From their resemblance in dress and action to goats, ample opportunities of observing the varieties of
they were sometimes called -Tpa-yoi, and their song choral worship, and of introducing any improve.
Trpaybi3a. Thus Aeschylus in a fragment of the ments which he might wish to make in it. (Bode,
Prometheus lIuppopos calls a Satyr T~pyos, and p. 22.) He is said to have been' the inventor of
the Satyric chorus in the Cyclops of Euripides the "tragic turn " (p icttKOv rpirou), a phrase of
(1. 80) appears in the skin of a goat (XXOaca doubtful significabionu but which seems t6mean, that.rpdyov). The word Jadrupos also is apparently he was the inventor of a grave and solemn style of
the same as Tru'vpos, a kind of goat. (Phot. Lex. music, to which his Dithyrambs were danced and
s.v.) According to another opinion, the " word sung. (Hermann, Opusc. vol. vii. p. 21 6.) Suidas
T'ragedy was first coined from the goat that was (s.v.) adds of him, Aeyera ical mrpCrTos Xopbvr*al,
the prize of it, which prize was first constituted in Kcal L&O'pai~o,, aao cai ooeado-m i'b,dIoeveo 6rrb
Thespis' time." (Bentley, Plcalsr. p. 249.) This To0 Xopov, ICKal a'povs ELoeve7ere fee-pa e-4'derivation, however, as well as another, connecting'/o;ras. From the first clause, in connection with
it with the goat offered on the altar of Bacchus other authorities (Schol. in Aristogpi. Ayes, 1403),
(MUiller, Literat. of Greece, p. 291), around which we learn that he introduced the cyclic chorus (a
the chorus sang, is not equally supported either by fact mythologically expressed by mnaking him the
the etymological principles of the language, or the son of Cycktus); i. e. the Dithyramb, instead of
analogous instance of rcwlyAia, the "revel-song." being sung as before his time in a wild irregular
(Ettyolo.:Iugagn. p.764; Eurip..Baccl. 131; Aelian, manner, was danced by a chorus of fifty men
V. -IH. iii. 40.) around a blazing altar; whence in the'time of
But the Dionysian dithyrambs were not always Aristophanes, a dithyramnbic poet and a teacher of
of a gay and joyous character: they were capable cyclian choruses were nearly synonymous. (Miiller,
of expressing thi extremes of sadness aud} wild p. 204.) As the alteration was made at Corinth,
lamnentationl as well as the enthusi asm of joy; and we may suppose that the representation of the
it was from the Dithyramubic songs of a mournful Dithyrambic was assimilated in some respects to
cast, probably sullg originally in the winter mreaths, that of the Dorian choral odes. The clause to the
that the stately and solemn tragedy of the Greeks effect that Arion introduced Satvrs, i.. rpayo,
arose. That there were Dithyramhbs of such a speaking in verse (trocluaic), is by some thought
character, expressive of the sufferings of Dionysus another expression for the invention of the " tra(Ta Too'O Aoi'Uov 7radrl), appears from the state- gic style " A simpler interpretation is, that he
ment in Herodotus (v. 67), thut at Sicyon in the introduced the Satyrs as an addition and contrast
time of Clisthenes (B. c. 600) it was customary to to the dance and song of the'cyclic chorus of the
celebrate (ypapipElv ) the sufferings of that god with Dithyramb, thus preserving to it its old character
tlraic choruses." But it inust be remarked that as a part of the worship of Bacchus. The phrase
in the imost ancient times the Dithyrambic song 5mvo'eocat (compare Herod. i. 23)'alludes to the
was not executed by a regular chorus. Thus different titles given by him to his different DithyArchilochus says in Trochaic verse, " I Iknow how ranlbs according to their subjects, for we need not
when my mind is inflamed with wine to lead otff' suppose that they all related directly to Bacchus.
the Dithyralnb, the beautiful song of Dionysus," (Welcker, Nacktrcaq p. 233.) As he was the first
whence we may infer that il his time (B. c. 700) cithara player of his Wage (Herod. i. 23),. it is protile Dithyramb was sung by a band of revellers led bable that he made the lyre the principal instruby a flute-player. Lyrical choruses, indeed, had merit in the musical accomnpainlmelnt.
been even then established, especially in the Dorian From the mlore solemn Dithyraimbs then, as inistates of Greece, in connection with the worship of proved by Arionl, with the company of Satyrs, who
Apollo, the cithara or cJ6pl.Wyt being the instrument probably kept up a joking dialogue, ultimately
4D 3