Δημοσάτυροι (Demosatyroi)
(“The People’s Satyrs”)

45

Discussion Meineke III (1840) 592; Bevilacqua 1939, 39-40; Constantinides
1969, 57; PCG VII (1989) 758-9; Llopis-Gomez-Asensio 2007, 656-7; Orth HGL
II (2014) 1045; Orth 2015, 296.
Title The only other title with Δήμο- as the first component is Polyzelus’
Δημοτυνδάρεως. For the second component -σάτυροι in comedy cf. Timocles’
Ίκάριοι Σάτυροι and Σάτυροι in Ecphantides, Callias, Phrynichus and Cratinus;
cf. also Timocles’ “Dionysian” titles Διονυσιάζουσαι and Διόνυσος and the
composite title Όρεσταυτοκλείδης. Similar compositions indicating a sort of
double identity are Τιτανόπανες (Myrtilus), Διονυσαλέξανδρος (Cratinus),
Αϊολοσίκων (Aristophanes), Άνθρωφηρακλής (Pherecrates), Άνθρωπορέστης
(Strattis), Κωμωδοτραγωδία (Alcaeus, Anaxandrides), Μανέκτωρ (Menecrates),
Θουριοπέρσαι (Metagenes) and Σφιγγοκαρίων (Eubulus).
The first component - δήμο of the title in Attic comedy may refer to the Athenian
people (e. g. Ar. Ach. 626,631; V. 41.706; Pax 683), to the Athenian Assembly (e. g.
Ar. Nu. 432; V. 590; Ra. 1086), or to the demes of Attica (cf. Eupolis’ Δήμοι). The se-
cond component σάτυροι may allude to the cowardice and lust of these creatures.
Deceptive Athenian demagogues, of the sort Aristophanes calls δημοπίθηκοι, may
be represented on stage as demosatyroi: Ra. 1083-6 κάτ’ έκ τούτων ή πόλις ήμών /
ύπογραμματέων άνεμεστώθη / και βωμολόχων δημοπιθήκων / έξαπατώντων τον
δήμον άεί “and then, because of them, our state was filled with these under-clerks
and ribald democratic apes always cheating the people”.58 It is worth noting that
Pericles is called βασιλεύς σατύρων in Hermipp. fr. 47, on the grounds that he
delivers warlike orations, but is actually a coward who avoids battle. Timocles also
seems to associate satyrs with corrupt Athenian politicians in his’lKdpioi Σάτυροι,
a play which contains personal satire of known Athenian citizens, including the
politicians Hyperides (fr. 17), Thudippus, Telemachus and Cephisodorus (fr. 18),
and Aristomedes (fr. 19); cf. on this play, under “Title” and “Content”.
Content The title of the play strongly suggests a comedy focused on current po-
litics. Compared to his contemporary comic poets, Timocles’ surviving fragments
contain a higher degree of personal and political satire, untypical of the late fourth
century; cf. “Introduction” under “Themes and motifs” and “Kdmoidoumenoi”.
The plural in the title might indicate a Chorus, in which case its members would
share common “satyrical” qualities, although it seems more probable that the
creatures which are represented as demosatyrs appear on stage as individual cha-

58 Cf. Meineke, ed. min. I (1847) 396: “demagogi significari videntur turpiter obsequiosi,
quos δημοπιθήκους dixit Ar. Ran. 1085”; cf. Phryn. PS 61.12 “δημοπίθηκος”: ό έξαπα-
τών τον δήμον και θωπεύων κολακικώς “demopithekos: he who deceives the people and
flatters them”.