Pratinas

Pratinas (Greek Πρατίνας, * 6th century BC in Phlius ) was one of the earliest tragedians of Athens in ancient Greece and is considered the founder of the satyr play.

Life and work

Pratinas, son of a Pyrrhonides or Enkomios, was from Phlius near Corinth on the north-eastern Peloponnese. He took around 500 BC part in literary competitions and measured himself against Choirilos and the later famous tragedian Aeschylus in the arts Agon the Dionysia in the 70th Olympiad ( 499/96 BC) Pratinas had a son named Aristias, the also wrote poetry.

His größtest merit is the "invention" of the dramatic genre of the satyr plays, which may well have been a redesign of the known from the Doric radius kyklischen choruses of satyrs. 32 alone its around 50 works to have been satyr plays. Are known by name of his tragic works only the satyr play Palaistai ( "Knight" ) as well as the tragedies " Persians " and " Tantalus ", which had been performed by his son Aristias in the year 467 BC in the tragic competitions, but the pieces of Aeschylus documents. From Pratinas a larger fragment of a choral song called " Hyporchemata " in Athenaeus is obtained in which protested a burlesque chorus against redeploying its dancing circle. While meted Thespis innovations the satyr play, Pratinas be understood as a poetic representative of the traditionalists. According to Suda, he was once successful in the tragic competitions.