Ichneutae

Fragmentary satyr play by Sophocles

The Ichneutae (Ἰχνευταί, Ichneutai, "trackers"), also known as the Searchers, Trackers or Tracking Satyrs, is a fragmentary satyr play by the fifth century BC Athenian dramatist Sophocles. Three nondescript 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.

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 in which 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.

The Ichneutae of Sophocles, edited and translated by Richard Johnson Walker (1919) London: Burns and Oates Ltd.
"The Searchers" (Ιχνευται), pp. 140–177 in Sophocles, vol. 3, translated by Hugh Lloyd Jones (1996) Loeb Classical Library Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard.