Satyricon, or the Petronii Arbitri Saturicon, is a book of randy and satirical Neroic tales by Gaius Petronius, of whom little is known.
Written in the Menippean style popularized by Varro, probably around 60 CE, the tale is a mixture of prose and poetry detailing the escapades of the narrator, Encolpius, his friend Ascyltus, and Gito, their attendant and love object. The Roman worship of Priapus is the topic of its tales of the orgies and debauchery of Nero's time, heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual.
Originally there were perhaps twenty books in the series, but all that remains is 146 chapters from books 15 and 16, which survived to be printed in 1664. The longest known section is the "Supper of Trimalchio" at which every dish served by a wealthy vulgarian is disguised as something else. Secret Priapic rites, love potions, seduction, rape, disguises, fortunes stolen, hidden, lost and won, love affairs, plunder, and traveller's tales also figure in the telling. The variety is so great the reader can only wonder what was in the remainder of the vast work.
In 1969 Federico Fellini made a film, Satyricon, that was loosely based upon the book. The film is deliberately fragmented and surreal, much like the events in the novel.
An early mention of a werewolf tale appears in chapter 62.
See also Satyricon (band).
