525 in Eleusis, a small town about 27 kilometers northwest of Athens, which is nestled in the fertile valleys of western Attica, though the date is most likely based on counting back forty years from his first victory in the Great Dionysia. There are no reliable sources for the life of Aeschylus. The war was so important to Greeks and to Aeschylus himself that, upon his death around 456 BC, his epitaph included a reference to his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon but not to his success as a playwright. His play The Persians remains a good primary source of information about this period in Greek history. Unfortunately, only seven of an estimated 70 plays by Aeschylus have survived into modern times one of these plays, Prometheus Bound, is sometimes thought not to be the work of Aeschylus.Īt least one of Aeschylus's works was influenced by the Persian invasion of Greece, which took place during his lifetime. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in plays to allow for conflict among them previously, characters interacted only with the chorus. He is the earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays survive extant, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. Still powerful and provocative after 2,500 years, these great tragedies offer unparalleled insight into the world of ancient Greece and the origins of the Western dramatic tradition.Greek Αισχύλος, Ésquilo in Portuguese Esquilo in Spanish Eschyle en français Eschil in romanian Эсхил in russian.Īeschylus, an ancient Greek playwright, is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy. Written in a grand style, rich in diction and dramatic dialogue, the plays embody Aeschylus’ concerns with the destiny and fate of individuals as well as the state, all played out under the watchful eye of the gods. After being purified by Apollo, he makes his way to Athens and is there tried (and acquitted) at the court of Areopagus.

In The Furies, Orestes flees to Delphi, pursued by the divine avengers (Erinyes) of his mother. In The Libation-Bearers, Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, avenges his father by murdering his mother. In Agamemnon, the warrior who defeated Troy returns to Argos and is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia before the start of the Trojan War.

Among them is this classic trilogy dealing with the bloody history of the House of Atreus. Perhaps the greatest of the Greek tragedians, Aeschylus wrote 90 plays, but only seven have survived complete.

The oresteia agamemnon