Product Description
This new and close translation of Aeschylus' Oresteia tries to preserve its theatrical and poetic qualities: introductory and explanatory matter emphasizes the interconnection of scenes, ideas, and language that distinguishes this unique work, the only trilogy to survive from Greek tragedy. ... Read more

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Aeschylus (525 BC-456 BC) was an ancient Greek playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays survive, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. Many of Aeschylus' works were influenced by the Persian invasion of Greece, which took place during his lifetime. His play The Persians remains a quintessential primary source of information about this period in Greek history. He wrote some 70 to 90 plays, but only seven tragedies have survived intact: The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliants, the trilogy known as The Orestia, consisting of the three tragedies Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides, and Prometheus Bound (whose authorship is disputed). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Aeschylus' play that falls between Oedipus Rex and Antigone
After the banishment of Oedipus, his twin sons Eteocles and Polyneices were elected co-kings of Thebes.They agreed to reign for alternate years, but Eteocles, would not relinquish the throne at the end of the first year, accusing his brother of having an evil disposition and banishing him from the city.Eventually Polyneices would return with six other champions to lay siege to the city."The Seven Against Thebes" expedition ends with both Eteocles and Polyneices dead, killed by each other, before the walls of Thebes.After that, the defenders crushed the besiegers and the seven proud generals were all killed, except for Adrastus, who managed to escape thanks to his divine horse, Arion.However, the defenders of Cadmeia, the acropolis of Thebes, had so many losses that from then on any victory which looked more like a defeat as called a Cadmeian victory.

The Aeschylus tragedy "Seven Against Thebes" is the only surviving play of a connected trilogy dealing with the sins of Laius (father of Oedipus) and the curse subsequently brought down upon his descendants.Aeschylus focuses on a prophecy that had been made regarding the sons of Oedipus: "They shall divide their inheritance with the sword in such a manner as to obtain equal shares."The play begins with Eteocles in command of the city and Polyneices arriving with his army of Argive soldiers.It begins with Eteocles making a call to arms and is followed by a description of the oath taken by the seven generals of the attacking armies.When the brothers kill each other during the battle by the walls of Thebes it becomes clear their "equal shares" refers to their common graves.The tragedy ends with a brief appearance by Antigone, who declares her intention to bury her brother Polyneices in defiance of the command of Creon, who now becomes king of Thebes.

This tragedy comes after the events related by Sophocles in "Oedipus at Colonus," but obviously before what happens in his "Antigone." What is interesting here is the psychological portrait that Aeschylus presents of the two brothers, even though only one of them appears in the play (the idea of having to different settings was apparently too much of a radical idea for drama at that time).Such insights are nominally something we would expect from Sophocles, but this is Aeschylus who is developing the split between the brothers in terms of oppositional pairs of characteristics.Clearly the idea is that one cannot exist (live) without the other, which makes their dying together justified by logic as well as the curse on the House of Oedipus.

It is difficult to judge this play and appreciate it as the climax to this particular trilogy without knowing much more about the preceding plays dealing with the two earlier generations of the house of Cadmus.What is clear is that Eteocles does not deserve much sympathy from the audience given that he has a greater culpability in his demise than either his father or his sister, at least in terms of what we know from the plays of Sophocles, which is the flaw in this assessment.

excellent translation from excellent series
This excellent edition of Seven Against Thebes is part of Oxford University Press' ongoing series Greek Tragedy in New Translations, the idea behind which is that these plays should be translated into English not just by Greek scholars, but also by poets, to preserve as much of the real communicative power and drama as possible.

This edition is ideal for reluctant students assigned to read Seven Against Thebes, and may even succeed in sparking their interest in the subject. The language is true to the play and stays vivid even through a few static moments.

As with all the plays in this series, the introduction provides information not only about how the translation was accomplished, but also about how the play would have been performed, and perceived, by the ancient Greeks, what's missing from the play (namely, the first two plays of a trilogy), and notes about how the play fits into the scheme of Greek tragedy.

Other plays in the series, such as Oedipus the King, are also highly recommended.

This review applies only to the Hecht/Bacon translation published by Oxford University Press in their Greek Tragedy in New Translations series, and not to the Dover Thrift edition.

When the gods send destruction there is no escape.
This is the third play in a trilogy, the other two being lost. The play results in an end to the curse on the Oedipus family. However, it is different from the approach later used by Sophocles. Here, there is noredemption from within. The curse ends only when the family becomesextinct. The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polyneices, who were toshare power in Thebes, have quarrelled. Eteocles seizes power andPolyneices goes to get help from Adrastus, King of Argos, and six otherkings. Eteocles sends champions to fight the six kings at six of the gatesof Thebes. The seventh gate is left to Eteocles. However, that is the gateto which his brother comes. Eteocles feels that he has no choice but tofight and further incur the wrath of the gods by shedding kindred blood."When the gods send destruction there is no escape." Eteocles hadan "out" of his predicament but he choses not to use it. Onereally sees the pains of conflict and war in this play. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Aeschylus 1: Richmond Lattimore trans. ,1953 ed.
I made a point of noting the edition of this Lattimore translation of the Oresteia because it contains a very useful introduction which seems to have been omitted by some later publishers. This introduction takes up 30 pages and is about as comprehensive as you could reasonably expect without becoming a book in it's own right.

For readers like myself, who are not well-versed in classical Greek tragedy or in the history, legends, and mythology which are integral parts of this specific tragedy, this introduction is indispensable. The titled sections are: The Life of Aeschylus, Early Tragedy, The Story of the House of Atreus, Variations of the Legend, Idea and Symbol, Dramatic Structure and Lyric Dimension, and Lyric Tragedy. There is also an a brief analysis of each of the parts of the trilogy.

According to Lattimore, "Agammemnon" was the "culmination of lyric tragedy". The imagery conjured up by the lyrical speech of the actors transcended the limitations of a small, fixed stage and limited cast, and opened up the imagination of the spectator to distant places, events, and times, present and future. Thus, the conflict between Clytemaestra and Agammemnon involves us also in the legendry of the House of Atreus, as well as the siege of Troy and related events.

In the second part of the trilogy, " The Libation Bearers", the focus narrows, as attention is concentrated on Orestes and Electra while they work themselves into a state of self-justification for their anticipated revenge-murders. It is evident by the end of this play that revenge in the name of personal "right" leads to an unending cycle of more outrages and more revenge.

"The Eumenides" provides resolution to what has gone before in the first two plays of the trilogy, by introducing a higher justice, personified by the joint intervention of Apollo and Athene. The Furies, representing primitive, strict, brutal justice, are tempered and supersededby a more rational and humane justice which is a basic ingredient of modern civilization.

As I said earlier, I hadn't had much previous exposure to Greek tragedy. The incentive to delve into the "Oresteia" came from an unusual and provocative book called "Sexual Personnae" by Camille Paglia. In her book she makes the case that the achievements of western civilization have come about through the struggle between Apollonian male-orientated, rational conceptions of the world, and the Dionysian, female-dominated, irrational elements of humanity. In her view, the "Oresteia" exemplifies this concept. She also says that the "Oresteia" could be viewed as "Freudian psychodrama" wherein Orestes represents young ego, the Furies stand for the irrational id, and Apollo is the superego. In reading these plays I was "checking up" on Ms. Paglia's assertions to see if they seemed credible.

It was interesting to view the trilogy through the lenses provided by these scholarly commentators. Mr. Lattimore's analysis and Ms. Paglia's colorful speculations gave me some preparation to better appreciate these dramas. In reading the actual plays, I was surprised at their power and complexity. This was a case where it was well worthwhile to go to the original work rather than merely reading what others have said about it. ... Read more

Product Description
The Oresteia (????????) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. When originally performed it was accompanied by Proteus, a satyr play that would have been performed following the trilogy; it has not survived. The term "Oresteia" originally probably referred to all four plays, but today is generally used to designate only the surviving trilogy. "The individual plays probably did not originally have titles of their own"[1] The only surviving example of a trilogy of ancient Greek plays, the Oresteia was originally performed at the Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BC, where it won first prize. Overall, this trilogy marks the shift from a system of vendetta in Argos to a system of litigation in Athens ... Read more

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Blood, gore, thrills, chills and romance abound in these plays by three of the great Greek authors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential reading for a classical education
I read Sophocles Antigone for graduate Humanities class.It is an essential reading to understand Greek Tragedy.It is also a foundation stone of literature in studying Western Civilization.

Antigone, daughter of Oedipus in 3-cycle play, faces capital punishment for burying her brother who rebelled against Thebes.Obeying instincts of loyalty of love and the divine law, she defies Creon, the King and her uncle.Creon says laws of states outweigh all other laws, and family loyalty, when he finally relents it's too late.

Over the centuries there has been a great deal made about the conflicts played out in the play, law of state vs. law of goods, personal vs. state duties.Loves knowledge vs. state knowledge.Greek understanding of tragedy- Aristotle lays down understanding of Greek tragedy.He based it on Sophocles.Tragedy- most important thing for tragedy is plot, it is all essential. Tragedy defined as- is imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude in language embellished with incidents arousing pity and fear ant to the audience it accomplishes catharsis of such emotions.Every tragedy must have six parts that determine its quality.1. plot2.character 3.diction 4.fault 5.spectacle and 6.melody.

According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history or poetry; it is one of the highest expressive forms because it dramatizes what may happen.History is a narrative that tells you what has happened tragedy shows what is possible.History deals with particulars, tragedy deals with the universal.Tragedy creates a cause and effect chain and shows how the world operates.It frames human experience in universal discourse, tragedy is central in this effort.Tragedy arouses pity and fear in audience because we can envision ourselves caught in this cause and effect chain.Plot most important feature, the arrangement of incidents, the way incidents, and action is structured.Tragedies outcome depends on the outcome of these cause and effect changes not on being character driven.Plot must be whole, beginning middle and end.Beginning must have a motivation that starts the cause and effect chain of events must be a center or climax that is caused by earlier incidents.There must be an end some kind of closure caused by earlier events in tragedy.This is all part of the complication of the tragedy all must be connected.You can't have a dues ex machnia in a superior tragedy.

In tragedy, the hero or heroine walks knowingly towards the fate that is written and can't be changed.Unity of action plot must be structurally self-contained, each action leading invariably to the next without outside intervention.The worst kinds of plots are episodic, like a Jerry Seinfeld sitcom, can't be something about nothing, must have unity of action.Magnitude, quantatively meaning length, and quality of action, it must be serious.Must be of universal significance, depth, and richness.Character- most important feature is the fatal flaw.Motivations of characters are important but character is there to support the plot.Character must be a prosperous renowned personage.Change of fortune from good to bad will really matter and bring fear and pity to the audience.In ideal tragedy, the hero will mistakenly bring about his own downfall.Because they make a mistake, because knowledge of our selves is always partial, we can't have complete knowledge of ourselves.Hall quotes Descartes in the article, "The limited error prone perspective of the individual.Subject is always imperfect and human and these limitations include our ability to know in any reliable way ourselves."The fact that we as subjects, as agents can never fully know ourselves means that we are always prone to error, error is the essence of the tragic hero, tragedy is the essential drama of human subjectivity.

What is Hegel's understanding of concept of tragedy?He revises Aristotelian principals and logic.Immensely influential German philosopher, he writes about; tragedy in the Aesthete 1820-29, he proposes, "the suffering of the tragic hero are merely the means of reconciling the opposing moral clients."According to Hegel's account of Greek tragedy, the conflict isn't between good and evil, but between competing goods, all is good.Between two entirely ethical worlds that clash and can't come together.Both characters have an ethical vision or belief that they have to follow it is there one-sidedness of their vision that clashes with the one-sidedness of the other character.Both sides of contradiction are justified.Conflict of irreconcilable justifiable ethical worlds, ethical visions.Just as his dialectic must lead to an ultimate synthesis, so to must tragedy lead to a synthesis.This is dramatized in the death of the tragic actor, which becomes the synthesis.Hegel says; "the characters are too good to live."They are too good to live in this world.What is interesting is that Hegel so wants to correct moral imbalances his emphasis is on moral balances.

The better translations are Paul Roche, and RobertFagles.

Greek tragedy is great reading for people interested in aesthetics, history, psychology, and philosophy.
... Read more

Product Description
William von Humbolt wrote of Aeschylus' The Oresteia that, "among all the products of the Greek stage, none can compare with it in tragic power; no other play shows the same intensity and pureness of belief in the divine and good; none can surpass the lessons it teaches and the wisdom of which it is the mouthpiece." A sequence of three plays, The Oresteia relays the final tragedies which befall the House of Atreus following the end of the Trojan War. The first play, "Agamemnon," tells of the return of King Agamemnon from Troy and of his murder by his wife and her lover. The second, "The Libation Bearers," details the revenge exacted by Agamemnon's son, Orestes, and daughter, Electra, for their father's death. In the third play of the trilogy, "The Eumenides," Orestes and Apollo go before an Athenian jury to determine their ultimate fate. The only full trilogy to have survived from the ancient Greek playwrights, The Oresteia was first performed at a festival in Athens in 458 B.C. where it won first prize. The Oresteia today remains one of the most popular plays of all time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a clarification
I am writing this only to help those who may be considering buying this book in making their decision, being that there is no description in the Amazon listing and no reviews. I had hoped that this was a collection of photographs of artwork (pottery, sculpture, paintings) depicting scenes from the plays of Aeschylus.It is not. The book is entirely text and I have yet to read it.But to prevent anyone from making the same mistake that I did, I have written this review. ... Read more

Product Description

The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.

Customer Reviews (4)

Gripping read
This was the first time I have read a Greek play except for exerpts in college -- I was following the guide to drama given in The Educated Mind by Bauer.Reading this made me want to read more Greek plays in the Penn Greek drama series.I think the plays are elegantly written, as they are not so wordy as other translations.I see they are knocked a bit for being too free a translation -but I will say I was absolutely spellbound by Agamemnon, and I doubt that would have happened in a more typical translation.

Try Aeschylus, but not here
I picked up the Slavitt translation of Aeschylus Oresteia off a publisher's overstock rack at a bookstore.I have enjoyed reading these plays, however, Slavitt's translation leaves me wanting.

Some have complained that Slavitt is too modern and a bit too, well, guteral.My greek is admittedly weak, but the Greeks were certainly not prudes and often this aspect is covered up in our translations.

After seeing a few complaints on the web, I tried comparing a few other translations at the local library.In almost all cases I found Ted Hughes's version to be both more interesting and also clearer.Hughes, like Slavitt is not the most "literal" translation, but he makes it a great read.

I am not enough of a Greek Scholar to recomend a more literal version, but it looks like people have good things to say about Fagles's version.

Not a mind-blowing translation, but not bad, either
A bit uneven in spots, the translation is overall easy to read and highly recommended for highschool or lower level university classes.Students unfamiliar with this material need modern diction and syntax, despite whatthe reviewer from Japan opines, and this translation provides them.

It was boring and made me have to go to sleep!
But other than it being boring it was pretty good. It gave a good reviewof history and let me see how it was back then. Thanx! APRYL AMIS ... Read more

Product Description
Louis MacNeice read classics at Oxford, and his professional life began as a lecturer in classics, before his career developed as a poet and broadcaster. Published in 1936 and intended primarily for the stage, MacNeice's version of The Agamemnon was immediately recognised, in the words of T. S. Eliot, as 'an accurate, almost literal translation, and at the same time as English poetry for the twentieth century. For many readers of Greek, Aeschylus is revealed as a great poet and dramatist of contemporary importance'. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Orestia begins as Clytemnestra slays Agamemnon
There is a particular scene in "Agamemnon" that I always want to point to in order to show students the genius of Aeschylus as a tragic playwright. To really appreciate any of these ancient plays you really have to have an understanding the peculiar structure of the classic Greek drama. The better understanding you have of this structure, as well as the key elements of tragedy as delineated by Aristotle in his "Poetica," the more you can appreciate any of these plays, but "Agamemnon" in particular.

The play is the first drama of the Orestia trilogy, the only extant trilogy to survive from that period; of course, since Aeschylus was the only one of the three great tragic poets whose trilogies told basically a story in three-parts. Sophocles and Euripides would tell three different but thematically related stories in their own trilogies (the Theban trilogy of Sophocles is an artificial construct). In "Agamemnon" it has been ten years since he sailed away to Troy, having sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to get fair winds (the tale is best told by Euripides in "Iphigenia at Aulis"). For ten years Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra, the half-sister of Helen, has been waiting for his return so she can kill him. In the interim she has taken Agamemnon's cousin Aegithus as a lover.

This brings into play the curse on the house of Atreus, which actually goes back to the horrid crime of Tantalus and the sins of Niobe as well. Atreus was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, who a generation earlier had contended with his own brother Thyestes for the throne of Argos. Thyestes seduced his brother's wife and was driven out of Argos by Atreus, who then became king. Thyestes eventually returned to ask forgiveness, but Atreus, recalling the crime of Tantalus, got his revenge by killing the two sons of Thyestes and feeding them to their father at a banquet. That was when Thyestes cursed Atreus and all of his descendants and fled Argos with his remaining son, the infant Aegithus.

This becomes important because Aeschylus has two people in the palace at Argos, each of whom has a legitimate reason to take the life of Agamemnon. But in this version Aeschylus lays the crime at Clytemnestra's feet. When Agamemnon returns with his concubine Cassandra, daughter of Troy's King Priam, the insane prophetess symbolizes all sorts of reasons for Cassandra to renew her desire for vengeance. However, it is also important that Agamemnon reaffirm his guilt, and this he does by his act of hubris, walking on the scarlet carpet.

Now, one of the key conventions of Greek tragedy was that acts of violence happened off stage, in the skene, which in "Agamemnon" serves as the place at Argos. Consequently, the Athenian audience not only knows that Agamemnon is going to be murdered, they know that once he goes into the "palace" he is not coming out alive and at some point a tableau of his murder will be wheeled out of the skene. However, despite this absolute knowledge Aeschylus manages to surprise his audience with the murder. This is because of the formal structure of a Greek tragedy.

Basically the tragedy alternates between dramatic episodes, in which actors (up to two for Aeschylus, three for Sophocles and Euripides) interact with each other and/or the chorus, and choral odes called stasimons. These odes are divided into match pairs of strophes and antistrophes, reflecting the audience moving across the stage right to left and left to right respectively.

After Agamemnon goes into the palace and the chorus does an ode, the next episode has Clytemnestra coaxing the doomed Cassandra into the palace as well. With both of the intended victims inside, the chorus begins the next ode. Once the first strophe is finished the corresponding antistrophe is required, but it is at that point, while the audience is anticipating the formal completion of the first pair, that Agamemnon's cry is heard from within the palace. The antistrophe is the disjointed cries of the individual members of the chorus, in contrast to the choral unity of the strophe.

This is how Aeschylus surprises his audience with the murder of Agamemnon, but using the psychology of the play's structure to his advantage. Because we do not have any examples of tragedy that predate Aeschylus, it may well be more difficult to really appreciate his innovation as a playwright. But while the Orestia as a whole is clearly his greatest accomplishment, it is perhaps this one scene that best illustrates his genius. While the fatal confrontation between Clytemnestra and Orestes in "Choeophori" has the most pathos of any of his scenes, there is nothing in either it or "Eumenides" that is as brilliantly conceived and executed as the murder of Agamemnon. ... Read more

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The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.

This final volume of the tragedies of Aeschylus relates the historic defeat and dissolution of the Persian Empire on the heels of Xerxes disastrous campaign to subdue Greece, the struggle between the two sons of Oedipus for the throne of Thebes, the story of fifty daughters who seek asylum from their uncle, the king of Egypt, because of his demand that they marry his sons, and the well-known tale of the proud and unrepentant Prometheus, who is chained to a massive rock for revealing fire and hope to humankind.

Translations are by David Slavitt (Persians), Stephen Sandy (Seven Against Thebes), Gail Holst-Warhaft (The Suppliants), and William Matthews (Prometheus Bound).

Customer Reviews (2)

Horrific "translation".
To anyone who enjoys classic Greek drama, I have one small bit of advice:avoid this book.I am generally open to translators taking some latitude and license with translations of classic texts, but in this instance that approach is stretched far beyond what is reasonable.David Slavitt engages in nothing short of raw butchery as he heaps the text with anachronistic references, slang and vulgarity.What could possibly make Slavitt think it is appropriate to include in "The Persians" a reference to a "thousand-year reich"???Xerxes as Hitler?No thanks!In an effort to "modernize" these stories, Slavitt succeeds only in destroying their dignity.The result is a "translation" that bears little resemblance to the original works.It's pretty tough to screw up badly enough to get a one-star rating from me, but Slavitt managed to do so.Simply awful.

Poor translation of The Persians
I must preface this by saying that my view of this book is colored by the translation of the Persians, which is the only play I will discuss hear.It is hard for anyone who has read Aeschylus' work to fathom how Slavitt could call his interpretation of The Persians a translation.The fact that he inserts a new character, "The Prologue", automatically qualifies it as a far cry from "loyal to the Greek original[s]".Also, in complete contrast to Aeshylus' ability to exhibit human emotion and circumstance through the use of beautiful and powerful language, Slavitt resorts to a heavy heaping of cursing not only to convey anger, but to portray the Persians in the most base manner possible.
Slavitt's work could be described as a piece based on the ancient play, but nothing more than that. His interpretation is laden with prejudices formed from modern conflicts and political situations.He is clearly making an attempt to draw a modern American audience into what he thinks the message and emotions of the play was in ancient Athens.Unfortunately for those interested in ancient literature, Slavitt sees Aeshylus' "message" through the perspective of a very opinionated 20th and 21st century conservative American.This is a complete failure as a translation, but a good example of how scholars can alter texts and stories to fit their personal agendas.I feel sorry for the poor light that this play sheds on the rest of the book.But if the cover specifically states that these are "loyal" translations, it is a slap in the face when one reads such a loose adherance to the original texts (which even Bovie admits to in his prologue to Seven Against Thebes, although his work does not reach the "non-literal" level that Slavitt's The Persians did...). ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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"What is justice? How is it related to vengeance? Can justice be reconciled with the demands of religion, the violence of human feeling, the forces of Fate?" ... Read more

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A ghost summoned with bizarre rituals from the underworld, the elaborate protocol of the Persian court, a thrilling eye-witness account of the battle of Salamis - as the earliest surviving European drama it is of incalculable interest for students of ancient literature: as the only extended account of the Persian wars by an author who fought in them it is a unique document. This is the first English edition for thirty-five years, in parallel translation with introduction and commentary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Greek tragedy by Aeschylus based on historical events
"The Persians" is a minor work in the extant plays of Aeschylus, but has considerable historical if not dramatic significance. The play is the second and only remaining tragedy from a lost tetralogy that is based on the historical events of the Persians Wars. The play was first performed in 472 B.C., eight years after the defeat of the invaders at the Battle of Salamis, and the speech by the Messenger has been assumed to be a fairly accurate description of the battle. Aeschylus had fought the Persians at the Battles of Marathon and Salamis, which certainly lends authenticity to his description of events.

However, the focus of the play is on the downfall of the Persian Empire because of the folly of Xerxes. After the ghost of Darius, father of Xerxes and the leader of the first Persian invasion that was defeated at the Battle of Marathon laments the ruin of the great empire he had ruled, Xerxes offers similar histrionics concerning the destruction of his fleet. One of the reasons that "The Persians" is interesting is because Aeschylus presents Xerxes, a foreign invader, as exhibiting the same sort of hubris that afflicts the greatest of mythological heroes in these Greek tragedies. Laud and honor is given the Athenians for defeating the Persians in battle, but Aeschylus surprisingly provides a look at the Persian king's culpability in the downfall of his own empire. There is a reference in the play to the tradition that Xerxes was descended from Perseus (for whom the Persian race was therefore named), but even so it seems quite odd to turn him into a traditional Greek tragic hero.

Aeschylus won the festival of Dionysus in 472 B.C. with the tetralogy of "Phineus," "The Persians," "Glaucus of Potniae," and the satyr play "Prometheus the Fire-Kindler." Phineas was the king who became the victim of the Harpies, while this particular Glaucus was the son of Sisyphus and the father of Bellerophon who was torn to pieces by his own mares. Consequently, this particular tetralogy clearly has the theme of kings brought down by their own folly. But even within that context, the fact that Aeschylus would write of a historical rather than legendary figure, not to mention a Persian rather than a Greek, remains more than a minor historical curiosity. ... Read more

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Aeschylus II: The Suppliant Maidens and The Persians, Seven against Thebes and Prometheus Bound , written by legendary author Aeschylus, is widely considered to be among the greatest classic texts of all time. These great classics will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Aeschylus II: The Suppliant Maidens and The Persians, Seven against Thebes and Prometheus Boundare required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, these gems by Aeschylus are highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, Aeschylus II: The Suppliant Maidens and The Persians, Seven against Thebes and Prometheus Boundwould make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library. ... Read more