The Persians had already conquered regions to the east of Attica-where Athens and Eleusis were located-and with the superior numbers of the Persian forces, many were expecting all of Greece to become yet another territory of the Persian Empire. The Battle of Marathon When Aeschylus was a young man, the armies of the Persian Empire-based in the region now known as Iran-were advancing across the city-states of Greece toward Athens. Aeschylus married and had two sons, Euphorion and Euaeon, both of whom became tragic poets. The success he enjoyed as a playwright for most of the fifth century was won after years of failure. Aeschylus began competing in 498, but did not win his first victory at the City Dionysia until 484. Before the end of the century the satyr play, a mythological farce, was added to the festival, and tragedians competed for a prize for the best play. In each performance, poet and chorus explored themes from the Greek myths. Here Peisistratus instituted an annual festival, the Great or City Dionysia, which included public performances where songs and dances by a chorus alternated with solo recitations by a poet. In 534, about ten years before Aeschylus was born, the Athenian dictator Peisistratus transferred the cult center of Dionysus Eleuthereus (“of Eleutherae,” a village on the border of Attica) to downtown Athens, just south of the Acropolis. It was also the center for the Eleusinian Mysteries, a principal mystery religion in ancient Greece. Not far from the growing city of Athens, Eleusis was sacred to the two goddesses of grain, Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Works in Biographical and Historical ContextĪ Noble Family Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion, was born in 524 BCE, of a noble family with Athenian citizenship in the deme, or village, of Eleusis. Unfortunately, only seven plays of Aeschylus have survived intact. His tragedies, exemplified by such seminal works as Prometheus Bound and the Oresteia trilogy, are widely praised as thoughtful and profoundly moving translations of tremendous feelings into the sublime language of poetry. MAJOR WORKS: Persians (472 BCE) Seven Against Thebes (467 BCE) Oresteia (458 BCE) Prometheus Bound (unknown) OverviewĬonsidered the founder of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus is said to have set the paradigm for the entire genre in Western literature.
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