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(0)Aeschylus
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The city of Thebes is besieged by seven valiant warriors, each armed with his own ardor and ambition. But it is not just a war of swords and shields: beneath the surface of battle lies the inexorable design of fate, orchestrated by divine forces that test men's courage and morality. The voices of the warriors resound in a chorus of defiance and lamentation as the drama unfolds through the prism of human tragedy, in which honor and ruin are inextricably...
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Though it tells the stories of the defeated, Prometheus Bound and Other Plays features four tragedies that depict both unfortunate demises and the essence of the fighting human spirit. The Suppliants, the first play of the collection, follows the daughters of Danaus as they flee from the loveless marriages that had been forced upon them. The Persians, perhaps the oldest surviving play in existence, portrays the defeat of the Persian King Xeroxes....
3) The Oresteia
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The Oresteia by Aeschylus, the only extant trilogy among the Greek tragedies, is one of the great foundational texts of Western culture. Beginning with Agamemnon, which describes Agamemnon's return from the Trojan War and his murder at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra, and continuing through Orestes' murder of Clytemnestra in Libation Bearers and his acquittal at Athena's court in Eumenides, the trilogy traces the evolution of justice in human...
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The Agamemnon of Aeschylus is the first play in The Trilogy of the Oresteia, which deals with the eternal problem of the evil act causing vengeance which wreaks more evil which must be avenged. Aeschylus declares that the new ruler in heaven, Zeus, heralds the end of this cycle and the beginning of hope. Zeus has suffered and sinned and grown wise, and thereby shows humans how to grow wise also.
5) The Persians
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With "Persians", Aeschylus transports us to a time when the glory of an empire falters under the weight of its own ambitions. In this drama the echo of lost battles resounds within the ancient walls of Susa, as the once valiant and feared Persian soldiers mourn the defeat they suffered at the hands of an inferior power. The aura of misfortune embraces the court of Xerxes, casting a baleful shadow over an entire nation, a testament to the fragility...
6) Agamemnon
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From the perspective of the townspeople and the queen, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon follows the emotional journey of grief, rage, and revenge. Agamemnon had dedicated much of his life to a war that his brother started. He vowed to do whatever it takes to win-committing war crimes and killing innocents. But, even in victory, Agamemnon feels unsatisfied and plagued by the bloodshed he caused. Because of this, he decides to perform a ritual to clear his conscience...
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Orestes arrives at the grave of his father, accompanied by his cousin Pylades, the son of the king of Phocis, where he has grown up in exile; he places two locks of his hair on the tomb. Orestes and Pylades hide as Electra, Orestes' sister, arrives at the grave accompanied by a chorus of elderly slave women (the libation bearers of the title) to pour libations on Agamemnon's grave; they have been sent by Clytemnestra in an effort to ward off harm....
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Called upon to judge a painful affair bordering on the unspeakable, the Eumenides, guardians of destiny and divine law, delve into a tapestry of moral conflict, where blood calls for blood and the shadows of the past mingle with the aspirations of an unknown future. In the third and final chapter of the Oresteia, we see Orestes, son of Agamemnon, persecuted by the Furies for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra. With a masterpiece of introspection...
10) Suppliants
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The Danaids form the chorus and serve as the protagonists. They flee a forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins. When the Danaides reach Argos, they entreat King Pelasgus to protect them. He refuses pending the decision of the Argive people, who decide in the favor of the Danaids. Danaus rejoices the outcome, and the Danaids praise the Greek gods. Almost immediately, a herald of the Egyptians comes to attempt to force the Danaids to return to their...
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Aeschylus was a Greek playwright considered to be the founder of the tragedy. Aeschylus along with Sophocles and Euripides are the three major Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. Before Aeschylus, characters in a play only interacted with the chorus. Aeschylus expanded the number of actors allowing for interaction among the characters. Seven of his 92 plays have survived. The Persian invasion of Greece, which took place during his lifetime,...