Aeschylus
AUTHOR

Aeschylus

Literature & Fiction | History | Arts & Entertainment
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Aeschylus (/ˈiːskᵻləs/ or /ˈɛskᵻləs/; Greek: Αἰσχύλος Aiskhulos; Ancient Greek: [ai̯s.kʰý.los]; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian. He is also the first whose plays still survive; the others are Sophocles and Euripides. He is often described as the father of tragedy: critics and scholars' knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier tragedies is largely based on inferences from his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in theater to allow conflict among them, whereas characters previously had interacted only with the chorus. Only seven of his estimated seventy to ninety plays have survived, and there is a longstanding debate regarding his authorship of one of these plays, Prometheus Bound, which some believe his son Euphorion actually wrote. Fragments of some other plays have survived in quotes and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyrus, often giving us surprising insights into his work. He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy; his Oresteia is the only ancient example of the form to have survived. At least one of his plays was influenced by the Persians' second invasion of Greece (480-479 BC). This work, The Persians, is the only surviving classical Greek tragedy concerned with contemporary events (very few of that kind were ever written), and a useful source of information about its period. The significance of war in Ancient Greek culture was so great that Aeschylus' epitaph commemorates his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon while making no mention of his success as a playwright. Despite this, Aeschylus' work – particularly the Oresteia – is acclaimed by today's literary academics. Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Read more Read less
You're getting a free audiobook


You're getting a free audiobook.

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Try for $0.00

Prometheus Bound

Most popular
View Details

Best Sellers

Product List
  • 25+ the Big Book of Ancient Classics Audiobook By Aristotle, Aeschylus, Marcus Aurelius, Euripides, Hesiod, Homer, Plato, Sap

    Regular price: $19.70 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $19.70 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • 10 Masterpieces of Ancient Greek Literature Audiobook By Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Anacreon cov

    Regular price: $8.84 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $8.84 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Prometheus Bound Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $7.72 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $7.72 or 1 credit

    Included in Plus membership
    Try for $0.00
  • The Oresteia Trilogy Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $25.89 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $25.89 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Oresteia Audiobook By Aeschylus, Yuri Rasovsky - adaptation from translation, Ian Johnston - translator cover art

    Regular price: $12.57 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $12.57 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Agamemnon Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $20.64 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $20.64 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Prometheus Bound Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $11.89 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $11.89 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Agamemnon Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $1.92 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $1.92 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Eumenides Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $1.92 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $1.92 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Suppliants Audiobook By Aeschylus, F L Light - translator cover art

    Regular price: $6.95 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $6.95 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Choephori Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $15.39 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $15.39 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • The Choephori Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $1.92 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $1.92 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • 100 Quotes by Aeschylus Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $3.79 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $3.79 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00
  • 100 citaten van Aeschylus Audiobook By Aeschylus cover art

    Regular price: $3.66 or 1 credit

    Sale price: $3.66 or 1 credit

    Try for $0.00

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
Visit Amazon Author Central