Aeschylus
Monarch Notes
01-01-1963
The Persians (472 B.C.)

Background:

The Persians was presented with three other plays of dissimilar subject
matter: Phineus, Glaucus Potnieus, and Prometheus the Fire-Bringer, a
satyr-play. The four plays won first prize. Pericles, later the most famous of
all Athenian statesmen, was the choregus. This is the only one of the four
dramas extant.

This play is unique in a number of ways. It is one of only three known
Greek dramas of the fifth century, and the only surviving one, to deal with
contemporary historical subjects. Because The Persians celebrates the Greek
victory over the Persians in the naval battle at Salamis in 480 B.C., it would
be expected to ...