Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Prominent Tragedy Playwrights: AESCHYLUS
Foreword
Ancient Greek Tragedy 101 series intends to deepen the reader’s knowledge of the Greek Tragedies rooted in sixth century B.C. The fundamental purpose of this series is to present a detailed informative background and understanding of the elements of Greek tragedy as well as its prominent tragedians.
Ancient Greek Tragedy 101 is divided into Six Chapters:
1. Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: The Introduction
2. Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Aristotle’s Six Elements on Tragedy
3. Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Prominent Tragedy Playwrights: AESCHYLUS
4. Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Prominent Tragedy Playwrights: EURIPIDES
5. Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Prominent Tragedy Playwrights: SOPHOCLES
6. Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Tragedy & Shakespearian Tragedy
Ancient Greek Tragedy 101: Prominent Tragedy Playwrights: Aeschylus
The Life of Aeschylus: The Soldier-Poet
Figure 1
Bust of Aeschylus
The son of Euphorion, Aeschylus was the oldest among the three prominent Tragedy playwrights. He was born in the last quarter of the sixth century B.C. During his early manhood, he fought in The great Persian Wars which were between Greek states and Persia and ended with The Peace of Callias (449 B.C.). He started writing at a very early age; yet, his victory in competitions at annual festivals in honour of the god Dionysus came in 484 B.C. It is said that he had won the first prize thirteen times; yet, even after his death, his tragedies continued to get prizes from competitions. During his lifetime he presented a set of plays and only seven have survived: the trilogy known as The Or