*Includes The Oresteia Trilogy, Prometheus Bound, The Persians, The Suppliant Maidens, and Seven Against Thebes
*Includes an Introduction from Translator E.D.A. Morshead
*Includes an Introductory Note from Harvard Classics
*Includes pictures of the famous Greek playwrights and the plays’ characters
*Includes Table of Contents
Along with Sophocles and Euripides, Aeschylus (circa 524-455 B.C.) is one of the triumvirate of Ancient Greek playwrights responsible for much of the establishment of Western drama as it exists today. Aeschylus was the first whose work survived and is credited as the Father of Tragedy, though the other two are probably better known in the West today. He was famous even among his contemporaries; Aristotle mentions how he revolutionized plays by creating more characters and having them interact with each other to produce conflict.
Some of the Ancient Greeks’ most famous characters are famous because of Aeschylus, none more so than Orestes. Aeschylus is believed to have written nearly 100 plays, but less than 10 survived, chief among them being the trilogy known as The Oresteia, consisting of the three tragedies Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides. Aeschylus also authored The Persians, the oldest surviving tragedy in history; The Suppliant Maidens; and Seven Against Thebes. He’s also credited for Prometheus Bound, though the authorship of the last one is still in dispute. This collection includes all seven of the tragedies, all of which won first place in contests at the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens.
This collection of Aeschylus’s tragedies is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and is illustrated with pictures of the famous Ancient Greek playwrights, characters from the plays, and more.
