Aeschylus, who was born in B. In a sense, Aeschylus was a founding father of this new Athens, for he was one of the famed "Men of Marathon," the gallant band who threw back the first wave of the Persian hordes. His dramatic works, his ideas, his philosophical attitudes are all examples of the creativity inspired by the Athenian golden age. Aeschylus was the son of a prominent aristocratic family in which the composition of tragic poetry was a traditional craft.
He was raised in Eleusis, a small town just outside Athens that was the center of an important religious cult. In B. Aeschylus was evidently young when he began to write tragedy. The earliest known performance of his work was at the dramatic festival of B.
In all, Aeschylus wrote nearly 90 plays, of which seven still survive. He was victorious at the festival thirteen times for 52 plays. Aeschylus was responsible for several very important innovations that had a decisive influence on the development of drama. The most significant of these was his introduction of a second actor, for there had been only a single actor and the chorus available in the past. One critic has written, "The addition of another actor did not double the resources of tragedy, rather it increased them fifty-fold.
To bring two opposed or sympathetic characters face to face, to exhibit the clash of principles by the clash of personalities, this is a step forward into a new world, a change so great that to call Aeschylus the very inventor of tragedy is not unreasonable.
All these changes gave a greater flexibility to tragedy and vastly increased the dramatic possibilities of what was until then primarily a choral medium. All comes from his will. According to legend, Aeschylus was picked up by an eagle who thought he was a turtle. The eagle had been confused by Aeschylus's bald head. Aeschylus was killed when the eagle realized its mistake and dropped him.
Beck, Robert Holmes. Aeschylus: Playwright, Educator. The Hague: Nijhoff, Herington, John. New Haven: Yale University Press, Spatz, Lois.
Boston: Twayne Publishers, Toggle navigation. Early life Aeschylus was born to a noble and wealthy Athenian family in the Greek town of Eleusis. Contributions, style, and philosophy Because Aeschylus was writing for the Greek theater in its beginning stages, he is credited with having introduced many features that are now considered traditional.
The plays Modern scholarship has shown that the first of Aeschylus's plays was The Persians. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.
Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Ancient History and Latin Expert. Prometheus Bound has often been described as a static play because the main character, Prometheus, is chained to a mountain peak and cannot move.
He is being punished for defying the authority of the newly established cosmic ruler, Zeus, by bringing fire to mankind. Prometheus bemoans his lot and proclaims that he will be freed by a descendant of lo—Heracles—13 generations later. He indicates clearly that he has saved mankind from destruction and is the source of all knowledge. Zeus is depicted as an absolute tyrant and Prometheus as a suffering but defiant rebel.
Both are guilty of hubris. Both must learn through suffering: Zeus to exercise power with mercy, understanding, and justice, and Prometheus to respect authority. Absolute power is no more acceptable than absolute defiance.
Reason Prometheus and power Zeus must be balanced to promote a harmonious society. Aeschylus's masterpiece is the Oresteia, the only extant trilogy from Greek drama. King Agamemnon returns to his home in Argos after the Trojan War only to be murdered by his scheming wife, Clytemnestra, in collusion with her paramour, Aegisthus. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, is in exile; he is enjoined by Apollo to wreak vengeance on his mother and Aegisthus.
Orestes' sister Electra assists him in carrying out the vengeance. For the killing of his mother Orestes is pursued by the blood deities, the Furies.
On his flight he reaches Athens, where he is tried and acquitted by the tribunal, called the Areopagus. The Furies are gradually transformed into the "Kindly Ones," the Eumenides. The Oresteia is concerned with the problem of evil and its compounding.
The evil of the Trojan War brings on evil at home, which in turn must be avenged. In the act of vengeance another evil is also committed, for the ancient law says that "unto him that doeth it shall be done. Aeschylus proclaims that Zeus is the answer to this problem of theodicy. Aeschylus believes that suffering is an innate part of the pattern of the universe and that through suffering emerges a positive good.
Albin Lesky has noted that "Aeschylean tragedy shows faith in a sublime and just world order, and is in fact inconceivable without it.
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