Aeschylus

Aeschylus was an Athenian playwright who lived from about 525 to 456 BCE. He was born in Eleusis, a town west of Athens, and grew up as the city moved from tyranny toward democracy. Ancient tradition says he fought against the Persians at Marathon, and he later wrote a play about their defeat. He is often called the father of tragedy, because he is credited with adding a second actor, which made real dialogue and conflict possible on the stage. He won many prizes at the festival of Dionysus in Athens. Only seven of his plays survive complete, out of dozens. They include The Persians, Seven against Thebes, Suppliants, Prometheus Bound (whose authorship some scholars question) and the Oresteia, the only surviving trilogy from ancient Greece. His work explores justice, guilt, fate and the gods, and the move from private vengeance to public law. He is said to have died in Gela, in Sicily. His plays are still read and performed today.