Aeschylus lived from about 524 to 456 BC and was a contemporary of Pindar. He was born into an artistocratic, land-owning family at Eleusis, northwest of Athens. Thirty years after Thespis began making one-man tragedies, Aeschylus added a second actor. This drastically increased the dramatic potential of his plays. He also created painted scenery, included flute solos and dancing, and clothes his actors in long-sleeved garments and high-heeled boots to increase their stature. Late in life, he imitated the new writer, Sophocles, and included a third actor. He began his career in 499 BC at the festival in honor of Dionysus. Choerilus and Pratinas were the major dramatists at that time. It took Aeschylus 15 years before he won his first prize in 484 BC. He fought in the Persian Wars an an infantryman and fought at Marathon (490 BC) and Salamis (480 BC). His brother, Cynegeirus, died at Marathon. He won first place at many competitions, especially after the death of Phrynichus.
He wrote approximately ninety plays, including Agamemnon (when Agamemnon is killed by Clytemnestra), The Libation Bearers (with the death of Clytemnestra by her son, Orestes),The Eumenides (when Orestes must suffer the consequences of his actions). Other trilogies consisted of Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound, and Prometheus the Firebearer; Seven Against Thebes, Laius, Oedipus; and The Suppliants (with the 50 Daughters of Danaus, who are seeking to avoid forced marriages with their cousins), The Egyptians (Egyptus was the brother of Danaus), and the Daughters of Danaus or Danaids. The Persians (which celebrates the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis from the point of view of the Persians) was part of a trilogy that may have included Phineus and Glaucus of Potniae, with the satyr play Prometheus the Fire-Kindler. Other plays included Myrmidons, Nereids, and Phrygians, all based on the Iliad; Ghost-Raisers, Penelope, Bone-Gatherers, and the satyr play Circe (with an innovative ending); Semele, Wool-Carders, Pentheus, and the satyr play The Nurses of Dionysus, about Dionysus and his struggle with Pentheus; and Memnon, The Weighing of Souls, Phrygian Women , all based on the Aethiopis, which ends with the funeral of Achilles.
Two of his sons became dramatists, Euphorion and Euaeon. Euphorion also restaged some of his father's plays. Aeschylus' nephew, Philocles, also founded a dynasty of tragedians.
Sources:
Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Cliffs Notes on Greek Classics, New York: Wiley Publishing Inc., 1998.
Whos's Who in the Classical World, ed. Simon Hornblower and Tony Spawforth, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
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