Portrait of the Athenian tragedian Aeschylus - Flickr.com
Aeschylus the tragedian
Born in 525/4 BC at the deme of Eleusis into the Athenian aristocratic family Eupatridae. Fought with distinction in the Persian wars at Marathon in 490 BC, and again in 480 BC at Salamis. and possibly at Plataea in the following year. Aeschylus seems to have begun writing tragedy at a young age, and for some time he appeared personally as an actor in his own plays. His plays, however, did not win first place in a contest until he was forty years old (ca 484 BC). During his lifetime he is said to have won thirteen such victories and even a few posthumously, for an exception and special unique privilege during the fifth century was granted by referendum to Aeschylus following his death, that his plays were to be set down in a standard authorised master version, and anyone who wished to was to be granted special performing rights to put on any his plays at any of the regular Athenian festivals.
He made his debut at the Dionysia in 499 BC. Won his first victory in 484 BC, after that won 12 time more in the tragedy contest [agon]: Persae 472 BC, Seven Against Thebes [Septem adversus Thebas] 467 BC. Suppliant Women [Supplices/The Suppliants] 463 BC and the Oresteia in 458 BC. In 468 he was defeated by the young Sophocles. He was attributed in antiquity to have written some 90 plays, however only the titles of some 79 of his plays are known for certain.
According to Aristotle his contributions to the art of tragedy were the introduction of a second actor, and a reduction in volume of the part played by the Chorus, but also an attempt to involve the chorus more directly in the action of the play.
He focused on speech as the central component of a tragedy. He liked his actors and the stage to have impressive decors. He invented several dance figures [Ochemata; schemata] for the chorus which he personally rehearsed with his choruses as its choreographer [chorodidaskalos (Χοροδιδάσκαλος, or in short διδάσκαλος)].
Invited to Sicily by the tyrant Hieron for whom he directed the Persai, which had been previously been staged in Syracuse, he organised the Aitnai ca [but not earlier than] 476/5 BC, a festival for the city of Aetnae [Etna] which had recently been founded by Hieron. He was to die in Gela on the occasion of another visit to Sicily in 456/5 BC. Apocryphally he was said to have been killed by a falling tortoise which had been dropped from the beak of an eagle flying overhead onto his bald head cracking his skull.The eagle was said to have been looking for a boulder upon which to break open the tortoise's shell so it and its eaglets could feast on it. He was entombed at Gela in Sicily, which was to become a place of pilgrimage, and his self-composed epitaph is remarkable in that it only mentions his military exploits whilst completely ignoring his literary career. His tomb at Gelo was inscribed with the following epitaph celebrating his bravery at Marathon but says not a word about his playwriting . It seems that Aeschylus thought that his soldiering was far more worthy to record for posterity than his literary career:
"Here lies the Athenian Aeschylus, son of Euphorion, who died amidst the corn fields of Gela. The plain of Marathon can tell of his proven might, and the long-haired Medes who learned of it there."
Two of his sons, Euphorion and Evaeon, were also to become tragedians in their own right, and also his sister's son Philocles.
Concerning those of his plays which have survived extant into modern times, a selection of seven plays in all, as in the case of Sophocles, was made by the scribes for copying, probably early in the Christian era. And it is these seven that have been preserved. In Byzantine times, three of these seven: the Persians, the Seven against Thebes,and the Prometheus, were gathered into a smaller group. This latter group has managed to come down to us in more manuscripts and with much better text than his other plays.
A fair critical feature about Aeschylus is that he is prone to use too many metaphors and to mix them beyond all reason. But these faults are very minor ones when considered along with the heroic vigor and archaic freshness of his poetry
We can appreciate the metrical and musical development that Aeschylus brought to tragical presentation, as little of this can be appreciated in translations. He is said to have created his own choral dance figures, but we know practically nothing about these.
In the final scene (Exodus) of The Frogs, in a Komos, Aristophanes has Dionysos triumphantly lead Aeschylus out of Hades, the land of the dead, the underworld, back up again into the land of the living, as of all the tragedians he considers Aeschylus as best able to teach the Athenians.
Born in 525/4 BC at the deme of Eleusis into the Athenian aristocratic family Eupatridae. Fought with distinction in the Persian wars at Marathon in 490 BC, and again in 480 BC at Salamis. and possibly at Plataea in the following year. Aeschylus seems to have begun writing tragedy at a young age, and for some time he appeared personally as an actor in his own plays. His plays, however, did not win first place in a contest until he was forty years old (ca 484 BC). During his lifetime he is said to have won thirteen such victories and even a few posthumously, for an exception and special unique privilege during the fifth century was granted by referendum to Aeschylus following his death, that his plays were to be set down in a standard authorised master version, and anyone who wished to was to be granted special performing rights to put on any his plays at any of the regular Athenian festivals.
He made his debut at the Dionysia in 499 BC. Won his first victory in 484 BC, after that won 12 time more in the tragedy contest [agon]: Persae 472 BC, Seven Against Thebes [Septem adversus Thebas] 467 BC. Suppliant Women [Supplices/The Suppliants] 463 BC and the Oresteia in 458 BC. In 468 he was defeated by the young Sophocles. He was attributed in antiquity to have written some 90 plays, however only the titles of some 79 of his plays are known for certain.
According to Aristotle his contributions to the art of tragedy were the introduction of a second actor, and a reduction in volume of the part played by the Chorus, but also an attempt to involve the chorus more directly in the action of the play.
He focused on speech as the central component of a tragedy. He liked his actors and the stage to have impressive decors. He invented several dance figures [Ochemata; schemata] for the chorus which he personally rehearsed with his choruses as its choreographer [chorodidaskalos (Χοροδιδάσκαλος, or in short διδάσκαλος)].
Invited to Sicily by the tyrant Hieron for whom he directed the Persai, which had been previously been staged in Syracuse, he organised the Aitnai ca [but not earlier than] 476/5 BC, a festival for the city of Aetnae [Etna] which had recently been founded by Hieron. He was to die in Gela on the occasion of another visit to Sicily in 456/5 BC. Apocryphally he was said to have been killed by a falling tortoise which had been dropped from the beak of an eagle flying overhead onto his bald head cracking his skull.The eagle was said to have been looking for a boulder upon which to break open the tortoise's shell so it and its eaglets could feast on it. He was entombed at Gela in Sicily, which was to become a place of pilgrimage, and his self-composed epitaph is remarkable in that it only mentions his military exploits whilst completely ignoring his literary career. His tomb at Gelo was inscribed with the following epitaph celebrating his bravery at Marathon but says not a word about his playwriting . It seems that Aeschylus thought that his soldiering was far more worthy to record for posterity than his literary career:
"Here lies the Athenian Aeschylus, son of Euphorion, who died amidst the corn fields of Gela. The plain of Marathon can tell of his proven might, and the long-haired Medes who learned of it there."
Two of his sons, Euphorion and Evaeon, were also to become tragedians in their own right, and also his sister's son Philocles.
Concerning those of his plays which have survived extant into modern times, a selection of seven plays in all, as in the case of Sophocles, was made by the scribes for copying, probably early in the Christian era. And it is these seven that have been preserved. In Byzantine times, three of these seven: the Persians, the Seven against Thebes,and the Prometheus, were gathered into a smaller group. This latter group has managed to come down to us in more manuscripts and with much better text than his other plays.
A fair critical feature about Aeschylus is that he is prone to use too many metaphors and to mix them beyond all reason. But these faults are very minor ones when considered along with the heroic vigor and archaic freshness of his poetry
We can appreciate the metrical and musical development that Aeschylus brought to tragical presentation, as little of this can be appreciated in translations. He is said to have created his own choral dance figures, but we know practically nothing about these.
In the final scene (Exodus) of The Frogs, in a Komos, Aristophanes has Dionysos triumphantly lead Aeschylus out of Hades, the land of the dead, the underworld, back up again into the land of the living, as of all the tragedians he considers Aeschylus as best able to teach the Athenians.
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Aeschylus was accused before the Areopagus of having divulged the Mysteries of Demeter in certain of his tragedies, but was acquitted.
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Distorted Oaths in Aeschylus
Isabelle Torrance
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Author(s): Herbert Weir Smyth
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Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
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Rebecca Futo Kennedy (25 September 2017). Brill's Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-34882-0.
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The political background of Aeschylean tragedy (1966 edition) - Open Library
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Aeschylus Biography - life, family, children, history, wife, young
PETER. BURIAN (22 May 2020). A Companion to Aeschylus. John Wiley & Sons, Limited. ISBN 978-1-4051-8804-3.
Contributions to Antiquity: Studies in Aeschylus Martin L. West - Internet Archive
The Danaid Tetralogy of Aeschylus
A. Diamantopoulos
The Journal of Hellenic Studies
Vol. 77, Part 2 (1957), pp. 220-229
http://www.jstor.org/stable/629361
Stoessl, Franz. “Aeschylus as a Political Thinker.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 73, no. 2, 1952, pp. 113–139. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/291809
Lloyd-Jones, Hugh. “Zeus in Aeschylus.” The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 76, 1956, pp. 55–67. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/629553. https://www.jstor.org/stable/629553
A. F. Garvie (1969). Aeschylus' Supplices. CUP Archive
Lazani_UCL_PhD.pdf - The Aeschylean Chorus PhD Thesis by Anastasia Lazani
Lazani_UCL_PhD.pdf - The Aeschylean Chorus PhD Thesis by Anastasia Lazani
Aeschylus (2013). Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated). Delphi Classics. ISBN 978-1-909496-48-4.
Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (15 April 2008). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Play Synopses - Aeschylus: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 243–. ISBN 978-1-4051-3763-8.
Richard Seaford (12 January 2012). Cosmology and the Polis: The Social Construction of Space and Time in the Tragedies of Aeschylus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00927-1.
Isabelle Torrance (May 2010). Aeschylus: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-980491-7.
Ian C. Storey; Arlene Allan (15 April 2008). A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Play Synopses - Aeschylus: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 243–. ISBN 978-1-4051-3763-8.
Richard Seaford (12 January 2012). Cosmology and the Polis: The Social Construction of Space and Time in the Tragedies of Aeschylus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00927-1.
Isabelle Torrance (May 2010). Aeschylus: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-980491-7.
Thomas G. Rosenmeyer (1982). The Art of Aeschylus. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04440-1.
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Aeschylus, the Alkmeonids and the Reform of the Areopagos
Loren J. Samons II
The Classical Journal
Vol. 94, No. 3 (Feb. - Mar., 1999), pp. 221-233
Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South, Inc. (CAMWS)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3298367
Annotated Versions of Aeschylus
Aeschylus; tr Christopher Collard (2002). Oresteia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814967-5.
Aeschylus; tr Christopher Collard (2003). Oresteia. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283281-8.
Aeschylus; tr Christopher Collard (28 February 2008). Aeschylus: Persians and Other Plays. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-814968-2.
Aeschylus; tr Christopher Collard (28 February 2008). Aeschylus: Persians and Other Plays. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-814968-2.
The Agamemnon by Aeschylus (1920) translated and commentary by Gilbert Murray
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL13991966M/The_agamemnon
Sabine Föllinger (2009). Aischylos: Meister der griechischen Tragödie. C.H.Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-59130-3.
Wikisource- The Persians (472 BCE), trans. Robert Potter (1833)
- Prometheus Bound (480–410 BCE), trans. G. M. Cookson (1922)
- The Seven Against Thebes (467 BCE), trans. E. D. A. Morshead (1908)
- The Suppliants (463 BCE), trans. E. D. A. Morshead (1908)
- The Oresteia (458 BCE)
- Agamemnon
- Agamemnon, trans. E. D. A. Morshead (1889)
- Agamemnon (excerpts), trans. Anna Swanwick (1907)
- The Libation Bearers, trans. E. D. A. Morshead (1889)
- The Eumenides, trans. E. D. A. Morshead (1889)
- Agamemnon
- Fragments, trans. Herbert Smyth (1930)
.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)Aeschylus, Agamemnon (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Aeschylus, Agamemnon (English) (ed. Robert Browning)
Aeschylus, Eumenides (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)
Aeschylus, Eumenides (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Aeschylus, Libation Bearers (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)
Aeschylus, Libation Bearers (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Aeschylus, Persians (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)
Aeschylus, Persians (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women (Greek) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.)
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women (English) (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
Gilbert Murray Verse Translations
The Agammenon
Libation Bearers
https://archive.org/details/suppliantwomensu00aesc
The Suppliant Maidens, the Persians, the Seven against Thebes, the Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus
https://archive.org/details/suppliantmaidens00aesc/page/n8/mode/2up
Morshead Verse Translations
The Suppliant Maidens, the Persians, the Seven against Thebes, the Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus
https://archive.org/details/suppliantmaidens00aesc/page/n8/mode/2up
David Grene and Richard Lattimore Translations
Aeschylus II : The Suppliant maidens ; The Persians ; Seven against Thebes ; Prometheus Bound
Gottfried Hermann. Aeschyli Tragoediae. Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-01621-6
Gottfried Hermann. Aeschyli Tragoediae. Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-01622-3.
Aeschylus; Gottfried Hermann (1852). Aeschyli tragoediae. Volume 2. Weidmannos.
Aeschylus; Gottfried Hermann (1859). Aeschyli Tragoediae. Volume 2. Apud Weidmannos.
Aeschylus; Richard Porson (1806). Aeschyli Tragoediae septem: cum versione Latina. Apud T. Payne
Aeschylus; Richard Porson; Wilhelm Dindorf (1827). Aeschyli Tragoediae. sumptibus et Typis B.G. Teubneri.
Aeschylus; Friedrich Heinrich Bothe (1831). Aeschyli Tragoediae: Prometheus vinctus, Supplices, Septem adversus Thebas, Persae. Hahn. pp. 2–.
Aeschylus (1827). Aeschyli tragoediae, recens. notasque adjecit A. Wellauer. pp. 1–.
Aeschylus (1855). The tragedies of Aeschylus.
The House of Atreus; Being the Agamemnon, the Libation bearers, and the Furies
Peter Burian (2010). The Complete Aeschylus: Volume I: The Oresteia. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-19-983113-5.
Peter Burian (2009). The Complete Aeschylus : Volume II: Persians and Other Plays: Volume II: Persians and Other Plays. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-19-970641-9.
Aeschylus (1998). Aeschylus: The Oresteia. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1627-1.
Aeschylus; trans: Peter Meineck (1975). Oresteia. Hackett Publishing. ISBN 1-60384-324-8.
Aeschylus, translation by Herbert Weir Smyth : Aeschylus Vol II
Stefan Radt (1985). Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta. Volume 3: Aeschylus. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 978-3-525-25745-6.
▶ The Oresteia Agamemnon part 1 - YouTube
▶ Aeschylus Eumenides (The Furies) - YouTube
Seven Against Thebes : Aeschylus - Librivox Internet Archive
Aeschylus - Who Was Aeschylus? Tragedies,Plays,Facts,Death
Robert Alexander Neil The Knights of Aristophanes. Introduction: Cambridge University Press. pp. x –. ISBN 978-1-107-46102-4.
Seven Against Thebes : Aeschylus - Librivox Internet Archive
Aeschylus - Who Was Aeschylus? Tragedies,Plays,Facts,Death
Robert Alexander Neil The Knights of Aristophanes. Introduction: Cambridge University Press. pp. x –. ISBN 978-1-107-46102-4.
Language, Lamentation, and Power in Sophocles' "Electra"
SARAH NOOTER
The Classical World
Vol. 104, No. 4 (SUMMER 2011), pp. 399-417 (19 pages)
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41303454
Taplin, Oliver. “Aeschylean Silences and Silences in Aeschylus.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 76, 1972, pp. 57–97. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/310978.
Bernard M. W. Knox. “Aeschylus and the Third Actor.” The American Journal of Philology, vol. 93, no. 1, 1972, pp. 104–124. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/292905.
Allen, James Turney. “The Idle Actor in Aeschylus.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 1, no. 4, 1907, pp. 268–272. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/636458.
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