Information AboutAeschylus |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT AESCHYLUS | |
| ancient athenians | |
| ancient greek dramatists and playwrights | |
| ancient greek poets | |
| 520s bc births | |
| 456 bc deaths | |
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Aeschylus ( of Ancient Greece . Aeschylus was the earliest of the three greatest Greek Tragedians , the others being Sophocles and Euripides . BIOGRAPHY Born at Eleusis in western Attica, he wrote his first plays in 498 BC , but his earliest surviving Play is probably '' The Persians '', performed in 472 BC . In 490 BC , he participated in the Battle Of Marathon , and in 480 BC he fought at the Battle Of Salamis . Salamis was the subject of '' The Persians '', written eight years later; it is now generally accepted that '' The Suppliants '', once thought to be Aeschylus's earliest surviving tragedy, and so the earliest complete Attic tragedy to survive, was written in the last decade of his life, making ''The Persians'' his earliest. P.W. Buckham writes that Aeschylus was considered philosophically a Pythagorean and this was evidenced in some of his works. He also writes, quoting August Wilhelm Von Schlegel , that Aeschylus was the inventor of tragedy. Aeschylus frequently travelled to Sicily , where the Tyrant of Gela was a patron. In 458 BC he travelled there for the last time; according to traditional legend, Aeschylus was killed in 456 BC when an Eagle (or more likely a Lammergeier ), mistaking the playwright's bald crown for a stone, dropped a Tortoise on his head (though some accounts differ, claiming it was a stone dropped by an Eagle or Vulture that likely mistook his bald head for the egg of a Flightless Bird ). The inscription on his gravestone was written by himself before his death, and makes no mention of his Theatrical renown. He chose to commemorate his military achievements only. It read: “ This tomb the dust of Aeschylus doth hide, Euphorion's son and fruitful Gela's pride; How tried his valor Marathon may tell, And long-haired Medes, who knew it all too well.” In Greek: "Αισχύλον Ευφορίωνος Αθηναίον τόδε κεύθει μνήμα, πεπνυμένον πυροφόροιο Γέλας. Αλκήν δ' ευδόκιμον μαραθώνειον άλσος αν είποι και βαθυχαιτήεις Μήδος επιστάμενος" WORKS Aeschylus' work has a strong moral and religious emphasis, concentrating on man's position in the cosmos in relation to the gods, divine law and divine punishment in the Oresteia trilogy. Besides the literary merit of his work, Aeschylus' greatest contribution to the theater was the addition of a second actor to his scenes. Previously, the action took place between a single actor and the Greek Chorus . This invention was only attributed to him by later tradition, however. Aeschylus is known to have written about 76 plays, only 6 of which remain extant:
In addition, the existing canon of Aeschylus' plays includes a seventh, '' Prometheus Bound ''. Attributed to Aeschylus in Antiquity , it is generally considered by modern scholars to be the work of an unknown 4th Century BC playwright. One theory is that it was written by Euphorion, one of Aeschylus' sons, and produced as his father's work. Its language is much simpler than that which Aeschylus usually utilises, without nearly as much complex metaphor and imagery, and is closer to Sophocles' style (though it is not at all suggested that Sophocles is its author); its hostility to the figure of Zeus is completely at odds with the religious views of the other six plays. Cratinus makes reference to his play in his own ''The Wealth Gods'', so we know it must have been written before 429 BC. In the early 1990 s fragments of another Aeschylean play, which had been mentioned in ancient sources, were discovered in the wrappings of a Mummy in Egypt . The play, '' Achilles '', was part of a trilogy about the Trojan War . It had been lost for over 2,000 years. SEE ALSO NOTES
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Fragments ''Prometheus Bound'' |
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