Aeschylus (525/524 -456 BCE) was born in Eleusis towards the end of the age of ‘tyranny’ (autocratic rule)  in Athens. He lived through some of the city’s most important historical events, and fought in the battles of Marathon and Salamis . His plays and productions surpassed all those of previous poets, while he was also an innovator, adding a second actor to join the protagonist and the chorus , and in his later works using a third, as did Sophocles . He is also believed to have reduced the number of members of the tragic chorus to twelve and to have introduced scenery. At the heart of his worldview is the existence of a natural order based on universal moral laws. This order is violated and then restored through hubris (arrogant over-confidence), atë (ruinous folly) and nemesis (retribution).  Aeschylus became a symbol of a heroic age that culminated in the victorious defence of Athens’ independence.

 

Surviving plays:
The Persians, Seven against Thebes, The suppliants, Prometheus bound, Oresteia (Agamemnon, The Libation bearers, The Eumenides).

 

 

The blithe sorceress Delusion
Beguiles man with caresses
Until he is caught in the net
Whence mortals never escape. (The Persians)

 

This is another disease of tyranny – to lose trust in one’s friends. (Prometheus bound)