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The Persians
7Aeschylus
Aeschylus's 472 BC play — the earliest surviving Greek tragedy, astonishingly sympathetic to the Persian enemy Athens had just defeated at Salamis.
GBM Assessment (Score: 7/10)
The Persians by Aeschylus is the earliest surviving complete drama in Western literature and a remarkable achievement in historical tragedy. It depicts the Battle of Salamis from the Persian perspective, offering a startlingly empathetic portrayal of the defeated enemy from a playwright who himself fought in the battle.
Produced just eight years after the Battle of Salamis, The Persians is the first historical drama and the oldest complete Western play. Aeschylus fought at Salamis, lending the work an immediacy and authority that set it apart from all subsequent treatments of the Persian Wars. It remains a foundational text in the study of Western drama.
Classical Athens: The Golden Age, c. 480-430 BC
Athens defeats Persia at Marathon and Salamis, inaugurating the most concentrated cultural flowering in Western history. Under Pericles, the Parthenon rises. Athenian democracy reaches fullest expression. The Great Dionysia produces tragedy and comedy. Herodotus invents history. The population of Athens — smaller than modern Reno — shapes Western civilization forever.
Awards & Adaptations
Oldest complete Western play.
Recommended Edition
H.W. Smyth (Loeb 1922)
