Aeschylus
Father of tragedy, soldier of Marathon
The ancient Greek tragedian Aeschylus, whose birth is placed around 525 BC in Eleusis, is frequently called the father of tragedy.[1][2] Estimates of the number of plays Aeschylus wrote range from 70 to 90, but only seven complete tragedies attributed to him are extant.[3]
Quick Facts
- Born
- c. 525/524 BC
- Birthplace
- Eleusis
- Died
- c. 456 BC (aged approximately 67)
- Place of death
- Gela, Sicily
- Occupation
- Playwright and soldier
- Children
- Euphorion, Euaeon
- Parents
- Euphorion (father)
- Relatives
- Cynaegirus (brother)
- Ameinias (brother)
- Philopatho (sister)
- Philocles (nephew)
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
The same source states that he participated in the battle of Marathon with his brother Cynegirus and in the naval battle at Salamis with his brother Ameinias.[4] Aeschylus was the first to augment tragedy with noble sufferings and decorated the stage-building with splendour, paintings, and machines.[4] He used Cleandrus as his first actor, then added a second actor, Mynniscus the Chalcidean.[4] The Anonymous Life records that the Athenians loved Aeschylus so much that after his death anyone who wished to put on his plays would receive a chorus.[4]
Aeschylus died in Gela, and the citizens gave him a public burial with an epitaph noting he died in grain-bearing Gela.[4] The Anonymous Life notes that it had been prophesied to him that a heavenly missile would kill him.[4]
What the cited sources add
The Anonymous Life of Aeschylus reports that at the performance of the Eumenides, he frightened the people so much that some children lost consciousness and unborn babies were aborted.[4] The same source says that Aeschylus was a contemporary of Pindar and was born in the 40th Olympiad.[4] The Anonymous Life states that Aeschylus re-produced the Persians in Sicily to great acclaim, being esteemed by Hieron.[4] It also records that whoever was professionally involved in tragedy would offer sacrifices and declaim his dramas when visiting his memorial.[4]
The Anonymous Life notes that Aeschylus won quite a few victories after his death.[4]
References
- Wikipedia, "Aeschylus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Schlegel, August Wilhelm von, "Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature", December 2004, p. 121; R. Lattimore, Aeschylus I: Oresteia, 4; Martin Cropp, 'Lost Tragedies: A Survey'; A Companion to Greek Tragedy, p. 273 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aeschylus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sommerstein 2010; Grene, David, and Richmond Lattimore, eds. The Complete Greek Tragedies: Vol. 1, Aeschylus. University of Chicago Press, 1959. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aeschylus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Manousakis, "Prometheus bound: a separate authorial trace in the Aeschylean corpus", De Gruyter, 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Anonymous Life of Aeschylus", Durham, 2014. facts only, no text reused. topostext.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Aeschylus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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