The Persians (Πέρσαι) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus. It is the oldest surviving play in history. It is also notable for being the only extant Greek tragedy based on contemporary events. This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... For information about all peoples of Iran, see Demographics of Iran; for Central Asian Persians, see Tajiks. ... Atossa or Hutaosa (550 BC-475 BC) was a Queen consort of Persia. ... Darius I of Persia Darius the Great (ca. ... Xerxes the Great (Persian: خشایارشا, Khšāyāršā, Old Persian: XÅ¡ayāršā) was a Persian Emperor (Shahanshah) (reigned 485–465 BCE) of the Achaemenid Dynasty. ... In general usage a tragedy is a play, movie or sometimes a real world event with a sad outcome. ... The Temple to Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around three thousand years. ... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ...

It was produced in 472 BC along with three other plays, which do not survive, but which probably also had something to do with the Persian Wars. The first play, Phineas, was apparently about the mythological figure Phineas, who helped Jason and the Argonauts pass into Asia. The Persians was the second part. The play is especially notable in that it is the only surviving ancient Greek tragedy that is based on an actual historical event, namely the Battle of Salamis. That battle took place in 480 BC, only eight years before The Persians was performed. Aeschylus had participated in the battle, and it is likely that most of his Athenian audience had either fought in the battle or had been affected by it directly. Glaucus Potnieus, the third part, seems to have been about the Battle of Plataea of 479 BC. The fourth play, a satyr play, may have been about Prometheus. Centuries: 4th century BC - 5th century BC - 6th century BC Decades: 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC - 470s BC - 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 477 BC 476 BC 475 BC 474 BC 473 BC 472 BC 471 BC 470 BC 469... The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC. The term can also refer to the continual warfare of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire against the Parthians and... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and their own cult and ritual practices. ... In Greek mythology, Phineas (also spelled Phineus) was a King of Thrace, son of Agenor, who had the gift of prophecy. ... Jason (Greek: Ιάσων, Etruscan: Easun) is a hero of Greek mythology who led the Argonauts in the search of the Golden Fleece. ... The Argo, by Lorenzo Costa In Greek mythology, the Argonauts (Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest for the Golden Fleece. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia, Halicarnassus Commanders Eurybiades of Sparta Themistocles of Athens Adeimantus of Corinth Aristides of Athens Xerxes I of Persia, Ariamenes †, Artemisia Strength 366-380 ships a 1,000-1,207 ships [1]b Casualties 40 ships 500 ships a Herodotus gives 378 of the alliance, but... Events King Xerxes I of Persia sets out to conquer Greece. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα - Athína) is the largest city and capital of Greece, located in the Attica periphery of central Greece. ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Commanders Pausanias Mardonius† Strength 100,000 (Pompeius) 110,000 (Herodotus) 120,000 (Ctesias) 300,000 (Herodotus and Plutarch) Casualties 10,000+ (Ephorus and Diodorus) 1,360 (Plutarch) 159 (Herodotus) 43,000 survived (Herodotus) 100,000 killed (Diodorus) The Battle of Plataea was the last battle... 479 pr. ... Papposilenus playing the crotals, theatrical type of the satyr play, Louvre Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of tragicomedy, similar to the modern-day burlesque style. ... Prométhée enchaîné (Prometheus Bound) by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam (1762) For other uses, see Prometheus (disambiguation). ...

Summary

The Persians takes place in Susa, the capital of Persia, and opens with the chorus (representing Persian nobles) and Queen Mother Atossa awaiting news of King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks. This is an unusual beginning for a tragedy by Aeschylus; normally the chorus would not appear until slightly later, after a speech by a minor character. A messenger then arrives, delivering news of the defeat, the names of the Persian leaders who have been killed, and the relieving news that King Xerxes had escaped and is returning. Then he plunges into a graphic description of the battle and its gory outcome. The climax of the messenger's soliloquy is his rendition of the battle cry of the Greeks as they charged: "Forward, sons of the Greeks, liberate the fatherland, liberate your children, your women, the temples of your ancestral gods, the graves of your forebears: this is the battle for everything". Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great at Susa. ... The Persian Empire was a series of historical empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the old Persian homeland, and beyond in Western Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. ... In tragic plays of ancient Greece, the chorus (choros) is believed to have grown out of the Greek dithyrambs and tragikon drama. ... Atossa or Hutaosa (550 BC-475 BC) was a Queen consort of Persia. ... Xerxes I (خشایارشاه), was a Persian king (reigned 485 - 465 BC) of the Achaemenid dynasty. ...

Atossa then goes to the tomb of her dead husband Darius, who appears to her as a ghost, although he is ignorant of the defeat. The ghost of Darius (almost a unique occurrence in ancient Greek tragedy - the only other ghost known to appear on stage is the ghost of Clytemnestra in Aeschylus' The Eumenides) goes on to explain that the Persians were defeated because of the hubris of his son, Xerxes, who constructed a bridge of boats across the Hellespont and by doing so offended the gods (by this, Aeschylus means that the gods, rather than Athens, were responsible for Athens' victory). The ghost of Darius also makes a reference to the Battle of Plataea, another Greek victory, probably foreshadowing the third play. Darius I of Persia Darius the Great (ca. ... Murder of Agamemnon, Painting by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... Hubris or hybris (Greek ), according to its modern usage, is exaggerated self pride or self-confidence (overbearing pride), often resulting in fatal retribution. ... Xerxes I (خشایارشاه), was a Persian king (reigned 485 - 465 BC) of the Achaemenid dynasty. ... The Helespont/Dardanelles, a long narrow strait dividing the Balkans (Europe) along the Gallipoli peninsula from Asia Anatolia (Asia Minor). ... Combatants Greek city-states Persia Commanders Pausanias Mardonius† Strength 100,000 (Pompeius) 110,000 (Herodotus) 120,000 (Ctesias) 300,000 (Herodotus and Plutarch) Casualties 10,000+ (Ephorus and Diodorus) 1,360 (Plutarch) 159 (Herodotus) 43,000 survived (Herodotus) 100,000 killed (Diodorus) The Battle of Plataea was the last battle...

Xerxes, the tragic hero of the play, does not appear until the end. He has returned in defeat and in shame, and does not realise his own hubris was the cause of his defeat. The end of the play is filled with lamentations by Xerxes and the chorus. There is no peripeteia ("reversal of fortune"), as a tragedy would normally have - Xerxes is never portrayed as a king with a good fortune to be reversed. He does, however, realise the cause of his defeat (the anagnorisis), and ends the play more noble than when he entered.

Discussion

Aeschylus was not the first to write a play about the Persians, as Phrynichus had written "Capture of Miletus" in 493 BC. Phrynichus' play, which is lost, apparently mocked the Persians and celebrated the Greeks despite the Persian victory over the Ionian Revolt only one year before in 494 BC, and he was fined for producing the work. Aeschylus, on the other hand, mentions no Greek leaders at all and does not turn his play into propaganda. Instead, he wanted his audience to feel pity for the Persians, the enemy they had so recently defeated. What is amazing about the "Persians" is that in it, the earliest-surviving theatrical play, Aeschylus is already in full command of a playwright's skills: his praise of his city is subtle, his characters are shown respect and possess depth and nuance, and he shows himself the consummate master of creating dramatic tension and atmosphere even as he is talking about events entirely familiar to his audience. Phrynichus, son of Polyphradmon and pupil of Thespis, was one of the earliest of the Greek tragedians. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 540s BC 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC Years: 498 BC 497 BC 496 BC 495 BC 494 BC - 493 BC - 492 BC 491 BC... The Ionian Revolts were triggered by the actions of Aristagoras, the tyrant of the Ionian city of Miletus at the end of the 6th century BC and the beginning of the 5th century BC. They constituted the first major conflict between Greece and Persia. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 540s BC 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC Years: 499 BC 498 BC 497 BC 496 BC 495 BC - 494 BC - 493 BC 492 BC... Soviet Propaganda Poster during the Great Patriotic War. ...

Reception & legacy

The play (or, rather, all four plays) won the Dionysia festival in Athens in 472, and it was reproduced in Sicily in 467 BC (one of the few times a play was reproduced during the lifetime of the author). The version produced in 467 probably forms the basis of the surviving version, and may have been slightly different from the original. It was also later a popular play in the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire, who also fought wars with the Persians. The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honour of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedies and comedies. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 510s BC 500s BC 490s BC 480s BC 470s BC - 460s BC - 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC 472 BC 471 BC 470 BC 469 BC 468 BC - 467 BC - 466 BC 465 BC 464... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR) The Roman Empire. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ...

Translations

• Robert Potter, 1777 - verse: full text
• E. D. A. Morshead, 1908 - verse
• Walter Headlam and C. E. S. Headlam, 1909 - prose
• Herbert Weir Smyth, 1922 - prose: full text
• G. M. Cookson, 1922 - verse
• Seth G. Benardete, 1956 - verse
• Philip Vellacott, 1961 - verse
• Ted Hughes, 1971 - incorporated into Orghast
• Janet Lembke and C.J. Herington, 1981
• Ellen McLaughlin, 2004 - verse

	Plays by Aeschylus The Persians | Seven Against Thebes | The Suppliants | Agamemnon | The Libation Bearers | The Eumenides | Prometheus Bound (spurious)

per 1 Aspinall Street, Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, where Ted Hughes was born. ... Orghast was the International Centre for Theatre Researchs first public performance at an international event. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Aischylos_Büste. ... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Επτά επί Θήβας The Seven Against Thebes is a mythic narrative that finds its classic statement in the play by Aeschylus (467 BCE) concerning the battle between the Seven led by Polynices and the army of Thebes headed by Eteocles and his supporters, traditional Theban... The Suppliants (Greek Hiketides, also translated as The Suppliant Maidens) is a play by Aeschylus. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... Prometheus Bound is an Ancient Greek play. ...