Aeschylus (c. 525-456 B.C.)

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LINKS

Perseus Digital Library: Aeschylus
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0004%3Aid%3Daeschylus-4

The Perseus Digital Library, hosted by Tufts University, is a resource for a wide range of subjects in the humanities. Here you will find biographical information on Aeschylus, a discussion of his contribution to tragedy, and links to related primary and secondary sources.

Rivendell: Aeschylus
http://www.watson.org/%7Eleigh/athens.html

This site includes a brief biography of the writer, commentary on the historical context of his works, articles about his plays, online translations, and an excellent bibliography.

Agamemnon Study Guide
http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/Troy/agamemguide.html

Created by a professor at Northern Virginia Community College, this site offers background information on Greek tragedy, the development of Greek drama, and the story of the Oresteia.

BIOGRAPHY

Very little is known for certain about the life of Aeschylus (c. 525-456 B.C.) despite a first attempt at a biographical sketch in 300 B.C. What is known is that he was born in Eleusis near Athens at a time that marked Athens's beginning as an important power in Greece and as the cradle of Western art and thought.

He seems to have been writing tragedies for fifteen years before his first victory in the drama competitions. He began competing in 499 to 496 B.C. and won his first victory in 484 B.C. Aeschylus went on to win a total of thirteen competitions with thirteen tetralogies: groups of three tragedies and a satyr play. He may have written as many as ninety plays; the titles of eighty-three have come down to us, with seven plays and many fragments surviving. The Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy of Greek tragedies that we know were produced together.

Aeschylus is often credited with a rough and powerful style expressed in a language that sometimes forced him to make up new words. The power of his language is always remarked on by those who know his Greek original, and his translators have often been poets in their own right.

Aeschylus died at age sixty-eight in Gela, Sicily, where he spent time at the request of a friendly tyrant, Hieron. The story surrounding Aeschylus's death has been told many times and is probably only legend. It was said that an eagle grasping a tortoise flew high into the air and accidentally dropped the tortoise on Aeschylus's head, killing him. His death came at the height of the development of Greek tragedy.

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