Aeschylus (, US: /ˈɛskɪləs/; Ancient Greek: Αἰσχύλος Aiskhylos, pronounced [ai̯s.kʰý.los]; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek author of Greek tragedy, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academics’ knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Before this, characters interacted only with the chorus.
Aeschylus (, ; Ancient Greek: Αἰσχύλος Aiskhylos, pronounced [ai̯s.kʰý.los]; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek author of Greek tragedy, and is often described as the daddy of tragedy. Academics’ knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and concurrence of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his long-lasting plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed prosecution among them. Before this, characters interacted only in the same way as the chorus.
Only seven of his estimated seventy to ninety plays have survived. There is a long-standing debate on the order of the authorship of one of these plays, Prometheus Bound. Some admit that his son Euphorion wrote it. Fragments from extra of Aeschylus’ plays have survived in quotations, and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyrus. These fragments often give further insights into Aeschylus’ work. He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy. His Oresteia is the abandoned extant and ancient example. At least one of his plays was influenced by the Persians’ second invasion of Greece (480–479 BC). This work, The Persians, is one of completely few classical Greek tragedies concerned similar to contemporary events, and the solitary one extant. The significance of the war against Persia was so good to Aeschylus and the Greeks that Aeschylus’ epitaph commemorates his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon though making no mention of his expertise as a playwright. Despite this, Aeschylus’s work – particularly the Oresteia – is generally recognized by protester critics and scholars.