Aeschylus

(ca. 525-456 B.C.)

Born about 525 B.C. in Eleusis, a small community near Athens where the goddess Demeter was worshiped in the ritual Eleusinian mysteries. Aeschylus was the son of Euphorion, a member of the old nobility (eupatridae) of Athens. According to the short Profile given in the Medicean manuscript of his plays, he fought in the Persian Wars at Marathon (490 B.C.) and probably at Salamis (480 B.C.); some accounts state that he was present at the battles of Artemisium and Plataea as well, but this information is not corroborated.

His career as a dramatist spanned more than forty years, - from the beginning of the fifth century B.C., when he first competed for the dramatic prize at Athens, - to 458 B.C., when the Oresteia trilogy was presented.

Stage Works

The chronology (with the exception of No. 4) and the dating of Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 are precise. Until recently, the usual date for No. 3 was ca. 490 B.C., but new evidence makes a much later dating possible. Some critics have suggested the possibility that No. 4 was Aeschylus's last extant play. In each case the first title given is a transliteration from the Greek; the first in parentheses is the Latin designation.

  1. Persai (Persae; The Persians). 472 B.C.

  2. Hepta epi Thebas (Septem contra Thebas; The Seven Against Thebes). 467 B.C.

  3. Hiketides (Supplices; The Suppliants). 463? B.C.

  4. Prometheus desmotes (Prometheus vinctus; Prometheus Bound). 466/ 459? B.C.

  5. Agamemnon (Agamemnon) 458 B.C.

  6. Choephoroi (Choephoroe; The Libation Bearers). 458 B.C.

  7. Eumenides (Eumenides; The Eumenides). 458 B.C.

EDITIONS

Collections

  1. Tragedies, 2 vols., Loeb Classical Library, New York, 1923-1926;
  2. The Complete Greek Drama, ed. by W. J. Oates and E. J. O'Neill and tr. by E. Morshead, R. Potter, and P. More, vol. 1, New York, 1938;
  3. Complete Plays, tr. by G. Murray, New York, 1952; Great Books of the Western World, ed. by R. M. Hutchins and tr. by G. Cookson, vol. 5, Chicago, 1952;
  4. Aeschylus, ed. by H. W. Smyth, 2nd ed., 2 vols., London, 1953;
  5. The Complete Greek Tragedies, ed. and tr. by D. Grene and R. Lattimore, vol. 1, Chicago, 1959.
  6. Also published in Greek Dramas, ed. by B. Perrin, tr. by R. Potter and E. Browning, New York, 1900;
  7. Harvard Classics, ed. by C. W. Eliot, tr. by E. Morshead and E. Plumptree, vol. 8, New York, 1909-1910;
  8. Ten Greek Plays Translated into English, tr. by G. Murray, New York, 1930;
  9. Three Greek Plays, tr. by E. Hamilton, New York, 1937;
  10. Fifteen Greek Plays Translated into English, tr. by G. Murray, New York, 1943;
  11. Greek Literature in Translation, ed. by W. J. Oates and C. T. Murphy and tr. by E. Morshead and P. More, New York, 1944;
  12. Plays of the Greek Dramatists, tr. by A. Way, New York, 1946;
  13. Greek Plays in Modern Translation, ed. by D. Fitts and tr. by R. Lattimore et al., New York, 1947;
  14. The Portable Greek Reader, ed. by W. H. Auden and tr. by G. Thomson, New York, 1948;
  15. Seven Famous Greek Plays, ed. by W. J. Oates and E. J. O'Neill and tr. by E. Morshead and P. More, New York, 1950;
  16. An Anthology of World Literature, ed. by P. M. Buck, Jr. and H. S. Alberson and tr. by J. Blackie, Jr., 3d ed., New York, 1951;
  17. An Anthology of Greek Drama, ed. by C. A. Robinson, Jr., and tr. by G. Thomson, 2d ser., New York, 1954;
  18. Greek Drama for Everyman, ed. and tr. by F. L. Lucas, London, 1954;
  19. Six Greek Plays in Modern Translation, ed. by D. Fitts and tr. by G. Thomson, New York, 1955;
  20. Ten Greek Plays in Contemporary Translations, ed. by L. R. Lind and tr. by L. MacNeice and R. Warner, Boston, 1957;
  21. Greek Tragedies, ed. and tr. by D. Grene and R. Lattimore, 3 vols., Chicago, 1960.
Individual Plays
  1. Agamemnon. A. C. Person, ed., and W. Headlam, tr., Cambridge, England, 1910; E. Fraenkel, ed., 3 vols., Oxford, 1950; J. D. Denniston and D. Page, eds., New York, 1957; also published in The Genius of the Greek Drama, ed. and tr. by C. E. Robinson, Oxford, 1921;
  2. Four Famous Greek Plays, ed. by P. N. Landis and tr. by L. Campbell, New York, 1929; Poetic Drama, ed. by A. Kreymborg and tr. by E. Hamilton, New York, 1941;
  3. Greek Literature in Translation, ed. by G. Howe and G. A. Harrer and tr. by E. Morshead, rev. ed., New York, 1948;
  4. An Anthology of Greek Drama, ed. by C. A. Robinson, Jr. and tr. by G. Thomson, 1st ser., New York, 1949;
  5. A Book of Dramas, ed. by B. Carpenter and tr. by G. Murray, rev. ed., New York, 1949;
  6. Classics in Translation, ed. by P. MacKendrick and H. M. Howe and tr. by L. MacNeice, vol. 1, Madison, Wis., 1952;
  7. Writers of the Western World, ed. by C. A. Hibbard and H. Frenz and tr. by E. Plumptre, 2d ed., Boston, 1954;
  8. Masterworks of World Literature, ed. by E. M. Everett et al., vol. 1, New York, 1955;
  9. Nine Great Plays, from Aeschylus to Eliot, ed. by L. F. Dean and tr. by L. MacNeice, rev. ed., New York, 1956;
  10. Four Greek Plays, ed. by D. Fitts and tr. by L, MacNeice, New York, 1960;
  11. The Continental Edition of -World Masterpieces, ed. by M. Mack et al. and tr. by L. MacNeice, New York, 1962; H. Lloyd-Jones, tr., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970.
  12. The Eumenides. H. Lloyd Jones, tr., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970.
  13. The Libation Bearers. A. Sidgwick, ed., rev. ed., New York, 1900.
  14. Oresteia. G. Thomson, ed., 2 vols., Cambridge, England, 1938; G. Murray, tr., 2d ed., London, 1946; M. Townsend, tr., San Francisco, 1966; D. Young, tr., Norman, Okla., 1974; R. Fagles, tr., New York, 1975; R. Lowell, tr., New York, 1978.
  15. The Persians.A. Sidgwick, ed., New York, 1903; H. D. Broadhead, ed., Cambridge, England, 1960.
  16. Prometheus Bound. Published in Attic Tragedies, vol. 3, Boston, 1927;
  17. Heath Readings in the Literature of Europe, ed. by T. P. Cross and C. H. Slover and tr. by E. Plumptre, Boston, 1933;
  18. World Drama, ed. by B. H. Clark and tr. by J. Blackie, Jr., New York, 1933;
  19. World Literature, ed. by E. A. Cross and tr. by E. Browning, New York, 1935;
  20. Three Greek Tragedies in Translation, tr. by D. Grene, Chicago, 1942;
  21. Chief Patterns of World Drama, ed. by W. S. Clark II and tr. by C. Mendell, Boston, 1946;
  22. Greek and Roman Classics in Translation, ed. by C. T. Murphy, K. Guinagh, and W. J. Oates and tr. by P. More, New York, 1947;
  23. The Art of the Play, ed. by A. S. Downer and tr. by E. Hamilton, New York, 1955;
  24. Eight Great Tragedies, ed. by S. Barnet et al. and tr. by E. Havelock, New York, 1957;
  25. Prometheus Bound and Other Plays, tr. by P. Vellacott, Harmondsworth, Eng., 1961; W. Anderson, tr. New York, 1963.
  26. The Seven Against Thebes. C. Dawson, tr., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970; A. Hecht, tr., New York, 1973.
CRITICISM
  1. L. Campbell, Tragic Drama in Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Shakespeare, New York, 1904;
  2. H. W. Smyth, Aeschylean Tragedy, Berkeley, Calif., 1924;
  3. G. Murray, Aeschylus, the Creator of Tragedy, Oxford, 1940;
  4. G. Thomson, Aeschylus and Athens, London, 1941;
  5. W. B. Stanford, Aeschylus in His Style, Dublin, 1942, rpt. New York, 1972;
  6. A. Turyn, The Manuscript Tradition in the Tragedies of Aeschylus, New York, 1943;
  7. F. R. Earp, The Style of Aeschylus, Cambridge, England, 1948;
  8. F. Solmsen, Hesiod and Aeschylus, Ithaca N.Y., 1949;
  9. E. T. Owen, The Harmony of Aeschylus, Toronto, 1952;
  10. H. J. Finley, Pindar and Aeschylus, Cambridge, Mass., 1955;
  11. H. J. Rose, A Commentary on the Surviving Plays of Aeschylus, 2 vols., Amsterdam, 1957-1958;
  12. R. Kuhns, The House, the City, and the Judge: The Growth of Moral Awareness in the "Oresteia," Indianapolis, 1962;
  13. J. T. Sheppard, Aeschylus and Sophocles: Their Work and Influence, reprint, New York, 1963;
  14. R. D. Dawe, Collation and Investigation of Manuscripts of Aeschylus, Cambridge, England, 1964;
  15. G. Italie, Index Aeschylus, Leiden, 1964;
  16. R. D. Dawe, Repertory of Conjectures on Aeschylus, New York, 1965;
  17. W. H. Matheson, Claudel and Aeschylus, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1965;
  18. A. J. Podlecki, Political Background of Aeschylean Tragedy, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1966;
  19. A. Lebeck, The Oresteia: A Study in Language and Structure, Cambridge, Mass., 1971;
  20. H. Lloyd Jones, The Justice of Zeus, Berkeley, Calif., 1971;
  21. M. H. McCall Jr., ed., Aeschylus: A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1972.