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Ὀρέστεια Kindle Ü Paperback Αισχύλος Ésuilo in Portuguese; Esuilo in Spanish; Eschyle en français; Eschil in romanian; Эсхил in russianAeschylus an ancient Greek playwright is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy He is the earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays survive extant the others being Sophocles and Euripides According to Aristotle he expanded the number of characters in plays to allow for conflict among them; previously characters interacted only with the chorus Unfortunately only seven of an estimated 70 plays by Aeschylus have survived into modern times; one of these plays Prometheus Bound is sometimes thought not to be the work of AeschylusAt least one of Aeschylus's works was influenced by the Persian invasion of Greece which took place during his lifetime His play The Persians remains a good primary source of information about this period in Greek history The war was so important to Greeks and to Aeschylus himself that upon his death around 456 BC his epitaph included a reference to his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon but not to his success as a playwrightThere are no reliable sources for the life of Aeschylus He was said to have been born in c 525 in Eleusis a small town about 27 kilometers northwest of Athens which is nestled in the fertile valleys of western Attica though the date is most likely based on counting back forty years from his first victory in the Great Dionysia His family was both wealthy and well established; his father Euphorion was a member of the Eupatridae the ancient nobility of AtticaAs a youth he worked at a vineyard until according to the 2nd century AD geographer Pausanias the god Dionysus visited him in his sleep and commanded him to turn his attention to the nascent art of tragedy As soon as he woke from the dream the young Aeschylus began writing a tragedy and his first performance took place in 499 BC when he was only 26 years old After fifteen years his skill was great enough to win a prize for his plays at Athens' annual city Dionysia playwriting competition But in the interim his dramatic career was interrupted by war The armies of the Persian Empire which had already conuered the Greek city states of Ionia entered mainland Greece in the hopes of conuering it as wellIn 490 BC Aeschylus and his brother Cynegeirus fought to defend Athens against Darius's invading Persian army at the Battle of Marathon Though Athens was victorious Cynegeirus died in the battle Aeschylus continued to write plays during the lull between the first and second Persian invasions of Greece and won his first victory at the city Dionysia in 484 BC In 480 he was called into military service again this time against Xerxes' invading forces at the Battle of Salamis This naval battle holds a prominent place in The Persians his oldest surviving play which was performed in 472 BC and won first prize at the DionysiaAeschylus was one of many Greeks who had been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries a cult to Demeter based in his hometown of Eleusis As the name implies members of the cult were supposed to have gained some sort of mystical secret knowledge Firm details of the Mysteries' specific rites are sparse as members were sworn under the penalty of death not to reveal anything about the Mysteries to non initiates Nevertheless according to Aristotle it was alleged that Aeschylus had placed clues about the secret rites in his seventh tragedy Prometheus Bound According to some sources an angry mob tried to kill Aeschylus on the spot but he fled the scene When he stood trial for his offense Aeschylus pleaded ignorance and was only spared because of his brave service in the Persian WarsAeschylus traveled to Sicily once or twice in the 470s BC having