The Persians by Aeschylus -479 B. C. E. -translated by James Romm - 2009- The Most Ancient of Dramas

 The Persians by Aeschylus -479 B. C. E. -translated by James Romm - 2016- The Most Ancient of any drama

An Ancient Times Project Work

  Aeschylus- 525 B. C. E. to 456 B.C. E. Only seven of his estimated 80 dramas survived.

This play is included in The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides-Preface, general introduction, play introductions, and compilation copyright © 2016 by Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm

CAST OF CHARACTERS (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) CHORUS of Persian elders ATOSSA, queen of the Persians; mother of Xerxes; widow of Darius MESSENGER from the retreating Persian army GHOST OF DARIUS, former king of the Persians; father of Xerxes XERXES, king of Persia 

In his informative introduction to The Persians James Romm explains that Aeschylus and much of his audience had fought in the a seemingly miraculous Greek victory over the Persian navy at the island of Salamis, off the west coast of Attica. That victory, achieved despite long odds, had saved most of Greece, and especially Athens, from a fearsome choice between annihilation and subjection to the might of imperial Persia. 

The Persians is the final drama in a Trilogy, the first two works were lost. My research indicates it is one of the very few Greek dramas based on actual events.

The Persians most powerful segment to me is a very amazing account of the army assembled by the Persian Emperor Xerxes to conquer Greece. The play takes place in Susa, one of the capitals of the Persian Empire and opens with a chorus of old men of Susa, who are soon joined by the Queen Mother, Atossa, as they await news of her son King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks. Expressing her anxiety Antossa feared this vast assembly of warriors would be destroyed by the Greeks under the leadership of Athens. Xerxes the Emperor escapes capture. His mother Atossa is harshly critical of her son, blaming his hubris for the death of many thousands of Persisns.

Contemporary scholars seem divided as to how one might view the play. Some see it as a celebration of the Greek victory others see compassion for the "warriors of Asia" sent to die in a war that meant nothing to them. 

At the tomb of her dead husband Darius, Atossa asks the chorus to summon his ghost: "Some remedy he knows, perhaps,/Knows ruin's cure". On learning of the Persian defeat, Darius condemns the hubris behind his son's decision to invade Greece. 

God's are depicted as favoring the Greeks but they demand obedience and punish those they find disrespect them.

Mel Ulm

The Reading Life