Detailed Biography of Aeschylus
Aeschylus Basics
Aeschylus was born at Eleusis in Attica in 525/524 and died at Gela in Sicily in 456/55.
The 7 Surviving (out of 90) Tragedies
- Persians 472
- Seven Against Thebes 468
- Suppliant Women 463
- (Trilogy) 458
- Agamemnon
- Libation Bearers
- Eumenides
- Prometheus Bound 450-425
Aeschylus Facts and Figures
Dating Suppliant Women is problematic. It was thought to be the earliest, performed in the 490's, but a recently discovered papyrus fragment suggests it was performed at the same festival as a play by Sophocles, whose first victory and performance took place in 468. Because of a reference on the papyrus to an archon, 463 may be the best guess.We don't know when Prometheus Bound was performed or even if it was really by Aeschylus. [Sallie Goetsch comments, "Prometheus Bound is a pre-skene play, dating to approximately 460 BCE. (I published an article about this in Theatre History Studies 1994 or 1995; unfortunately it's not available online.)"]
Go to Greek Plays for online English translations of Aeschylus' tragedies.
