Aeschylus (ca. 524BC-456BC) was the first of the three (with Sophocles and Euripides) ancient Greek tragedians and he is often termed as the father of tragedy. According to Aristotle, he increased the number of characters on stage to allow conflict. Beforehand characters would only interact with the chorus. Sadly, only seven plays by Aeschylus have survived from Antiquity, although he is believed to have written as many as ninety. There is some debate regarding the authorship of one play, Prometheus Bound, which has been included in this collection.
Aeschylus was said to have been born in Eleusis, a small town northwest of Athens in western Attica. His family was wealthy and his father was a member of the ancient nobility of Attica. The geographer Pausanias told how Aeschylus worked at a vineyard in his youh, when the god Dionysus visited him in a dream, commaninding him to write tragedy. As soon as he awoke, the young Aeschylus began writing a play and the first performance was in 499 BC, when he was only 26 years old. He won his first victory at the City Dionysia in 484 BC.
The Persian Wars played a large role in the playwright's life. In 490 BC, Aeschylus and his brother fought to defend Athens against the Great Persian King’s army at the Battle of Marathon. Though heavily outnumbered, the Athenians slaughtered the Persian army. This crucial victory ended the first Persian invasion of Greece. In 480, Aeschylus was called into service again at the Battle of Salamis. This battle holds a prominent place in his earliest surviving play, The Persians, first performed in 472 BC, winning the first prize at the Dionysia festival.
Aeschylus was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, a cult to Demeter founded in his hometown. Members of the cult were supposed to have gained mystical knowledge and, according to Aristotle, Aeschylus had revealed the cult's secrets on stage. Some claim that an angry mob tried to kill Aeschylus, but he managed to flee the scene. When standing trial for the offense he pleaded ignorance and was acquitted, as the jury was sympathetic due to his war service.
After the death of his chief rival Phrynichus in 473 BC, Aeschylus was the favorite in the Dionysia, winning first prize in nearly every competition. In 472 BC, Aeschylus staged four plays, all financed by the famous statesman Pericles.
In 458 BC, he visited the city of Gela in Sicily, where he died in two years later. Some claimed he was killed by a tortoise, which fell out of the sky, dropped by an eagle. Yet many doubt the truth of such a tale. Aeschylus' work was so respected after his death that only his tragedies were allowed to be restaged in ensuing competitions.