The Persians by Aeschylus

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The Persians by Aeschylus

• Presentation by Selena Kitchens

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Dramatis Personae

• In Order of Appearance
• Queen
• Chorus
• Messenger
• Ghost of Darius
• Xerxes

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The Play

• Setting Susa
• Plot
• The return of Xerxes from the Battle of Salamis

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My Favorite Passage

• The Queens description of her nightmare
• I like it because.

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Facts about Production of Play

• First presented at City Dionysia in 472BC
• Eight years after Salamis
• Second in a trilogy
• Won 1st place
• Pericles was choregos
• Produced again in Sicily in 467BC
• Popular in Roman and Byzantine Empires
• Still performed today

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Background The Persian Wars

• Conflict between Greeks and Persians
• Stated over the Ionians- Greeks who were under
  Persian rule
• Ionian rebellion from 499-494BC
• Joined by Athens and Eretria
• King Darius of Persia vowed revenge
• Next few decades were
• spent invading Greece
• He died in 486BC before he
• could conquer Greeks, leaving
• the Empire to his son Xerxes

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Important Battles

• Marathon490BC
• ended the first invasion of Greece with a
  crushing loss for the Persians (Aeschylus was
  here!)
• Thermopylae480BC
• During the second invasion, Persian victory
• Salamis480BC
• Major Greek naval victory
• Plataea479BC
• Greek victory, effective turning point of war
• Mycale479BC
• Greek victory, end of Persian invasion of Greece

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Salamis

• Naval battle
• September of 480BC
• Took place in straits between Athens and the
  island of Salamis
• After Battle of Thermopylae Greeks tried to
  engage Persians in a battle
• Through subterfuge convinced Persians to attempt
  to battle in straits where their large numbers
  were a hindrance
• Greeks used disorganization to destroy and
  capture over 200 ships
• Xerxes pulled out with most of his army and left
  a general to finish to war
• Along with Battle of Plataea, was the turning
  point of the Persian War

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Fun Facts

• In The Frogs by Aristophanes, the character
  Aeschylus calls The Persians "an effective sermon
  on the will to win. Best thing I ever wrote
• At a performance in Athens in 1965 the audience
  actually interrupted the dialog to cheer
• Performed in America in 1993
• Directed by Peter Sellars
• Shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival
• Supposed to be a response to the Gulf War of
  1990-1991
• Quite a few productions were made in response to
  the American invasion of Iraq in 2001 (commentary
  on unjust invasion ironically it was the
  proverbial west that was doing the invading this
  time)

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Bibliography

• Info
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mycale
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persians
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persian_Wars
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamis
• Pictures
• http//z.about.com/d/ancienthistory/1/0/b/E/Aeschy
  lus.jpg
• http//persianperspective.files.wordpress.com/2007
  /03/httpmedia.putfile.combayrouxerxes.jpg
• http//www.heritage-history.com/books/abbott/xerxe
  s/zpage297.gif
• http//www.trmichels.com/BaldEagleTrees2552.jpg
• http//www.sikyon.com/Athens/Monuments/athens_view
  1.jpg
• http//www.tqnyc.org/2005/NYC051950//miritgreece_w
  ars_files/persian20war.jpg
• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thum
  b/3/3a/Map_Greco-Persian_Wars-en.svg/750px-Map_Gre
  co-Persian_Wars-en.svg.png
• http//www.molossia.org/milacademy/salamis.jpg