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NY Regents Exam - Global History and Geography: Help and Review30 chapters | 401 lessons | 27 flashcard sets
Aeschylus: Biography, Plays & Poems
Instructor:
Flint Johnson
Flint has tutored mathematics through precalculus, science, and English and has taught college history. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow
This lesson is about the life and plays of Aeschylus, an Athenian soldier and playwright of the fifth century, and one of the first dramatists known to history.
Aeschylus: Life and Legend
Sometimes, legends can outlive facts. That is certainly true for Aeschylus, a writer from ancient Greece. There are no reliable biographies about Aeschylus, but legend has it he was descended from the ancient nobility of Athens. Another story says that he spent his youth tending vineyards until Dionysius came to him in a dream and told him to write plays. To have these legends survive for thousands of years says something about the respect Aeschylus had in life.
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And yet, what we do know for sure about Aeschylus is much more impressive. He was born in about 535 B.C.E. in Eleusis, a small town near Athens. He participated at the battles of Marathon and Salamis, two battles that kept the Persian Empire from conquering Greece.
Aeschylus was not the kind of person to be satisfied with just military success, however. He was living in a time of great thinkers. We might compare his time period with the much more recent era that took place in the U.S. after World War II. That generation who fought the war is often referred to as 'The Greatest Generation' because of its accomplishments. Aeschylus was living in a great generation as well, one rich with the most well-known writers, speakers and scientists of the time. But he was primarily drawn to the theater.
Changes to the Theater
Aeschylus was an innovator for plays. When he began writing, most plays used only a single actor who would interact with the chorus. Aeschylus introduced a second actor, and this development allowed for greater dramatic flexibility.
Aeschylus was also responsible for improving the costumes for his plays. It has been said that when the Furies appeared on stage for the first time they caused 'young children to faint, patriarchs to urinate, and pregnant women to go into labour.' He may also have been the first to develop stage decoration.
Content
Probably the most obvious thing Aeschylus did was to write in verse; all of his plays were in a poem format. Aeschylus' tales were focused on morality, which gave a new depth to tragedies. But Aeschylus eased his audiences into them by making the stories distant. Either gods were the central characters (the Prometheus trilogy) or the plays were put in faraway settings (as in The Persians). Doing that kept his audiences from feeling too uncomfortable.
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Aeschylus also liked to write trilogies. In addition to the Oedipus trilogy, the works centered around the return of Agamemnon (Oresteia), the Danaids, and Prometheus are all known to have been trilogies. Scholars have also suggested Aeschylus wrote trilogies about Achilles, the Trojan hero Memnon, Ajax the Greater, Odysseus' return home, the Argonauts, the life of Perseus, the youth of Dionysius, and the aftermath of Oedipus' story.
Successes and Legacy
Aeschylus was considered to be the best of the Athenian playwrights with thirteen of his plays winning first prize at City Dionysia. He wrote between seventy and ninety plays in his lifetime. Aristophanes, a comic playwright who often attacked politicians and dramatists alike, praised him.
Aeschylus' importance goes beyond ancient Greece, though. He was at the core of the dramatic movement in the nineteenth century, and his innovations continue to be of influence to this day.
Lesson Summary
A warrior at Marathon and Salamis and the most successful playwright in Golden Age Greece, Aeschylus was a multi-talented Athenian who transformed the tragedy from a simple dialogue to a more flexible way of storytelling. By introducing morality and a sense of community, he reinforced Athenian pride through his plays. By introducing the trilogy he found a way of telling more involved stories. By adding more visuals to his performances, he gave the plays a new dimension that is still being expanded on to this day.
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Lesson
19 in chapter 4 of the course:
- The Minoans 9:05
- History of the Alphabet: From Cuneiform to Greek Writing 7:08
- The Iliad: Greek Epic 13:52
- The Odyssey: Greek Epic 18:22
- Bronze Age Greece: Schliemann's Quest for Troy 6:39
- From Mycenae's Collapse to Greek Colonization 9:15
- Greek Myth and Religion 17:21
- Greek City-States and Governments 10:54
- Women of Greece 4:34
- Ancient Greek Art, Pottery and Sculpture 8:07
- Ancient Greek Architecture: Dorian, Ionic & Corinthian 10:03
- The Birth of Philosophy: The Presocratics 17:33
- Phalanx Warfare in Ancient Greece 6:40
- History of Sparta 8:35
- Birth of History: Herodotus' Persian War 9:28
- Slavery in Ancient Greece 6:55
- Greek Temple: Architecture, Construction & Parts
- Achilles, the Ancient Greek Hero: Myth & Achilles Heel
- Aeschylus: Biography, Plays & Poems
- Archaic Greek Sculpture: Characteristics & Overview 3:21
- Archaic Smile in Ancient Greek Sculpture: Definition & Concept
- Cronos the God? - Mythology, Overview
- King Agamemnon: Mythology & Trojan War 4:23
- Selene, the Greek Moon Goddess: Facts & Overview 4:20
- Spartan Helot: Definition & Revolt
- The Elysian Fields: Definition & Mythology 5:02
- The Hellenistic Period: Definition & History 5:55
- The Oresteia by Aeschylus: Summary & Themes
- The Peloponnesian War: History, Cause & Result 5:57
- The Sieve of Eratosthenes: Explanation & Overview
- Go to NY Regents - History of Ancient Greece: Help and Review
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