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''The Persians'' ( grc, Πέρσαι, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of
Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...
by the Greek tragedian
Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Gree ...
. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost
trilogy A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
that won the first prize at the dramatic competitions in
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
'
City Dionysia The Dionysia (, , ; Greek: Διονύσια) was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the s ...
festival in 472 BC, with
Pericles Pericles (; grc-gre, Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Pelo ...
serving as ''
choregos In the theatre of ancient Greece, the ''choregos'' (pl. ''choregoi; el, χορηγός, Greek etymology: χορός "chorus" + ἡγεῖσθαι "to lead") was a wealthy Athenian citizen who assumed the public duty, or ''choregiai'', of financ ...
''.


Place in Aeschylus' work

The first play in the trilogy, called ''Phineus'', presumably dealt with
Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He ...
and the
Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo ...
' rescue of King
Phineus In Greek mythology, Phineus (; Ancient Greek: Φινεύς, ) or Phineas, was a king of Salmydessus in Thrace and seer, who appears in accounts of the Argonauts' voyage. Some accounts make him a king in PaphlagoniaScholia on Apollonius of Rhod ...
from the torture that the monstrous
harpies In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, , ; lat, harpȳia) is a half-human and half-bird personification of storm winds. They feature in Homeric poems. Descriptions They were generally depicted as birds with the he ...
inflicted at the behest of Zeus. The subject of the third play, ''Glaucus'', was either a mythical Corinthian king who was devoured by his horses because he angered the goddess
Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...
(see
Glaucus (son of Sisyphus) In Greek and Roman mythology, Glaucus (; Ancient Greek: Γλαῦκος ''Glaukos'' means "greyish blue" or "bluish green" and "glimmering"), usually surnamed as Potnieus, was a son of Sisyphus whose main myth involved his violent death as the ...
) or else a
Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its ...
n farmer who ate a magical herb that transformed him into a sea deity with the gift of prophecy (see Glaucus). In ''The Persians'', Xerxes invites the gods' enmity for his
hubris Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
tic expedition against Greece in 480/79 BC; the focus of the drama is the defeat of Xerxes' navy at Salamis. Given Aeschylus' propensity for writing connected trilogies, the theme of divine retribution may connect the three. Aeschylus himself had fought the
Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...
at
Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
(490 BC). He may even have fought at Salamis, just eight years before the play was performed. The
satyr play The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is stro ...
following the trilogy was ''Prometheus Pyrkaeus'', translated as either ''Prometheus the Fire-lighter'' or ''Prometheus the Fire-kindler'', which comically portrayed the titan's theft of fire. Several fragments of ''Prometheus Pyrkaeus'' are extant, and according to
Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
, one of those fragments was a statement by
Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...
warning a
satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, ex ...
who wanted to kiss and embrace the fire that he would "mourn for his beard" if he did. Another fragment from ''Prometheus Pyrkaeus'' was translated by
Herbert Weir Smyth Herbert Weir Smyth (August 8, 1857 – July 16, 1937) was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of Ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to that of William Watson Goodwin, whom he ...
as "And do thou guard thee well lest a blast strike thy face; for it is sharp, and deadly-scorching its hot breaths.


Summary

''The Persians'' takes place in
Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
, which at the time was one of the capitals of the
Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...
, and opens with a
chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
of old men of Susa, who are soon joined by the Queen Mother,
Atossa Atossa (Old Persian: ''Utauθa'', or Old Iranian: ''Hutauθa''; 550–475 BC) was an Achaemenid empress. She was a daughter of Cyrus the Great, and a wife of Darius I. Name The name "Atossa" (or "Atusa") means "bestowing very richly" or "well ...
, as they await news of her son King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks. Expressing her anxiety and unease, Atossa narrates "what is probably the first
dream sequence A dream sequence is a technique used in storytelling, particularly in television and film, to set apart a brief interlude from the main story. The interlude may consist of a flashback, a flashforward, a fantasy, a vision, a dream, or some other ...
in European theatre." This is an unusual beginning for a tragedy by Aeschylus; normally the chorus would not appear until slightly later, after a speech by a minor character. An exhausted messenger arrives, who offers a graphic description of the
Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...
and its gory outcome. He tells of the Persian defeat, the names of the Persian generals who have been killed, and that Xerxes had escaped and is returning. The climax of the messenger's speech is his rendition of the battle cry of the Greeks as they charged: In the original, this reads: 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" they say. On learning of the Persian defeat, Darius condemns the
hubris Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
behind his son's decision to invade Greece. He particularly rebukes an impious Xerxes’ decision to build a bridge over the
Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...
to expedite the Persian army's advance. Before departing, the ghost of Darius prophesies another Persian defeat at the
Battle of Plataea The Battle of Plataea was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, ...
(479 BC): "Where the plain grows lush and green,/Where
Asopus Asopus (; grc, Ἀ̄σωπός ''Āsōpos'') is the name of four different rivers in Greece and one in Turkey. In Greek mythology, it was also the name of the gods of those rivers. Zeus carried off Aegina, Asopus' daughter, and Sisyphus, who h ...
' stream plumps rich Boeotia's soil,/The mother of disasters awaits them there,/Reward for insolence, for scorning God." Xerxes finally arrives, dressed in torn robes ("grief swarms," the Queen says just before his arrival, "but worst of all it stings / to hear how my son, my prince, / wears tatters, rags" (845–849)) and reeling from his crushing defeat. The rest of the drama (908–1076) consists of the king alone with the chorus engaged in a
lyrical Lyrical may refer to: *Lyrics, or words in songs *Lyrical dance, a style of dancing *Emotional, expressing strong feelings *Lyric poetry, poetry that expresses a subjective, personal point of view *Lyric video A music video is a video of variab ...
'' kommós'' that laments the enormity of Persia's defeat.


Discussion

Aeschylus was not the first to write a play about the Persians — his older contemporary Phrynichus wrote two plays about them. The first, ''The Sack of Miletus'' (written in 493 BC, 21 years before Aeschylus' play), concerned the destruction of an Ionian colony of Athens in
Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
by the Persians. For his portrayal of this brutal defeat, which emphasized Athens' abandonment of its colony, Phrynichus was fined and a law passed forbidding subsequent performances of his play. The second, ''Phoenician Women'' (written in 476 BC, four years before Aeschylus' version), treated the same historical event as Aeschylus' ''Persians''. Neither of Phrynichus' plays have survived. Interpretations of ''Persians'' either read the play as sympathetic toward the defeated Persians or else as a celebration of Greek victory within the context of an ongoing war. The sympathetic school has the considerable weight of Aristotelian criticism behind it; indeed, every other extant Greek tragedy arguably invites an audience's sympathy for one or more characters on stage. The celebratory school argues that the play is part of a
xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
culture that would find it difficult to sympathize with its hated barbarian enemy during a time of war. During the play, Xerxes calls his pains "a joy to my enemies" (line 1034).


Subsequent production history

According to a
scholium Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...
at
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his ...
' ''
Frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...
'' 1028, Hiero of
Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...
at some point invited Aeschylus to reproduce ''The Persians'' in
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
. Seventy years after the play was produced, the comic playwright
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his ...
mentions an apparent Athenian reproduction of ''The Persians'' in his ''
Frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...
'' (405 BC). In it, he has Aeschylus describe ''The Persians'' as "an effective
sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. ...
on the will to win. Best thing I ever wrote"; while
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...
says that he "loved that bit where they sang about the days of the great Darius, and the chorus went like this with their hands and cried 'Wah! Wah!'" (1026–28). ''The Persians'' was popular in the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
and
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, who also fought wars with the Persians, and its popularity has endured in modern Greece. According to Anthony Podlecki, during a production at Athens in 1965 the audience "rose to its feet en masse and interrupted the actors' dialogue with cheers." The American
Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), whe ...
directed an important production of ''The Persians'' at the
Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh F ...
and Los Angeles Festival in 1993, which articulated the play as a response to the
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
of 1990–1991. The production was in a new translation by
Robert Auletta The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
. It opened at the
Royal Lyceum Theatre The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by a ...
on 16 August 1993.From the programme to the Edinburgh Festival production.
Hamza El Din Hamza El Din (Arabic حمزة علاء الدين) (July 10, 1929 – May 22, 2006) was an Egyptian Nubian composer, oud player, tar player, and vocalist. He was born in southern Egypt and was an internationally known musician of his native regi ...
composed and performed its music, with additional music by Ben Halley Jr. and sound design by
Bruce Odland Michael Bruce Odland, known as Bruce Odland, (born 1952 in Milwaukee) is a composer, sound artist and sonic thinker. He is known for large-scale sound installations in public spaces, creating unique instruments that reveal music inherent in natur ...
and Sam Auinger. Dunya Ramicova designed the costumes and
James F. Ingalls James F. Ingalls is a lighting designer who has worked extensively on Broadway, in London and at many regional theaters including Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Opera, Playwrights Horizons, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and Steppenwolf. His ...
the lighting. Cordelia Gonzalez played Atossa,
Howie Seago Howie Seago (born December 15, 1953) is an American actor and director. Early life, family and education Seago, who is deaf, was born in Tacoma, Washington. His father was hard of hearing, and that side of the family had a history of hearing loss ...
the Ghost of Darius, and John Ortiz played Xerxes. The Chorus was performed by Ben Halley Jr,
Joseph Haj Joseph Haj is an American artistic director and actor who is the eighth artistic director of the Guthrie Theater. Before joining Guthrie, he worked at PlayMakers Repertory Company. Haj has performed as an actor and was named by '' American The ...
, and Martinus Miroto. Ellen McLaughlin translated ''Persians'' in 2003 for
Tony Randall Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play '' The Odd Couple'' by Neil Si ...
's
National Actors Theatre The National Actors Theatre (NAT) was a theatre company founded in 1991 by Tony Randall, whose dream it was to create such an organization. He was chairman until his death in 2004, when the theatre also subsequently closed down. At first the company ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
as a response to George Bush's
invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
. The production starred Len Cariou as Darius and Michael Stuhlbarg as Xerxes. A 2010 translation by Aaron Poochigian included for the first time the detailed notes for choral odes that Aeschylus himself created, which directed lines to be spoken by specific parts of the chorus (strophe and antistrophe). Using Poochigian's edition, which includes theatrical notes and stage directions, "Persians" was presented in a staged read-through as part of New York's WorkShop Theater Company's Spring 2011 one-act festival "They That Have Borne the Battle." Also in 2010, Kaite O'Reilly's award-winning translation was produced on
Sennybridge Training Area The Sennybridge Training Area (SENTA) is a UK Ministry of Defence military training area near the village of Sennybridge in Powys, Wales. It consists of approximately 31,000 acres (12,000 ha) of Ministry of Defence freehold land and 6,000 ac ...
(a military range in the Brecon Beacons) by
National Theatre Wales National Theatre Wales (NTW) is a theatre company known for its large-scale site-specific productions and its grassroots work with diverse Welsh communities. It is the English-language national theatre of Wales, and refers to Theatr Genedlaeth ...
. Audiences valued the way this production required them to shift their attention between the spectacular landscape surrounding them, the particular history of the area, and the modern adaptation of the ancient Greek text performed onstage. The work went on to win O'Reilly the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, presented by the
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
,
Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...
. Οn the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the
Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...
, on July 25, 2020, ''Persians'' was the first Ancient Greek tragedy that was played at its natural environment, i.e. the open-air theatre of Epidaurus, and was live streamed internationally via
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. The play was a production of the Hellenic National Theatre and was directed by Dimitrios Lignadis as part of the Epidaurus Festival. Actors delivered the play in Ancient and Modern
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, while English subtitles were projected on YouTube. The play is currently in production as one of a double bill in the 2022
Cambridge Greek Play The Cambridge Greek Play is a play performed in Ancient Greek by students and alumni of the University of Cambridge, England. The event is held once every three years and is a tradition which started in 1882 with the ''Ajax'' of Sophocles. The ...
.


Influence

Aeschylus' drama was a model for
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achi ...
's 1821 '' Hellas: A Lyrical Drama'', his final published poetical work before his death in 1822. T. S. Eliot, in ''
The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of Modernist poetry in English, modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the ...
'', "The Burial of the Dead", line 63 "''I had not thought Death had undone so many''" echoes line 432 of the Messenger account in the Persians: "''However, you can be sure that so great a multitude of men never perished in a single day''", which is also similar to
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...
's line in '' Inferno'', Canto III, lines 56–57: ''ch'i' non averei creduto/Che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta''. In modern literature, Dimitris Lyacos in his dystopian epic '' Z213: Exit'' uses quotations from the Messenger's account in ''The Persians'' (''δίψῃ πονοῦντες, οἱ δ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἄσθματος κενοὶ: some, faint from thirst, while some of us, exhausted and panting'') in order to convey the failure of a military operation and the subsequent retreat of the troops in a post-apocalyptic setting. The excerpts from ''The Persians'' enter a context of fragmentation whereby broken syntax is evocative of a landscape in the aftermath of war.


Translations into English

* Robert Potter, 1777 – verse
full text
* Anna Swanwick, 1886 - verse
full text
*
E. D. A. Morshead Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead (1849 – 24 October 1912) was an English classicist and teacher. Biography He was the son of John Philip Anderson Morshead, educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford; and later returned to teach cla ...
, 1908 – verse *
Walter George Headlam Walter George Headlam (15 February 1866 – 20 June 1908) was a British classical scholar and poet, perhaps best remembered for his work on the ''Mimes'' of Herodas. He was described as "one of the leading Greek scholars of his time." Early y ...
and C. E. S. Headlam, 1909 – prose *
Herbert Weir Smyth Herbert Weir Smyth (August 8, 1857 – July 16, 1937) was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of Ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to that of William Watson Goodwin, whom he ...
, 1922 – prose
full text
*G. M. Cookson, 1922 – verse *
Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...
, 1939 - verse * Seth G. Benardete, 1956 – verse *
Philip Vellacott Philip Humphrey Vellacott (16 January 1907 – 24 August 1997) was an English classical scholar, known for his numerous translations of Greek tragedy. He was born at Grays, Essex and educated at St Paul's School, London and Magdalene College, C ...
, 1961 – verse *
Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...
, 1971 – incorporated into ''
Orghast ''Orghast'' was an experimental play based on the myth of Prometheus, written by Peter Brook and Ted Hughes, and performed in 1971 at the Festival of Arts of Shiraz-Persepolis, which was held annually from 1967 to 1977. It was performed in two p ...
'' *
Janet Lembke Janet Lembke (2 March 1933 – 3 September 2013), ''née'' Janet Nutt, was an American author, essayist, naturalist, translator and scholar. Life and work Lembke was born in Cleveland, Ohio during the Great Depression, graduated in 1953 from Midd ...
and C.J. Herington, 1981 *
Frederic Raphael Frederic Michael Raphael (born 14 August 1931) is an American-British BAFTA and Academy Award winning screenwriter, biographer, nonfiction writer, novelist and journalist. Early life Raphael was born in Chicago, to an American Jewish mother f ...
and
Kenneth McLeish John Kenneth Tyrrell McLeish, known as Kenneth McLeish (1940-1997) was a British writer, playwright and translator. McLeish, "the most widely respected and prolific translator of drama in Britain", translated all the surviving classical Greek pla ...
, 1991 * Edith Hall, 1996 * Ellen McLaughlin, 2004 – verse *George Theodoridis, 2009 – prose
full text
*Aaron Poochigian, 2010, verse *
Ian C. Johnston Ian C. Johnston (born September 27, 1938) is a Canadian author and translator, a retired university-college instructor and a professor emeritus at Vancouver Island University. Early life and education Johnston was born in Valparaíso, Chile, to ...
, 2012, verse
full text
*James Romm, 2016 — verse


Notes


References

*Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Cambridge: Cambridge UP. . *Barrett, David, trans. 1964. ''The Frogs''. By Aristophanes. In ''The Wasps / The Poet and the Women / The Frogs''. London: Penguin, 1986. 147–212. . *Broadhead, H. D. 2009. ''The'' Persae ''of Aeschylus''. Cambridge. *Favorini, Attilio. 2003. "History, Collective Memory, and Aeschylus' ''Persians.''" ''Theatre Journal'' 55:1 (March): 99–111. *Garvie, A. F. 2009 Aeschylus ''Persae''. Oxford. * Hall, Edith. 1991. ''Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-definition through Tragedy''. Oxford Classical Monographs ser. Oxford: Clarendon. . *Hall, Edith. 1996. ''Aeschylus ''Persians'': Text and Commentary''. Warminster: Aris & Phillips. . *Harrison, Thomas. 2000. ''The Emptiness of Asia: Aeschylus' ''Persians'' and the History of the Fifth Century''. London: Gerald Duckworth. . *Lesky, Albin ''et al.'' 1996. ''A History of Greek Literature''. Hackett. . *McLaughlin, Ellen. 2005. ''The Greek Plays''. New York: Theatre Communications Group. . *Muller, K. O. 1858. ''History of the Literature of Ancient Greece: To the Period of Isocrates''. Trans. George C. Lewis. Longmans, Green & Co. *Munn, Mark H. 2000. ''The School of History: Athens in the Age of Socrates''. Berkeley: U of California P. . *Podlecki, A. J. 1986. "''Polis'' and Monarchy in Early Greek Tragedy." In ''Greek Tragedy and Political Theory''. Ed. Peter Euben. New ed. Berkeley: U of California P, 1992. . * Raphael, Frederic, and
Kenneth McLeish John Kenneth Tyrrell McLeish, known as Kenneth McLeish (1940-1997) was a British writer, playwright and translator. McLeish, "the most widely respected and prolific translator of drama in Britain", translated all the surviving classical Greek pla ...
, trans. 1991. ''Plays: One''. By Aeschylus. Ed. J. Michael Walton. Methuen Classical Greek Dramatists series, London: Methuen, 1998. . *Segal, Charles. ''Euripides and the Poetics of Sorrow: Art, Gender and Commemoration in ''Alcestis'', ''Hippolytus'' and ''Hecuba''.'' Durham: Duke UP. . *Taxidou, Olga. 2004. ''Tragedy, Modernity and Mourning''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP. .


External links

* *
See original Greek versionSee the Smyth (1926) translation
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Persians, The Plays by Aeschylus Plays based on real people Battle of Salamis Plays set in ancient Greece Plays set in ancient Persia Cultural depictions of Darius the Great Cultural depictions of Xerxes I Plays set in the 5th century BC