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Aeschylus (525 BC - 455 BC / Eleusis)
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The "Father of Tragedy," Aeschylus was born in 525 B.C. in the city of Eleusis. Immersed early in the mystic rites of the city and in the worship of the Mother and Earth goddess Demeter, he was once sent as a child to watch grapes ripening in the countryside. According to Aeschylus, when he dozed off, Dionysus appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to write tragedies. The obedient young Aeschylus began a tragedy the next morning and "succeeded very easily."
When Aeschylus first began writing, the theatre had only just begun to evolve. Plays were little more than animated oratorios or choral poetry supplemented with expressive dance. A chorus danced and exchanged dialogue with ... more »
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Quotations
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''Like a bad doctor who has fallen down sick you are cast down, and cannot find what sort of drugs would cure your ailment.''
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), Greek tragedian. Prometheus Bound, l. 473.
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''Know yourself and fit yourself to new fashions. For there is a new ruler among the gods.''
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), Greek tragedian. Prometheus Bound, l. 309.
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''Champing against the bit as a new-yoked colt, you struggle and fight against the reins.''
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), Greek tragedian. Prometheus Bound, l. 1009.
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''A dreamlike feebleness by which the blind race of man is hampered.''
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), Greek tragedian. Prometheus Bound, l. 548.
Comments about Aeschylus
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The poem, In our sleep, pain which cannot forget etc, was read by Bobby Kennedy in 1968 on the night that Martin Luther King was shot and killed. Bobby spoke these words during an off the cuff talk giving to a mostly black crowd with the hope of easing their pain and to stop any blood- shed. And it worked it was not spoken by John Kennedy.