The Persians

Written and first performed in 472 BC, the ancient Greek tragedy The Persians by Aeschylus is the oldest extant example of the genre. Known as the father of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus was also a veteran of the Greco-Persian wars, on which The Persians is based. Because it depicts recent events, The Persians stands out from other plays of the genre, which for the most part focus on the distant past or mythological heroes. The approach was a risky one: Earlier tragedian Phrynichus wrote a play about an Athenian defeat in a battle against the Persian Empire and was subsequently punished. This may be why Aeschylus is careful to depict only the might and glory of Greece and a thoroughly defeated Persia—the only conditions under which it would have been acceptable to portray sympathy for their despondent adversaries.

Aeschylus's play participates in the glorification of Athenian and Greek culture that came to define the Dionysia festival. During Athens’s Golden Age, in the mid-5th century BC, Greek tragedies were written in trilogies that were performed alongside a comedy at the annual Dionysia festival. The Persians is the only surviving entry in its trilogy of plays, which won first prize at the festival that year.