44 pages • 1 hour read
AeschylusA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
“Of the Persians who have departed
for the land of Greece, we are called the Trusted,
the guardians of the wealthy palace rich in gold,
whom our lord himself, King Xerxes,
son of Darius, chose by seniority
to supervise the country.
But by now the spirit within me,
all too ready to foresee evil, is troubled
about the return of the king. And of his vast army of men;
for all the strength of the Asiatic race
has departed, and in every house
the woman left behind howls for her young husband;
and no messenger, no horseman
has come to the Persian capital.”
At the beginning of the play, the chorus of wise old men describes the state of anxiety that pervades the capital city of Susa. The size of Xerxes’ invading force has depopulated the city of its men, leaving those left behind vulnerable to attack and thus uneasy; adding to the tense atmosphere is the lack of news, which bodes ill for the fate of the Persian king and his men.
“The city-sacking army of the King
has now passed over to the neighbor land on the other
side of the water,
crossing the strait of Helle, daughter of Athamas,
by means of a boat-bridge tied together with flaxen cables
placing a roadway, fastened with many bolts, as a yoke
on the neck of the sea.”
The chorus describes the boat bridge built by Xerxes to cross into Greece. This bridge spanned the Hellespont, the modern day Dardanelles or Strait of Gallipoli. In the play, it is both a symbol of the might of the Persian fleet and an act of hubris that causes their defeat at Salamis.
“But what man can escape
the guileful deception of a god?”
Ancient Greek tragedies are typically set in the world of myth and epic, where mortals must navigate the whims of a pantheon of gods, each with differing motivations and interests. Here, although Aeschylus writes about events that took place in recent history rather a legendary past, he does not deviate from the trope of hubris punished. While Xerxes thought himself a clever military leader, the gods remained on the side of the Greeks—an insurmountable obstacle.
By Aeschylus
Ancient Greece
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Fathers
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