Fragments

by Aeschylus, Alan H. Sommerstein (Editor,Translator)

Aeschylus (ca. 525-456 BCE), the dramatist who made Athenian tragedy one of the world's great art forms, witnessed the establishment of democracy at Athens and fought against the Persians at Marathon. He won the tragic prize at the City Dionysia thirteen times between ca. 499 and 458, and in his later years was probably victorious almost every time he put on a production, though Sophocles beat him at least once.

Of his total of about eighty plays, seven survive complete. The third volume of this edition collects all the major fragments of lost Aeschylean plays.

Genres: Classics, Plays

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2008

About the author

Greek Αισχύλος , Esquilo in Spanish, Eschyle in French, Èsquil in Catalan, Eschilo in Italian, Эсхил in Russian.

Aeschylus (c. 525/524 BC – c. 456 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the chorus.
Only seven of Aeschylus's estimated 70 to 90 plays have survived. There is a long-standing debate regarding the authorship of one of them, Prometheus Bound, with some scholars arguing that it may be the work of his son Euphorion. Fragments from other plays have survived in quotations, and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyri. These fragments often give further insights into Aeschylus' work. He was likely the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy. His Oresteia is the only extant ancient example. At least one of his plays was influenced by the Persians' second invasion of Greece (480–479 BC). This work, The Persians, is one of very few classical Greek tragedies concerned with contemporary events, and the only one extant. The significance of the war with Persia was so great to Aeschylus and the Greeks that his epitaph commemorates his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon while making no mention of his success as a playwright.

Reviews

[Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

"For chariot on chariot, corpse upon corpse, horses on horses, were piled in confusion."
"And now his approach is chilling us, like a north wind coming upon sailors unprepared for it."
"And you did not respect the sacred honor of the thigh-bond, ungrateful that you were for those countless kisses!"
"To him who labors, the gods owe glory, which is the offspring of toil."
"But he who himself sang that song, who himself attended that feast, who himself spoke those words, he himself it is who has killed my son."
Aeschylus' remaining fragments are so great, even greater than Homer, Sophocles,and Euripides to some extent. What a shame that most of his plays were lost.

[H.]

Approx. 2am


I honestly only read the fragments from plays that are about or have mentioned Achilles. And those are...


Memnôn: fragments 57-58

Myrmidones: fragments 59-66

Nêreïdes: fragments 72-75

Phryges ê Hektoros Lytra: fragments 146-149




Some fragments worth quoting, in my opinion:


Fragment 62:
“Antilochus, bewail me, the living, rather than him, the dead; for I have lost my all.”
That one hit me hard.


Also, I particularly loved fragment 147:
“But that man was gentler than mulberries are soft.”
King Priam referring to his son, Hector. Oof.