Brendan’s Reviews > The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes > Status Update
Brendan
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‘Persians’ by Aeschylus
Excellent, short play. The Persian court and people reckon with the news of their empire’s defeat by the Greeks. Aeschylus himself fought in the famous Persian Wars. While Greek victory is seen as that of freedom over servitude, there is no triumphalism here: the Persians, too, are victims. The people were deceived by a foolish king, Xerxes, and he himself was victim of hubris.
— Sep 25, 2025 09:57AM
Excellent, short play. The Persian court and people reckon with the news of their empire’s defeat by the Greeks. Aeschylus himself fought in the famous Persian Wars. While Greek victory is seen as that of freedom over servitude, there is no triumphalism here: the Persians, too, are victims. The people were deceived by a foolish king, Xerxes, and he himself was victim of hubris.
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Brendan
is on page 29 of 864
From Aeschylus’ ‘Persians’:
“All those who have known ills will understand / how when a wave of troubles breaks upon us / we tend to look on everything with fear, / but when the gods show favor, we believe / the same fair wind of luck will always blow.”
— Sep 24, 2025 03:07PM
“All those who have known ills will understand / how when a wave of troubles breaks upon us / we tend to look on everything with fear, / but when the gods show favor, we believe / the same fair wind of luck will always blow.”
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Sounds like a good lesson in humanity over politics!
Yes! Aeschylus remains more relevant than ever.
As a side note, this makes a very interesting comparison to Herodotus as another independent account of the Persian Wars!