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Aeschylus II: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments
Aeschylus (ca. 525–456 BCE), author of the first tragedies existing in European literature, was an Athenian born at Eleusis. He served at Marathon against Darius in 490, and again during Xerxes' invasion, 480–479. Between 478 and 467 he visited Sicily, there composing by request Women of Aetna. At Athens he competed in production of plays more than twenty times, and was rewarded on at least thirteen occasions, becoming dominant between 500 and 458 through the splendour of his language and his dramatic conceptions and technique. Of his total of 80–90 plays seven survive complete. The Persians (472), the only surviving Greek historical drama, presents the failure of Xerxes to conquer Greece. Seven against Thebes (467) was the second play of its trilogy of related plays on the evil fate of the Theban House. Polyneices tries to regain Thebes from his brother Eteocles; both are killed. In Suppliant Maidens , the first in a trilogy, the daughters of Danaus arrive with him at Argos, whose King and people save them from the wooing of the sons of their uncle Aegyptus. In Prometheus Bound , first or second play of its trilogy about Prometheus, he is nailed to a crag, by order of Zeus, for stealing fire from heaven for men. Defiant after visitors' sympathy and despite advice, he descends in lightning and thunder to Hell. The Oresteia (458), on the House of Atreus, is the only Greek trilogy surviving complete. In Agamemnon , the King returns from Troy, and is murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra. In Libation-Bearers , Orestes with his sister avenges their father Agamemnon's death by counter-murder. In Eumenides , Orestes, harassed by avenging Furies, is arraigned by them at Athens for matricide. Tried by a court set up by Athena, he is absolved, but the Furies are pacified. We publish in Volume I four plays; and in Volume II the Oresteia and some fragments of lost plays.
- GenresLiteratureClassicsDrama
544 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1930
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Aeschylus
1,724 books1,134 followersGreek
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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 27, 2023
The only surviving trilogy of Greek tragedy asks the important questions: Like what do you do if your father kills your virgin sister so that the winds allow his fleet to go fight Troy for ten years, then he comes back and your mother and her new lover kill him while you’re away in exile? Do you get to kill your mother? Will the gods forgive you for it?
Everyone knows that Aeschylus’ epitaph mentions nothing about him being a playwright, his only glory being that he fought the Persians at Marathon; but not everyone knows that Aeschylus also would have been the first actor to play Clytemnestra — the most famous female role (along with Medea) in all of Greek tragedy.
Everyone knows that Aeschylus’ epitaph mentions nothing about him being a playwright, his only glory being that he fought the Persians at Marathon; but not everyone knows that Aeschylus also would have been the first actor to play Clytemnestra — the most famous female role (along with Medea) in all of Greek tragedy.
April 23, 2026
what do you do if:
(1) you killed your mother because
(2) she killed your father because
(3) he killed your sister because
(4) artemis was mad because
(5) he killed her sacred stag
(6) and your grandfather cooked your grand uncle’s children and served them to him because
(7) your grand uncle slept with your grandmother…?
(and we haven’t even talked about your other notable family members which include, iykyk, tantalus and pelops)
as it turns out, aeschylus thinks you should make apollo your lawyer and take your dead mother’s furies (“erinyes”) to court before athena on the hill of ares before a jury and let them decide via a vote.
strange, right? strange that these family affairs which strengthen from strange to stranger are resolved through the courts, an institution that is so commonplace now to the point that this solution seems banal. but that is maybe the point of aeschylus’s oresteia, which i treat as a play of transitions.
I. transitioning from oikos to polis
the cycle of vengeance—bloodguilt heaped upon bloodguilt within this cursed house of atreus—must be broken somehow. the sea change is from domestic revenge (son kills mother, wife kills husband, etc.) to public justice. you don’t get to murder your family member anymore; you must take them to court. a greek hozier might sing: take me to court, i’ll argue like a god at the shrine of your lies, i’ll tell you my sins and you can put in your votes
II. transitioning toward patriarchy
one could also read the trilogy as a story of how everything falls apart when women are in charge. in agamemnon, clytemnestra murders her husband to avenge her daughter and takes over as ruler. in libation bearers, elektra urges orestes to avenge their father (and disappears from the stage once she finishes serving her narrative catalyst function). in eumenides, athena is exempt from blame because she’s a goddess, but she is the ‘hero’ of the story only insofar as she herself declares that she was born to her father without a mother, and thus the child-father bond is legitimate whereas the child-mother bond is not—the patrilineal wins over the matrilineal.
III. transitioning from prophecy to fate
apollo takes responsibility for orestes. orestes had prayed to apollo, and the delphic oracle had told him that he must kill his mother lest he be haunted by his father’s furies. orestes is in an impossible position; either way, he will have no rest. so when he does end up killing his mother, apollo claims that he only did so under his instructions. fate is not just something inescapable. it is inevitable in the sense that orestes makes that choice which he was destined to make—there was no choice to begin with. in every world orestes makes the same choice and confronts the same consequence. as does agamemnon, as does clytemnestra. it’s the eternal recurrence of the same. that is what makes every figure in this story a true greek tragic hero.
(1) you killed your mother because
(2) she killed your father because
(3) he killed your sister because
(4) artemis was mad because
(5) he killed her sacred stag
(6) and your grandfather cooked your grand uncle’s children and served them to him because
(7) your grand uncle slept with your grandmother…?
(and we haven’t even talked about your other notable family members which include, iykyk, tantalus and pelops)
as it turns out, aeschylus thinks you should make apollo your lawyer and take your dead mother’s furies (“erinyes”) to court before athena on the hill of ares before a jury and let them decide via a vote.
strange, right? strange that these family affairs which strengthen from strange to stranger are resolved through the courts, an institution that is so commonplace now to the point that this solution seems banal. but that is maybe the point of aeschylus’s oresteia, which i treat as a play of transitions.
I. transitioning from oikos to polis
the cycle of vengeance—bloodguilt heaped upon bloodguilt within this cursed house of atreus—must be broken somehow. the sea change is from domestic revenge (son kills mother, wife kills husband, etc.) to public justice. you don’t get to murder your family member anymore; you must take them to court. a greek hozier might sing: take me to court, i’ll argue like a god at the shrine of your lies, i’ll tell you my sins and you can put in your votes
II. transitioning toward patriarchy
one could also read the trilogy as a story of how everything falls apart when women are in charge. in agamemnon, clytemnestra murders her husband to avenge her daughter and takes over as ruler. in libation bearers, elektra urges orestes to avenge their father (and disappears from the stage once she finishes serving her narrative catalyst function). in eumenides, athena is exempt from blame because she’s a goddess, but she is the ‘hero’ of the story only insofar as she herself declares that she was born to her father without a mother, and thus the child-father bond is legitimate whereas the child-mother bond is not—the patrilineal wins over the matrilineal.
III. transitioning from prophecy to fate
apollo takes responsibility for orestes. orestes had prayed to apollo, and the delphic oracle had told him that he must kill his mother lest he be haunted by his father’s furies. orestes is in an impossible position; either way, he will have no rest. so when he does end up killing his mother, apollo claims that he only did so under his instructions. fate is not just something inescapable. it is inevitable in the sense that orestes makes that choice which he was destined to make—there was no choice to begin with. in every world orestes makes the same choice and confronts the same consequence. as does agamemnon, as does clytemnestra. it’s the eternal recurrence of the same. that is what makes every figure in this story a true greek tragic hero.
September 19, 2019
It's the Oresteia trilogy - what can I say really?
This is an outstanding collection of tragedies which follow the curse of the House of Atreus. There is a wonderful arc which goes from private revenge to litigation (albeit with some involvement by the gods in true pagan style). Each of the plays serves very well either as a standalone or considered as part of one rich tapestry. Humour also finds its way in, such as in the trial in Eumenides where Athena decides that the gods might have their verdict disputed for being too partial, and so trust is placed in human judges. No doubt you will find yourself rooting for certain characters and hating others - I was a fan of Clytemnestra and have quite the disliking for Orestes but many readers are likely to disagree with me and that's the beauty of the trilogy. Aeschylus also manages an impressive achievement in being able to juggle plots which are so complex that they could easily be seen as convoluted but he is able to make sure they remain relevant and have a powerful immediacy - precisely why they need to have complexity to actually work (and in that sense mirror real life even if the contents are, thankfully, things which most of us will never experience).
I also read this, and am reading the Greek tragedies, with a great episode of Radio 4's 'In Our Time' which includes the famous Mary Beard on the 'Greek Myths'. It nicely sets out the context in which the tragedians worked, as well as talking about the tragedians themselves. If context is something which you find vital to immersion in the plot properly then I'd definitely recommend it as a nice supplement to the text.
This is an outstanding collection of tragedies which follow the curse of the House of Atreus. There is a wonderful arc which goes from private revenge to litigation (albeit with some involvement by the gods in true pagan style). Each of the plays serves very well either as a standalone or considered as part of one rich tapestry. Humour also finds its way in, such as in the trial in Eumenides where Athena decides that the gods might have their verdict disputed for being too partial, and so trust is placed in human judges. No doubt you will find yourself rooting for certain characters and hating others - I was a fan of Clytemnestra and have quite the disliking for Orestes but many readers are likely to disagree with me and that's the beauty of the trilogy. Aeschylus also manages an impressive achievement in being able to juggle plots which are so complex that they could easily be seen as convoluted but he is able to make sure they remain relevant and have a powerful immediacy - precisely why they need to have complexity to actually work (and in that sense mirror real life even if the contents are, thankfully, things which most of us will never experience).
I also read this, and am reading the Greek tragedies, with a great episode of Radio 4's 'In Our Time' which includes the famous Mary Beard on the 'Greek Myths'. It nicely sets out the context in which the tragedians worked, as well as talking about the tragedians themselves. If context is something which you find vital to immersion in the plot properly then I'd definitely recommend it as a nice supplement to the text.
January 28, 2026
Pretty translation, hard to understand.
September 5, 2013
As one would expect from the Loeb library, this is a scholarly translation, so somewhat pompous and stuffy. If you want pace and excitement that reflects the story's content choose a livelier translation, for example that by Tony Harrison.
July 26, 2021
Peculiarly vicious in the picture of violence perpetuating violence, this trilogy reminded me somewhat of the movie Fargo in a weird sort of way. Certainly an interesting read that set the trend for an exploration into virtue, continued throughout western philosophy to the present day.
January 4, 2008
Essential tragedies with an extraordinary translation that maintains the flavor of the ancient tongue. A masterful work from HWS.
March 29, 2009
because of his longing for her who is beyond the sea,
a phantom will seem to rule the house
-Aeschylus, Agamemnon
a phantom will seem to rule the house
-Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Want to Read
March 6, 2016languages
September 3, 2018
One of the great Greek tragedies that I suspect that Shakespeare used as inspiration for his own play writing. Marked by an interesting story with many poignant turns of phrase.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews