Aeschylus

x Aeschylus - his are the oldest surviving plays - began competing 449 B.C. at Dionysus Theatre. Most of his plays were part of trilogies; the only extant Greek trilogy is //The Orestia.//

He is Believed to have introduced the 2nd actor (Thespis was one, the 2nd added; after 468 B.C. Sophocles is believed to have introduced the 3rd actor, which Aeschylus then used.

http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/ancientgreek.htm#Com
 * Characteristics of Aeschylus's plays: **
 * characters have limited number of traits, but clear and direct
 * emphasizes forces beyond human control
 * evolution of justice, impersonal
 * power of state eventually replacing personal revenge
 * chain of private guilt and punishment - all reconciled at end


 * [|Aeschylus] **

> > (E.D.A. Morshead, transl.) > > (E.D.A. Morshead, transl.) > > (E.D.A. Morshead, transl.) > > (Robert Potter, transl.) > > (E.D.A. Morshead, transl.) > > (E.D.A. Morshead, transl.)
 * //Agamemnon// - 458 B.C.
 * //The Choephori// - 450 B.C.
 * //Eumenides// - 458 B.C.
 * //The Persians// - 472 B.C.
 * //Prometheus Bound// - ca. 430 B.C.
 * //The Seven Against Thebes// - 467 B.C.
 * //The Suppliants// - ca. 463 B.C.