Aeschylus：The Father of Greek Tragedy

Aeschylus was the first known dramatist to use more than one character in his plays, and he therefore invented the concept of dialogue between characters. Before Aeschylus, plays consisted of one protagonist and were narrated by the chorus.

Some plays had a chorus of only one actor, while others used a large group. Aeschylus' plays also feature a chorus, but the majority of the stories are told through dialogue. Many typical dramatic concepts, such as props, scenery, and costumes, also originated in Aeschylus' works. He also invented the dramatic trilogy. His tragedies were performed in sequences of three plays stretched out over time. After each trilogy was concluded, he staged a comedy called a "satyr drama".

In a typical satyr drama, the characters are mythological creatures and the chorus is a satyr, a mischievous creature that is half-man, half-goat. The language and meter used by Aeschylus in his plays was the forerunner of blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Blank verse became the dominant poetic and dramatic style of the English literary renaissance, which occurred nearly 2 100 years after Aeschylus. Writers such as William Shakespeare, John Milton and Christopher Marlowe almost exclusively used blank verse in their famous works. Alexandrine, another writing style, is also derived from Aeschylus' verse.

Dramatic themes such as revenge, deceit, jealousy, suffering, guilt, and forgiveness are central to Aeschylus' work. Many of his plays include instances in which the gods punish mankind for attempting to be godlike. These themes were popularized in Aeschylus' tragedies, and have been common ever since.

His seven known plays are divided into one complete trilogy and four additional works. "The Suppliant Women" is the only surviving part of the lost Danaüs trilogy. "The Persians" (472 B.C.) is his next known work, and concerns the wars between Greece and Persia. "The Seven Against Thebes" (467 B.C.) is the last part of his lost trilogy dealing with the life of Oedipus. Aeschylus traveled to Sicily several times during his life, and on his last voyage he did not return.

He died at Gela, Sicily, in 456 B.C. A monument commemorating the "father of Greek tragedy" was erected at the site of his death.