Who is Aeschylus in the ancient. Biography of Aeschylus

Aeschylus (525–456 BC)

- the famous ancient Greek playwright, recognized as the father of all European tragedy. Aeschylus spent most of his biography in Athens.

Ancient Greek tragedy originates from festivals in honor of Dionysus, during which choirs of goat-footed (“tragos” - goat) companions of this god of wine performed songs and something like stage actions in his honor. In accordance with the subject of the cult of Dionysus, these ancient chants (dithyrambs) were of a violently frenzied nature, reaching the point of genuine drama or unbridled playfulness. These two elements gave rise to Hellenic tragedy and comedy. In the second half of the 6th century BC, the predecessor of Aeschylus, the poet Thespis, improved the dithyramb by introducing an actor separate from the choir. During the course of the play, the actor conducted a dialogue with the choir - this made it possible to dramatic action richer.

From brief information about the biography of Aeschylus, it is known that he personally participated in the Greco-Persian Wars, fought in the Battles of Marathon, Salamis and Plataea. Direct impressions of the amazing events of those years enhanced the drama of his plays. There are 82 known titles of tragedies written by Aeschylus, but only 7 of them have reached us: “Persians”, “Petitioners”, “Seven against Thebes”, “Prometheus Bound”, “Agamemnon”, “Choephori” and “Eumenides”. Only the last three make up a complete trilogy.

However, both in “Seven against Thebes” and in “Prometheus” the action outside the main characters almost absent. It appears with great vividness in the later tragedies of Aeschylus - “Agamemnon”, “Choephors” and “Eumenides” (united in the trilogy “Oresteia”). These are the most perfect works of Aeschylus known to us. The role of the chorus here is diminished even more, the images of the heroes acquire even more personality traits, and the action becomes tense and exciting.

Aeschylus- ancient Greek playwright, father of European tragedy.

Basic information

His native land was the Attic city of Eleusis, famous for its ancient sacraments, established, according to legend, by the goddess Demeter herself. In these sacraments, under the transparent symbol of the rebirth of grain immersed in the ground, profound ideas were held about the upcoming resurrection of a person buried in the ground, about his afterlife, about rewards for the good and punishment for the evil. They gave direction to the mind of young Aeschylus, forcing him to think about the meaning of life, the relationship of the human will to deity and fate, to the causes and conditions of moral decline and moral justification.

A successful fool is a great disaster.

Aeschylus’s dependence on the cult of the Eleusinian Demeter did not escape his contemporaries: Aristophanes in his “Frogs” (under this title hides a dramatized competition between Aeschylus and Euripides, ending in the victory of the former) puts into his mouth the following prayer: “Demeter, who raised my soul, give me to prove worthy of your sacraments.” But if the direction of Aeschylus’ creativity was determined by his birth in Eleusis, then he owed his arena to Athens; thanks to them, he became not a singer of liturgical hymns and cantatas, but a tragic poet.

In Athens, for a long time, there was a cult of Dionysus, the god not so much of wine, but of that special “Bacchanalian” ecstasy, which the Greeks first became acquainted with through wine and which struck their impressionable and thoughtful mind as the second (after sleep) and even more obvious proof of isolation human soul and her ability to perform, to “frenzy” (Greek ek-stasis) from the framework of individual, bodily life. That is why, since ancient times, at the festivals of Dionysus, ecstatic poems, the so-called dithyrambs, poems of visions and elevated feelings, have been performed; their technical feature was the independent role of the luminary, who * inserted passages of an epic character and size into the lyrical song of the choir, so that the lyrics alternated with the epic, affects with visions, while due to the general ecstatic mood, all performers felt their souls transferred to others bodies both spoke and acted like the heroes of those visions that occupied their imagination at that moment. This is the germ of tragedy; its development before Aeschylus consisted of:

The blood that lives in memories glues centuries together.

in the introduction of an actor separate from the choir, who appeared first in one role or another and entered into a conversation with the luminary, as a result of which a dramatic dialogue could arise, along with the epic parts of the luminary in the original dithyramb (its introduction was attributed to Thespis, a poet of the era of Peisistratus, whom that’s why they were considered the founder of tragedy), and
in joining this primitive, purely Attic drama introduced from the Peloponnese with the so-called “satirical drama”; it was the same dithyramb, in which, however, the chorus consisted of goat-like forest demons, the so-called satyrs, and the actor acted as their father, the nurse of the baby Dionysus, Silenus. It was thus a real “song of the goats,” tragôdia (from tragos “goat” and ôdê “song”); only over time the word tragedy (lat. , tragedy) was transferred from this satirical drama to a serious tragedy performed on the same stage.

Youth

The era of Aeschylus's youth was a time of fierce struggle between this Peloponnesian tragedy and the primordial Attic dithyramb: the head of the Attic direction was Aeschylus's immediate predecessor, the Athenian Phrynichus, the head of the Peloponnesian was Pratinus from Phlius in the Peloponnese. Aeschylus was still a youth when an event occurred that should, as it seemed, give an advantage to the Peloponnesian direction, but which led, quite unexpectedly, to the triumph of the Attic one. This event was the expulsion of the Pisistratids in 510 BC. e. It took place under the pressure of Delphi and thanks to the intervention of Sparta, but the victors took too much advantage of the fruits of their victory and thereby caused a reaction, which resulted in the expulsion of the Spartans from Athens and the reforms of Cleisthenes. In connection with these reforms there was, undoubtedly, the one that took place in 508 BC. e. replacement of traveling choirs at the festivals of Dionysus with choirs of citizens (see Chorus). Around the same time, Aeschylus’s poetic activity began: according to his biographers, he began to write tragedies in his youth.

The first youthful period of his work lasted until 484, when he won his first victory; the tragedies of this period have not survived; Apparently, this was the time when Aeschylus slowly developed his own tragic style. Three points deserve attention in this regard:

The voice of the people is dangerous when the truth is behind it.

the introduction of a second actor in addition to the first one, which was introduced by Thespis. It does not follow from this that Aeschylus was the inventor of tragic dialogue (possible with one actor, since his interlocutor could be a luminary), but there is no doubt that this innovation should have contributed to the development of the action, since only it made it possible to bring two characters onto the stage simultaneously from the presented plot. However, this development took place very slowly: in the earliest surviving tragedies of Aeschylus, belonging to the next period, the role of the second actor is quite insignificant and whole line scenes can be played with the participation of one;
reconciliation of the Attic element with the Peloponnesian (Doric). The dramatic forms that were at war with each other - the serious Attic drama and the playful Peloponnesian satiricon - were both adopted by Aeschylus into the tragic tetralogy he introduced, which included three serious dramas (trilogy) and one satirical one, in the form of a conclusion; the special name of this latter, tragôdia (see above), was also extended to the former, and then remained with them. Sometimes the entire tetralogy was united by the unity of the plot; Thus, the Theban tetralogy included three tragedies, “Laius”, “Oedipus” and “Seven Leaders”, which depicted in three successive stages the origin and flowering of the tragic guilt that destroyed the Theban Labdacid dynasty, and as a final satirical drama the poet added a play entitled "Sphinx", the content of which was the deliverance of Thebes by Oedipus from the monster that was rampaging there. Sometimes only a specially tragic trilogy was united by the unity of the plot, while the satirical drama stood apart. Sometimes, finally, a trilogy consists of three tragedies that are separate in content; This is the trilogy to which the “Persians” that have survived to us belonged: “Phinaeus”, “Persians” and “Glaucus of Potnia” (the middle one is historical, both extremes are mythological content). In these latter cases, critics assumed an ideological unity different from the material one, but it is especially difficult to prove this assumption in view of the fact that the matter concerns trilogies, from which to us in best case scenario One piece arrived. Aeschylus's trilogical composition was very important step forward in the development of tragedy as a drama: she gave the poet the space he needed to trace the growth and completion of the tragic idea, and thereby prepared the concentrated tragedy-drama of Sophocles, the laws of which in all important things are the laws of our tragedy. The reconciliation of the Attic and Doric elements did not consist only in tetralogical composition. The dispute between both was largely musical; Phrynichus was an adherent of free and imitative Ionian music - Aeschylus also introduced the strict harmonies of Doric lyric poetry into his tragedy. Without possessing the music of Aeschylus (who was the creator of not only the specifically poetic, but also the musical and orchestic part of his tragedies), we cannot appreciate in its entirety the significance of this innovation; one can judge it only by the size of the choir songs, and even then more or less guesswork.
The third innovation was the introduction of “Homer” into the tragedy, that is, everything ancient heroic epic, whose creator in the era of Aeschylus was considered Homer. In this epic, the ancient tales of the Hellenes received their first poetic decoration. The second most recent decoration was given to them by the lyric poetry of the 6th century. before. n. BC: having Delphi as its center, it naturally modified ancient myths, adapting them to the spirit of not only Delphic ethics, but also Delphic politics. Pisistratus, the first proponent of the idea of Athenian hegemony, rebelled against this tendentious character of Delphic poetry: in the absence of his own, Athenian poetry, he opposed Homer to Delphi, the study of which he cared a lot about in Athens. Aeschylus was a continuator of the ideas of Pisistratus: by infusing the Homeric epic into his tragedy and modifying its myths in the spirit of Athenian citizenship, he emancipated his homeland from the spiritual influence of Delphi. And that he consciously chose the Homeric epic as the source of his poetry is evidenced by his famous saying, in which he modestly calls his tragedies “dishes from Homer’s table.” These fundamental innovations should have taken place even in the first, preparatory period of Aeschylus’s poetic activity. This was a very turbulent period for Athens; To the internal turmoil associated with the reorganization of the Athenian community by Cleisthenes, there was added the danger of war with Darius. The suppression of the Ionian uprising was a harbinger of the invasion of Athens by the Persian army; it took place, after much preparation, in 490 BC. e., but was successfully repulsed by the Athenians near Marathon. Aeschylus was then in his prime; he himself was among the “marathon fighters,” and the memory of his participation in this glorious battle was his pride throughout his life; he is mentioned in a funeral epigram composed (by tradition) by himself, which is completely silent about his poetic meaning.

Second period of creativity

Begins in 484 new period Aeschylus' creativity: we see him as the king of the Attic stage, on which he finds no equal. This period lasts until approximately 470 BC. e.; Two tragedies have come down to us from it - “The Persians” and “The Petitioners”. The first has content historical event- the defeat of the Persians at Salamis and the disastrous retreat of their troops to Asia; second - mythological story, the arrival of Danaus and her daughters in Argos and the protection given to them by the Argives against them cousins, sons of Egypt, brother of Danaus. The composition of these tragedies - our earliest examples of tragic poetry - is striking in its severity and simplicity. There is no prologue; the action begins with the entry of the chorus (consisting in the first tragedy of elderly members of the royal council, in the second - of the daughters of Danaus), who first speaks in an anapestic monologue about the purpose of his appearance, then, in lyrical song, gives in to anxious feelings about expected events. There are few characters: in the first tragedy - Queen Atossa, a messenger from the Persian army, the shadow of the late Darius, and in conclusion Xerxes himself; in the second - Danaus, the Argive king Pelasgus and the envoy of the sons of Egypt. They appear on stage one at a time, rarely two; their conversations ( for the most part with a choir) consist of rather long speeches, followed by also long, so-called stichomythia, in which the interlocutors alternate, pronouncing one verse at a time: neither a violation of this order nor, in general, the beginning or end of a speech in the middle of a verse is allowed. The action is very poorly developed: in “The Persians” only mystical rituals can be called this way, through which Queen Atossa summons the shadow of her deceased husband from the underworld, in “The Petitioners” - comparatively lively scene, in which a messenger from the sons of Egypt tries to force the Danaids to follow him. There are no individual characteristics yet. Atossa is just a queen-mother, Danaus is just an exiled father, Darius and Pelasgus are kings. Interest is attracted especially by choral singing, which occupies first place both in content and in decoration; especially good in “Persians” - a funeral song for fallen soldiers, in “The Petitioners” - a song of gratitude to the Danaids for the hospitality shown to them, both filled with high humanity and nobility. Both plays were parts of trilogies, but only “The Petitioners” were united with the following plays by the unity of the plot. They told how the Egyptiads went to war against Argos, how after the death of Pelasgus Danaus was elected king and, putting royal feelings above fatherly feelings, agreed to give his daughters to the hated Egyptiads, but ordered them to wedding night kill their spouses (2nd play, “Builders of Chambers”). All the daughters carried out their father’s orders, except one, Hypermnestra; Danae presides over the trial of the disobedient woman, but she is acquitted after Aphrodite herself, defending the accused, in a lengthy speech (which has been preserved) declared the sanctity of the rights of love (third play, “Danaides”).

In the poet's life, this period was no less stormy than the previous one. Suffice it to say that it was foreign policy Athens was the period of the Salamis and Plataea battles (E. took part in both) and the founding of the Attic power, and in the interior - the period of the rise of the Areopagus, who led Athenian politics during the alarming time of enemy invasion. E. was noble birth; it is more than probable that he himself was a member of this aristocratic college; it is clear that the then policy of Athens enjoyed his full sympathy. At the same time, his fame as a poet began to spread everywhere; it also penetrated into the western center Greek world, Syracuse, which shortly before and at the same time as Athens just as heroically withstood the attack of a much more powerful enemy - the Carthaginians. Their wise and active king Hiero in 476 BC. e. founded a city with the same name as the mountain at the foot of Etna and invited Aeschylus to take part in the festival given for this occasion; for him E. wrote a (now lost) tragedy entitled “The Ethnean Women.” After 472 BC e. E. was in Syracuse for the second time to stage his “Persians” there: the worries of the Carthaginian invasion made this play quite understandable and appropriate there.

The final period of creativity

I think the dead don't care whether they sleep or whether they rise again.

The second journey to Sicily completes the second period of Aeschylus' activity; upon his return to Athens, he found him already a mature and independent man, in whom until then he had only seen his student - Sophocles. In 468 BC. e. both poets performed simultaneously on the Athens stage. Sophocles, who was 30 years younger than his teacher and rival, staged his Triptolemus, Aeschylus staged a trilogy unknown to us. The tragedy of Sophocles delighted the audience; nevertheless, the judges for a long time did not dare to vote against the panhellenic glory of Aeschylus. The archon who led the performance suggested that the then famous commander Cimon and his comrades resolve the dispute; the victory was awarded to Sophocles. Since then, both of them have jointly owned the Athens stage; that their relationship with each other has not deteriorated is clear from some hints in the already mentioned “Frogs” of Aristophanes. The success of Triptolemus was partly a consequence of Sophocles increasing the number of his actors to three; it is clear how much the liveliness of dialogue and action should have benefited from this. Aeschylus hastened to take advantage of this idea of his young rival; in 467 BC e. he staged his Theban trilogy, of which only the last tragedy, “Seven Leaders,” has survived, with the participation of three actors. But in another respect, this trilogy - more precisely, a tragedy, since only we can judge about it - was a progress in comparison with the tragedies of the second period: for the first time, instead of a typical characteristic, we encounter an individual one, and, moreover, a very bold and powerful one. The hero of the tragedy is Eteocles, one of the two rejected sons of Oedipus. He expelled his brother Polyneices from Thebes; he has recruited an army and allies (these are seven leaders) and with their help wants to forcibly conquer his homeland. The father's curse begins to come true. Eteocles is aware of this; but he is too brave and proud to retreat. Being generally an active and intelligent king, he gloomily rejects the help of the gods, to whom the frightened wives and daughters of his subjects turn; Instead of taking precautions, he boldly causes fate, before which the rest tremble, personally opposes his brother and dies in a duel with him. The Athenians liked E.’s majestic plan; he was awarded the victory. There has also been progress in technology: the tragedy begins with a prologue preceding the entry of the chorus, the parts of the latter have been significantly reduced and, due to them, the volume of dialogue has been increased.

Around the same time, the tetralogy “Prometheus” was apparently staged, of which only the second (according to Westphal, the first) tragedy has been preserved: “Prometheus Chained.” The perspicacious titan, knowing that only in man can Zeus find a savior from the destruction that threatens his kingdom, wants to raise the human race and for this purpose gives him ethereal fire, abducting him from heavenly heights; Zeus, seeing in this abduction a violation of the universal treaty and not knowing the decisions of fate, chains him to the rocks of the Caucasus as punishment; Prometheus endures all the torment and does not reveal his secret prematurely, knowing that over time Zeus will appreciate his service. This is the only one divine tragedy, which has been preserved for us from antiquity: in terms of the grandeur of its concept, it surpasses all other tragedies of our poet and has greatly interested thinkers and poets new Europe. Not everything in it, however, is clear to us - mainly because its continuation, “Prometheus Unbound,” which contained the solution to the riddles, has not reached us.

Oresteia

The last trilogy of Aeschylus that we know about (458 BC) was his “Oresteia” - consisting of three tragedies: “Agamemnon”, “Choephora” (libation bearers) and “Eumenides”. The content of this trilogy is the fate of the Atrid family: Agamemnon and his son Orestes. Before the Trojan campaign, Agamemnon addresses the court of Athens. Pursued by the Eumenides, Orestes flees to Athens: the goddess herself establishes a court - the later Areopagus, who acquits Orestes; The trilogy ends with the propitiation of the offended Eumenides. In terms of their drama, the tragedies of this trilogy are the most perfect of all the works of Aeschylus. In their profundity they compete with Prometheus, but they have the advantage over it that in the arena it is not a divine, but a human environment. The trilogy and especially its last tragedy are not without a certain political tendency: by exalting the Areopagus as the moral foundation of Athenian citizenship, Aeschylus undoubtedly had in mind to protect this college, which he liked, from the attacks to which it was subjected in Lately from Ephialtes and Pericles.

It is very possible that it was these attacks that poisoned Aeschylus’s stay in Athens; Aristophanes himself testifies that Aeschylus “did not get along with the Athenians” in the last part of his life. We are even told that Aeschylus was accused of impiety - namely, that in one of his tragedies he brought to light the mysteries of the Eleusinian Demeter.

Be that as it may, Aeschylus, soon after his “Oresteia,” left Athens, went to Sicily for the third time, and in 456 BC. e. died in the Sicilian city of Gela.

Legend has it that Aeschylus died when an eagle dropped either a turtle on his head, mistaking Aeschylus' bald head for a stone, or a stone, mistaking his bald head for an egg.

Successful scoundrels are intolerable.

Surviving plays of Aeschylus

"Persians" (472 BC)
"Petitioners" (2nd half 470s or 463 BC)
"Seven Against Thebes" (467 BC)
Trilogy "Oresteia" (458 BC):
- "Agamemnon"
- "Choephors" ("Victim at the Tomb", "Mourners")
- "Eumenides" (458 BC)
“Prometheus Bound” (450-40s or c. 415 BC) authorship questionable

Heritage

About 90 tragedies remain from Aeschylus (including satirical dramas), the titles of which are known to us, with few exceptions; More or less significant fragments have also survived from many. The heroes of the trilogies were Achilles, Ayant, Odysseus, Memnon, Niobe, Adrastus, Perseus; The circle of legends about Dionysus included the trilogy about Lycurgus and Pentheus, opponents of his cult, terribly punished for their obstinacy.

Let the one who does it bear the consequences of his deeds.

Soon after the poet's death, a resolution was passed by which all his plays were admitted to tragic competitions along with new plays by other poets. In this way his fame and influence were secured for many generations, and the preservation of his plays was also ensured. In the Alexandrian era they were all known without large gaps and were all read and studied; It was only in the Roman period (in the 2nd century) that a selection of the seven plays that have come down to us was made. During the Byzantine era, three of them (namely: "Persians", "Prometheus" and "Seven Chiefs") were chosen for school reading; they were preserved in a larger number of lists, while the preservation of the remaining four should, apparently, be attributed to a happy accident.

Aeschylus was the creator of Greek, and therefore all-European, tragedy. When reading and analyzing his plays, what first strikes the eye is the significance of the evolution of tragedy as a poetic type that took place in them. Although the tragedies of the first, preparatory period have not been preserved, and those that have survived cover a gap of only 14 years (472-458 BC), nevertheless, the difference between the first and last of them (“The Persians” and the tragedies of the “Oresteia”) is much greater stronger than Sophocles - between Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus, or Euripides - between Alcestis and Iphigenia of Aulis, separated by a 30-year gap. The Persians and Petitioners are more cantatas than dramas; they still have no characterization and almost no action. In the middle tragedies - “Seven Leaders” and “Prometheus” - the central personalities are already very strongly characterized; are also found, especially in Prometheus, and characteristics minor characters, but there is still almost no action. In "The Oresteia", finally, we have both vivid characterization and (especially in "Choephori") lively, exciting action. The role of the choir is gradually diminished; V latest plays, however, it again becomes more significant than in the average. Apparently, the poet took back the concession made in the middle dramas: as a child of the era when tragedy was still a branch of lyric poetry, he was too accustomed to that direct communication with the audience, which was possible only in the lyrical passages of the choir, and it was inconvenient for him to develop his ideas through the mouths of the characters. This inconvenience was the stronger the more clearly the character of the characters was depicted and the more lively the action itself was; that is why the strengthening of characterization and drama led to a strengthening of the role of the chorus, while this is not noticed among the followers of Aeschylus, who did not know the lyrical period of tragedy. The need to be content with two (later three) actors in surviving plays is not felt as a constraint; This was not the case in many of the lost ones, where this necessity sometimes led to the fact that the poet, in order to have more space for minor characters, in some scenes entrusted the role of the main characters to extras, that is, doomed them to silence. Of course, this was done with the observance of psychological plausibility and therefore was very impressive: the images of the silent Achilles after the loss of a friend, the silent Niobe after the death of her children were deeply imprinted in the memory of contemporaries and descendants. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that in the matter of reviving the dialogue, Aeschylus stopped halfway: until the very end, the dialogue consists of long solemn speeches and stichomyths no less solemn in their correctness. The same should be said about the action and characterization, despite the undoubted progress in the last plays. The main action still takes place behind the scenes or in the intervals between in separate parts trilogies; There are no twists and turns yet, and there is also no tragic intrigue (except for “Hoefor”). In his characteristics, Aeschylus prefers majesty; He best succeeds in proud characters, either in his rightness, like Prometheus or Electra (in “Choephors”), or in the awareness of his sinfulness, like Clytemnestra (in “Oresteia”). Therefore, his women are not very feminine: only Sophocles was left to create the image of the meek Ismene next to the proud Antigone. Aeschylus was alien to any eroticism: he himself says to himself in Aristophanes that no one can indicate among the types of women in love he created. It is also worth emphasizing his love for the miraculous and outlandish, which finds its explanation in the atmosphere of miracles in which the Eleusinian religion raised him. It is especially noticeable in “Prometheus”, where the Oceanids appear on a flying chariot, the Ocean itself - on a griffin, where, with thunder and lightning, the titanium rock falls into the abyss. In "The Persians" the prophetic shadow of Darius appears, in "Eumenides" - the shadow of Clytemnestra. The rationalism of the Peloponnesian War ridiculed this trait; but it harmonizes well with the rest of the character of Aeschylus’s poetry, with its grandeur, which places it above the standard of ordinary realism.

Aeschylus - quotes

A successful fool is a great disaster.

The blood that lives in memories glues centuries together.

The voice of the people is dangerous when the truth is behind it.

I think the dead don't care whether they sleep or whether they rise again.

Successful scoundrels are intolerable.

Aeschylus (ancient Greek: Αἰσχύλος, 525 BC - 456 BC) - ancient Greek playwright, father of European tragedy.

Aeschylus belonged to an aristocratic family. One of his brothers was the hero of the Battle of Marathon, Kinegir; one of the nephews is Philocles, an outstanding tragic poet of the second half of the 5th century BC. Aeschylus' son Euphorion also wrote tragedies.

Aeschylus's homeland was the Attic city of Eleusis, famous for its ancient sacraments, established, according to legend, by the goddess Demeter herself. In these sacraments, under the transparent symbol of the rebirth of grain immersed in the ground, profound ideas were held about the upcoming resurrection of a person buried in the ground, about his afterlife, about rewards for the good and punishment for the evil. They gave direction to the mind of young Aeschylus, forcing him to think about the meaning of life, the relationship of the human will to deity and fate, to the causes and conditions of moral decline and moral justification.

That is why, since ancient times, at the festivals of Dionysus, ecstatic poems, the so-called dithyrambs, poems of visions and elevated feelings, have been performed. Their technical feature was the independent role of the luminary, who, in the lyrical song of the choir, inserted passages of an epic nature and size, so that the lyrics alternated with the epic, affects with visions, while due to the general ecstatic mood, all performers felt their souls transferred to other bodies and spoke and acted like the heroes of those visions that occupied their imagination at that moment.

Aeschylus was still a youth when an event occurred that should, as it seemed, give an advantage to the Peloponnesian direction, but which led, quite unexpectedly, to the triumph of the Attic one. This event was the expulsion of the Pisistratids in 510 BC. e. It took place under the pressure of Delphi and thanks to the intervention of Sparta, but the victors took too much advantage of the fruits of their victory and thereby caused a reaction, which resulted in the expulsion of the Spartans from Athens and the reforms of Cleisthenes. In connection with these reforms there was, undoubtedly, the one that took place in 508 BC. e. replacement of traveling choirs at the festivals of Dionysus with choirs of citizens. Around the same time, Aeschylus’s poetic activity began: according to his biographers, he began to write tragedies in his youth.

The first youthful period of his work lasted until 484 BC. e., when he won his first victory. The tragedies of this period have not survived. Apparently, this was the time when Aeschylus slowly developed his own tragic style.

In 484, a new period of Aeschylus’ creativity begins: we see him as the king of the Attic stage, on which he finds no equal.

The legend retold by Valery Maxim and Pliny the Elder says that Aeschylus died when an eagle dropped either a turtle on his head, mistaking Aeschylus’s bald head for a stone, or a stone, mistaking his bald head for an egg.

Lost plays of Aeschylus:

In total, Aeschylus wrote about 90 plays, of which only six have been completely preserved. The authorship of another play that has come down to us, attributed to Aeschylus, is in question. Titles and fragments of other plays have survived, as well as comments made by later authors, allowing us to reconstruct some of what was lost. The following names are mentioned in the sources:

Alkmena
Amymone (satyr drama, 463 BC)
Argives, or Argives
Argo, or Rowers
Atalanta
Afamant
Bassarids
Bacchae
The Messengers (satire drama)
Weighing of souls
Soul Summoners
Heliades
Heracleidae
Hypsipyle
Glaucus Marine
Glaucus of Potnium (satiric drama, 472 BC)
Danaids (463 BC)
Egyptians (463 BC)
Priestesses
Ixion
Iphigenia
Cabirs (possibly a satyr drama)
Callisto
Carians, or Europe
Kerkion (satire drama)
Kikn
Kirk (satyr drama)
Nurses of Dionysus
Cretan women
Laius (467 BC)
Leo (satire drama)
Lemnians
Lycurgus
Archers
Memnon
Myrmidons
Mysians
Nemea
Orithia
Palamed
Penelope
Pentheus
Perrrebian women
Polydecte
Leading
Prometheus the Firestarter (satire drama)
Prometheus the Fire-Bearer
Prometheus released
Proteus (satyr drama, 458 BC)
Salamis women
Semele, or Water Bearer
Sisyphus the Fugitive (satire drama)
Sisyphus the stonecutter (satyr drama)
Bone Collectors
Builders of the marriage chamber
Gun court
Sphinx (satyr drama, 467 BC)
Telephone
Pulling the Net (satyr drama)
Theoras, or Isthmian competitions (satyr drama)
Philoctetes
Phineus (472 BC)
Forkiades
Thracian women
The Phrygians, or the Ransom of the Body of Patroclus
Wool combers
Oedipus (467 BC)
Edonians
Eleusinians
Epigones
Ethnean women
Young men.

Surviving plays of Aeschylus:

"Persians" (472 BC)
“Petitioners” (2nd half of the 470s or 463 BC)
"Seven Against Thebes" (467 BC)
Oresteia Trilogy (458 BC): Agamemnon
"Choephors" ("Victim at the Tomb", "Mourners")
"Eumenides" (458 BC)
“Prometheus Bound” (450-40s or ca. 415 BC) authorship is in question.

Aeschylus is an outstanding ancient Greek playwright and tragedian, an author who is called the father of Greek and, accordingly, European tragedy. The main source of his biography is a manuscript from the 11th century, in which his works are immediately preceded by a biography.

Aeschylus was born around 525 BC. e. near Athens, in the city of Eleusis. In this Attic city the cult of Demeter was very developed, which played an important role in determining the direction creative activity. Having witnessed numerous sacraments, young Aeschylus began early to think about the meaning of life, about the relationship between fate and will, about the reward of good and punishment for evil. Aeschylus was the successor of an ancient Athenian aristocratic family. There is also a known fact from his life (Aeschylus himself considered it very significant and was very proud of it) as his participation in the Greco-Persian wars. He took part in the battle of Marathon and, most likely, of Salamis. Aeschylus had the opportunity to witness another important historical process– promotion of Athens to the most significant positions in Greece.

Aeschylus's first performance in a playwriting competition dates back to around 500 BC. e., but only in 484 BC. e. he got a victory, which he would subsequently win at least 13 times. From 484 BC e. Aeschylus's ascent to the pinnacle of glory began. Until about 470 BC. e. no one could compete with him.

It is known that several times during his life Aeschylus made trips to Sicily, where he showed performances based on his tragedies. There is a legend that in 486 BC. e. Aeschylus left Athens, unable to bear the brilliant successes of the rising Sophocles, however, most likely, it is not true. In 467 BC. e. Aeschylus attended a production of Seven Against Thebes in Athens.

His Oresteia trilogy in 458 BC. e. received first prize. Soon after this event, Aeschylus left Athens again. Perhaps this is due to the fact that last period the tragic life was somewhat overshadowed by not very good relations with fellow citizens. There is evidence that the playwright was accused of making the sacraments in honor of Demeter public in one of his works. In 456 BC. e. Aeschylus went to Sicily and died there, in the city of Gela. The cause of death, according to legend, was a stone or turtle dropped on his head by an eagle.

Aeschylus is known as the author of about 80 works, of which only 7 have survived to this day; Fragments of varying lengths from other works have also survived. Aeschylus gained a reputation as an outstanding innovator of the theater. In particular, one of the most important steps he took was the introduction of a second actor. Aeschylus's posthumous fame did not fade away also because, by special decree, his plays continued to participate in playwrights' competitions. This same circumstance contributed to better preservation of the tragedies.

(525-456 BC)

“When they say “Aeschylus,” some immediately have a vague feeling, others more or lessa less clear image of the “father of tragedy”, a venerable textbook image, evenmajestic, a marble antique bust, a manuscript scroll,an actor’s mask, an amphitheater bathed in the southern Mediterranean sun,” writesresearcher of ancient drama.

Of course, Aeschylus is one of the pillars of the famous 5th century BC. e. Ancient Greece - era of pan-Hellenic patriotic upsurge after the victorious war of Athens withPersians, the formation of Greek city-states, the flourishing public life Andculture. This is the time of famous poets, sculptors, architects.Historians associate the golden age of classical Greek culture with the name of Pericles.There was no printing then, and only the theater allowed the poet and rulerconvey your thoughts to the masses. The Athens Theater of Dionysus could seat seventeen thousandspectators. Under Pericles, a specialstate payment allowance theater places. The performances began in the morning and ended at sunset.

The tragedy of Aeschylus had particular success among his contemporaries."Prometheus Bound". The author's pride in victorious Greece turned into pride in man.Prometheus was punished by Zeus for stealing fire for people and teaching themarts and crafts. Inquisitive Prometheus personifies the human in tragedyreason, progress. He comes into conflict with inertia, opportunism,ignorance, cruelty of morals - all these qualities personify Zeus and hisassistants Hermes, Hephaestus, Strength, Power, old man Ocean.Aeschylus is not a god-fighter, but he is faithful ethical principle represented by the goddess The truth.

Prometheus is chained to a rock in the Caucasus mountains. Every day an eagle comes and peckshis liver The liver grows back again, the eagle pecks at it again - thus Prometheusdoomed to eternal torment, because he is one of the gods and therefore immortal. Screams and moansPrometheus is heartbreaking, but when Zeus offers Prometheus freedom in exchange forhis humility, he answers:Be sure that I did not exchange My sorrows for slavish service.The inhabitants of Attica, to which Aeschylus belonged, greatly valued their democraticorder and perceived the conflict between Zeus and Prometheus as a symbolic condemnationautocracy. Zeus is "an unaccountable, stern king." Therefore, tyrannyit knows no boundaries.

But the question arises: why does Aeschylus condemn a god in whom he certainly believes?The Greeks were very afraid of their gods, organized holidays in their honor, brought themvictims. But the gods were not a model of behavior and justice for them. Theircould be criticized, because above the gods were Rock and the three terrible Moiras,carrying out the course of inevitable fate.Greek theater is not yet the theater with which we are very familiar. On the stageOnly one actor performed, Aeschylus introduced a second one, and a chorus. The chorus expressed the feelings of the audience and thus introduced the audience into the play. "Without the choir... there would be no main thing at all actor, because the choir is precisely the hero around whom the drama revolves."Aeschylus stood at the origins theatrical arts. He loved to competepoets and won thirteen victories.

In total, Aeschylus wrote 90 tragedies; only seven plays have reached us in their entirety.The play "The Persians", written in competition with Phrynichus, is not based on the mythicalplot, but on historical material. It must be said that Aeschylus himself participated inbattles with the Persians - like a heavily armed warrior.The play "Seven Against Thebes" is based on the myths of Oedipus.The Oresteia trilogy tells about the bloody crimes of the At-rid family, aboutthe confrontation between matriarchy and patriarchy.Sublimity of thoughts, rich imagination, eloquence earned Aeschylus the glory of oneof the great tragedians of world literature.

Choir Which of the gods is so hard and angry,So that it would be a joy to himWhat's your problem? Who is your painDoesn't it share? Zeus is alone. Stubborn and wildHe is the children of UraniumViciously strangling. He'll calm downOnly when the heart is satisfiedOr someone, having contrived,Power will be taken away from him by force. Prometheus Today I languish in iron shackles, But the time will come, and the ruler of the gods Will askpoint me out and reveal that new conspiracy that will deprive him of his Power and the throne.But he will in vain seduce me with his sweet speech, and then anyhis threats - I will never give up secrets as long as I haveWill not remove these merciless shackles, Until for this shameful captivity of mine will pay! Choir You are daring, you don't give upUnder torture you stand your ground,Wouldn't it be better to hold your tongue?A piercing fear torments my soul.I'm afraid for you, understand.Where, sailing on the sea of flour,Have you seen a peaceful shore?The heart of Zeus is unyielding,Born of Cronus, he is hard and cruel. L r o m e t e i I know how harsh he is and his willConsiders it law. But the time will come - He too will bend, He will soften and give in. Need will force it.Then he will calm down his insane angerAnd he himself will hurry, ally and friend,Treat me as an ally-friend.(Translation by S. Apt)

Russian philosopher A.F. Losev emphasizes special meaning time in playsancient Greek playwright: “it is time that gives a person a moral lesson...Even the gods become more tolerant over time, the entire Oresteia is built onWith this idea, Time performs the religious purification of Orestes." "The main featurehuman time according to Aeschylus in that it brings with it the fulfillmentdivine will. Time is necessary for belief in inevitability to be possible.fulfillment of the divine sentence, because only it can explainwhy justice is not carried out immediately after the crime.How vividly Aeschylus felt the need for later punishment showsonly he has the word later-punishable, which indicatespunishment postponed indefinitely... In the end it happens like this,that the distant descendants of the criminal are punished. Therefore, for Aeschyluswhat is needed is a multi-generational view of history."The images of Aeschylus had a huge influence not only on the theater, but also on poetry inin general, on musical art, on painting of new times.