Prometheus Bound And Other Plays

Synopsis

Aeschylus (525–456 BC) brought a new grandeur and epic sweep to the drama of classical Athens, raising it to the status of high art.

In <i>Prometheus Bound</i> the defiant Titan Prometheus is brutally punished by Zeus for daring to improve the state of wretchedness and servitude in which mankind is kept.

<i>The Suppliants</i> tells the story of the fifty daughters of Danaus who must flee to escape enforced marriages, while <i>Seven Against Thebes</i> shows the inexorable downfall of the last members of the cursed family of Oedipus.

And <i>The Persians</i>, the only Greek tragedy to deal with events from recent Athenian history, depicts the aftermath of the defeat of Persia in the battle of Salamis, with a sympathetic portrayal of its disgraced King Xerxes.

Philip Vellacott’s evocative translation is accompanied by an introduction, with individual discussions of the plays, and their sources in history and mythology.