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Aeschylus (pronounced /'?sk?l?s/ or /'i?sk?l?s/, Greek ??s?????, Aischylos, 525 BC/524 BC&_160;– 456 BC/455 BC) was an ancient Greek playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy,[1][2] and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays survive, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. He expanded the number of characters in plays to allow for conflict among them; previously, characters interacted only with the chorus. No more than seven of the estimated 92 plays written by Aeschylus have survived into modern times. Many of Aeschylus' works were influenced by the Persian invasion of Greece, which took place during his lifetime. His play The Persians remains a quintessential primary source of information about this period in Greek history. The war was so important to Greeks and to Aeschylus himself that, upon his death around 456 BC, his epitaph included a reference to his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon but not to his success as a playwright. Aeschylus was born in either 525 or 524 BC in Eleusis, a small town about 27&_160;kilometers northwest of Athens, which is nestled in the fertile valleys of western Attica.[3] His family was both wealthy and well-established; his father Euphorion was a member of the Eupatridae, the ancient nobility of Attica.[4] As a youth, he worked at a vineyard until, according to the 2nd-century AD geographer Pausanias, the god Dionysus visited him in his sleep and commanded him to turn his attention to the nascent art of tragedy.[4] As soon as he woke from the dream, the young Aeschylus began writing a tragedy, and his first performance took place in 499 BC, when he was only 26 years old.[4][3] After fifteen years, his skill was great enough to win a prize for his plays at Athens' annual city Dionysia playwriting competition.[4][5] But in the interim, his dramatic career was interrupted by war. The armies of the Persian Empire, which had already conquered the Greek city-states of Ionia, entered mainland Greece in the hopes of conquering it as well. In 490 BC, Aeschylus and his brother Cynegeirus fought to defend Athens against Darius's invading Persian army at the Battle of Marathon.[3] The Athenians, though outnumbered, encircled and slaughtered the Persian army. This pivotal defeat ended the first Persian invasion of Greece proper and was celebrated across the city-states of Greece.[3] Though Athens was victorious, Cynegeirus died in the battle.[3] Aeschylus continued to write plays during the lull between the first and second Persian invasions of Greece, and won his first victory at the city Dionysia in 484 BC.[3] In 480 he was called into military service again, this time against Xerxes' invading forces at the Battle of Salamis.[3] This naval battle holds a prominent place in The Persians, his oldest surviving play, which was performed in 472 BC and won first prize at the Dionysia.[6]
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