Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Aeschylus: Persians

Aeschylus: Persians

Rosenbloom, David

Paperback

Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy

Literary CriticismPlaywriting

ISBN10: 0715632868
ISBN13: 9780715632864
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
Published: Jan 25 2007
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.65 Width: 6.35 Depth: 8.48
Language: English

Aeschylus' Persians is the earliest extant Greek tragedy and sole surviving historical tragedy. Produced in 472 BC, the play tells the story of the defeat of the Persian king Xerxes in his attempt to expand his empire by conquering Greece and his return in rags to Persia to face the condemnation of his elders. The first product of the Western imagination to represent the causes and limits of imperialist conquest, the Persians is particularly relevant today. The play is rich in verbal and visual imagery and unflinching in its depiction of the horrors of a defeated invasion and the glory of a successful defence. But the Persians is not merely a paean to Western freedom, democracy, courage and technological supremacy; it is a meditation on the tendency inherent in wealth, power and success to take on a momentum of their own and to push societies to the brink of ruin.

This companion to the play provides historical context, thematic discussion, literary and performance history, bibliography and glossary. It is entirely accessible to those studying the play in translation as well as the original Greek.

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