Play: The Persians

Overview
Aeschylus’ The Persians, first performed in 472 BCE, is the oldest surviving Greek tragedy and an audacious drama that turns recent history into lament. Set not in Greece but in the Persian capital of Susa, it dramatizes the aftermath of Xerxes’ failed invasion and the decisive naval defeat at Salamis. Rather than triumphalism, the play offers a grave meditation on power, hubris, divine limits, and the universality of suffering, granting Persia a dignified, human voice as it reckons with catastrophe.

Setting and Opening
The Chorus of Persian elders, left to steward the empire during Xerxes’ campaign, anxiously awaits news from Greece. Their odes evoke the breadth of the Persian realm and the vast forces Xerxes marshaled, heightening the sense of stake and risk. Queen Atossa, mother of Xerxes and widow of the great Darius, enters troubled by ominous signs. She recounts a dream of two richly dressed women, one in Persian attire and one in Dorian dress, whom Xerxes tried to yoke to his chariot. The Persian woman submitted, but the Greek woman broke the yoke, throwing Xerxes to the ground; then a figure resembling Darius appeared, foreboding disaster. She adds a startling omen: a hawk attacked an eagle at her hearth, a reversal of nature that suggests Persia, once supreme, will be harried and humbled.

The Messenger’s News
A breathless messenger arrives with confirmation: the Persian fleet has been shattered at Salamis. He describes how Greek strategy and the constricted straits nullified Persian numbers. At dawn, the Greeks’ battle-cry rang out; their disciplined line drove forward while Persian ships, crowded and outmaneuvered, fouled one another. From his shore-side throne, Xerxes watched as the flower of his navy was rammed and sunk, leaders slain, crews drowning or cut down on the beaches. The disaster does not end at sea: the long retreat is a second catastrophe. The army, starving and exposed, struggles through Thrace; many perish crossing the treacherous Strymon as winter ice gives way. The messenger laments the overwhelming loss, yet praises Greek resolve and the fatal overconfidence that led Persia into the trap.

The Ghost of Darius
Seeking counsel amid ruin, Atossa performs libations at Darius’ tomb, and the revered king’s ghost rises. He receives the news with solemn gravity, naming the cause as mortal excess that offends the gods: Xerxes attempted to yoke the Hellespont and chain the sea, a gesture of arrogance inviting divine correction. Darius explains that limits govern human prosperity; those who forget the boundary between mortal and divine invite ruin. He foretells further punishment: the Persian land army will face defeat on Greek soil at Plataea, where a memorial to Persian folly will stand. He urges restraint and piety, and instructs Atossa to comfort her son and accept the gods’ verdict. The apparition departs, leaving a template for Persian response: humility rather than renewed aggression.

Xerxes’ Return and Lament
Xerxes enters at last, not as a triumphant conqueror but as a shattered king in torn robes, accompanied by a handful of survivors. He and the Chorus engage in a wrenching kommos, trading laments that tally the lost captains and the shame that hangs over the empire. Atossa brings plain garments, an emblem of pared-down fortune. There is no counsel of revenge, only grief and recognition. Xerxes, crushed by the weight of his choices, leads the elders back into the palace, their cries fading.

Significance
The drama turns victory into an ethical mirror. It shows power brought low by its own excess, the fragility of imperial grandeur, and the way suffering teaches mortals the limits allotted by the gods. By granting Persians pathos and dignity, Aeschylus transforms recent war into an enduring tragedy of human overreach and hard-won wisdom.