Prometheus Bound and Other Plays

Author: Aeschylus (c 525 - 456 BC)

Translator: Philip Vellacott

Publisher: Penguin Books (1961)

Bought from: Book Depository

Introduction

Aeschylus is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays are extant. In terms of career, his started earlier than both Sophocles and Euripides. He is sometimes known as the Father of Greek Tragedy. Aeschylus wrote more than 70 plays. He is said to have won 14 - 15 dramatic competitions in Athens. In comparison, Sophocles won between 20 - 25 competitions (sometimes beating Aeschylus to second place) while Euripides may have won only 4 or 5.

Only seven of Aeschylus’ plays have survived intact. The Oresteia - consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides - is his most famous work.

What is it about?

This volume contains Aeschylus’ other 4 surviving works.

The first play in the volume, Prometheus Bound (written about 463 BC), is probably the best known. The titular character is the Titan who stole the secret of fire from the Olympian gods and gave it to humankind. This play tells of the punishment for his crime and a visit from Io (another victim of the Olympian gods). Prometheus Bound is the first play of a trilogy which includes the now lost Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus the Fire Bringer.

The last play in the volume is The Persians (written c 472 BC). It depicts the reaction of the Persian royal court to news that the Persian forces have been routed at the Battle of Salami (480 BC), a key battle in the Greco-Persian Wars. That is pretty much it. Nonetheless, the play is notable because it references an event that took place a mere 8 years earlier. Aeschylus himself took part in the Greco-Persian Wars. His epitaph reads:

Beneath this stone lies Aeschlyus, son of Euphorion, the Athenian,
who perished in the wheat-bearing land of Gela;
of his noble prowess the grove of Marathon can speak,
and the long-haired Persian knows it well.

The two plays bookend The Suppliants and Seven Against Thebes.


What about the book?

This book, part of the Penguin Classics series, is a verse translation. It is a very slim volume. The introduction is useful but the notes are very skimpy.

Finally …

Not as good as The Oresteia.