Ió! Ió!

Ha, wow, those Greeks did not give Xerxes a break. Aeschylus honored Darius, the former king, while showcasing how young and impetuous little Xerxes was to think he could subdue the Greeks after Darius had failed. The effect was chilling to hear the story from Atossa's viewpoint. Atossa was Xerxes mother who stayed home in Susa during the war and heard the sad tidings from a messenger.

I watched a reading of this on YouTube with real actors, but at the end they said they had abridged it so I had to go listen to what I had missed. This is the OLDEST Western play still surviving and I think the only one based on history rather than myth. Aeschylus actually fought in the war himself!

Читав, уявляючи на місці персів - кацапів. Зайшло нормально.

Early play by Aeschylus, not much action, lots of hand wringing.

My copy had copious amounts of notes accompanying the text, which was both a blessing for my understanding but a curse for the flow of my reading

Anyway, decent translation from 1970 but not my favourite Aeschylus play overall

literally just had to read this for my seminar but i’m using it to cheat on my reading challenge god bless

Commonly believed to be the earliest complete extant work of drama in the Western canon (some still doubt it pre-dates Aeschylus' Suppliants), Persians has attracted considerable interest in recent decades-- not so much for its poetic or dramatic qualities as for its debatable politics.

One viewpoint, common among both classicists (including translator, Seth Benardete) and apologists for the Western tradition, is that the play is an extraordinarily generous (Benardete says all but unique) performance of empathy with an oppressive enemy. From the somewhat anachronistic apologists, it is a triumph of Western humanism. Just imagine an Athenian audience, fresh from the wars, many of whom are even veterans of that conflict, asked to view as "tragic" the sufferings of an alien people. How large-hearted indeed is the West!

In stark contrast is the viewpoint presented by Edward Said, early in his 1978 work, Orientalism, where he identifies in Persians so many of the elements that would characterize the racist and imperialistic Western vision of the Orient all the way down to the British Empire and beyond. In this view, the work is not compassionate so much as myth-building-- it was inevitable that the decadent, tyrannical and moribund Persian civilization would fail to defeat the democratic, youthful and robust Greeks.

On reading the play this time, I see considerable merit in Said's reading. And yet there is something mysterious in how the play may be expected to work on stage. It would be difficult to watch actors portraying such continual suffering without it activating some empathy. And no doubt there was an element of awe in the premiere, inviting Greeks to reflect on the fall of a mighty empire. At the same time, it's hard to ignore the play's repeated admonitions of the inevitability of Greek victory and the folly of Xerxes' military campaign. Even the ghost of Darius tells us that the Bosporus must not be crossed.

There is something remarkably empathetic about a Greek playwright seeing things from the Persian perspective shortly after a massive and possibly existential war with the Persians. Of course, the same was also true of the Iliad--although that was probably composed much after what was likely a less existential war.

That said, this felt more like a series of monologues than actual dialog, plot, developments, tragedy, or anything else. More of a historical artifact than something like the later great works of Greek drama. At least that was my untutored reaction.

Note: I read the James Romm translation in the excellent compilation The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes.

Persleri yenmenin Yunan edebiyatında yüceltilmesi açısından önemli bir örnektir. Eserde Perslerin konuşturularak Yunanistan'ın şiirsel bir havada, Perslerin ağzından yüceltilmesi de dikkati çeken en önemli unsurdur.

I thoroughly enjoyed this edition of Persians by Aeschylus, translated by Mark Will. This ancient Greek tragedy tells of the Persian King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks, and his army's catastrophic loss against the enemy. In this play, Aeschylus warns against the hubris of imperial over-reach, which I must say has been relevant throughout the history of man.

I got the paperback copy and it includes a very helpful preface on the historical context of the play, relevant maps of the time, and some very interesting details regarding the author. There are also very helpful end notes which include explanations of terms and context, and production suggestions. Mark Will points out in the preface the continued relevance of this work by Aeschylus, despite the time that has lapsed since he wrote it, especially with the US-Middle East conflict in the recent years. He draws political parallels between the ancient and modern forms of imperialism. Will does an excellent job with this translation, being a poet himself. The lyrical verses flowed so well I read the entire text in one sitting. Thoroughly recommended.

Auch wenn es schmerzt - das älteste Drama der Menschheit gleicht einer propagandistischen Antiklimax mit bedauernswerter Handlung (die eher einem furchtbar langgezogenen Lamento ähnelt). Trotzdem sollte man es kennen, um die nachfolgenden opera zu verstehen.