ABSTRACT
Aeschylus is the first Western playwright whose work has come down to us in more than fragments. His plays—like those of his contemporaries and followers—are all based on Homeric myths. In this, Greek tragedy most resembles the Christian medieval cycles that were also dependent on sacred texts. The one trilogy Aeschylus wrote, indeed the only extant Greek trilogy—is his Oresteia. All of the playwright's strengths are evident in these plays—his pious, dense, and obscure style; his patriotic passion for his country and his interest in its evolving legal system; and his sense that humans are subject to celestial oversight. In the scope and ambition of his work, Aeschylus will not only influence his Greek successors. He will also function as a model for the drama to come, especially in nineteenth-century Germany and twentieth-century Europe and America.
