Aeschylus

Aeschylus was born about 525 BC at Eleusis near Athens. The earliest of the three great Greek tragedians, he is called the father of tragedy. He fought the Persians at Marathon, where his brother was killed, and the epitaph he is said to have written for himself mentions Marathon and not his plays. He added a second actor to the stage, making true dialogue and conflict possible. Of some ninety plays only seven survive, among them the Oresteia, the only complete tragic trilogy to have come down to us.