The Persians

“Of the Persians who have departed

for the land of Greece, we are called the Trusted,

the guardians of the wealthy palace rich in gold,

whom our lord himself, King Xerxes,

son of Darius, chose by seniority

to supervise the country.

But by now the spirit within me,

all too ready to foresee evil, is troubled

about the return of the king. And of his vast army of men;

for all the strength of the Asiatic race

has departed, and in every house

the woman left behind howls for her young husband;

and no messenger, no horseman

has come to the Persian capital.”

At the beginning of the play, the chorus of wise old men describes the state of anxiety that pervades the capital city of Susa. The size of Xerxes’ invading force has depopulated the city of its men, leaving those left behind vulnerable to attack and thus uneasy; adding to the tense atmosphere is the lack of news, which bodes ill for the fate of the Persian king and his men.

“The city-sacking army of the King

has now passed over to the neighbor land on the other

side of the water,

crossing the strait of Helle, daughter of Athamas,

by means of a boat-bridge tied together with flaxen cables

placing a roadway, fastened with many bolts, as a yoke

on the neck of the sea.”

The chorus describes the boat bridge built by Xerxes to cross into Greece. This bridge spanned the Hellespont, the modern day Dardanelles or Strait of Gallipoli. In the play, it is both a symbol of the might of the Persian fleet and an act of hubris that causes their defeat at Salamis.

“But what man can escape

the guileful deception of a god?”

Ancient Greek tragedies are typically set in the world of myth and epic, where mortals must navigate the whims of a pantheon of gods, each with differing motivations and interests. Here, although Aeschylus writes about events that took place in recent history rather a legendary past, he does not deviate from the trope of hubris punished. While Xerxes thought himself a clever military leader, the gods remained on the side of the Greeks—an insurmountable obstacle.