Aeschylus died in 456 BCE in Gela, aged about 69. An Athenian playwright, Aeschylus is often called the father of tragedy. He is credited with adding a second actor, which allowed for real dialogue and conflict on stage, and with reducing the role of the chorus. Only seven of his many plays survive, among them The Persians, based on his own experience of the Persian Wars, and the Oresteia, the only complete trilogy to come down from antiquity. He fought at Marathon, and according to tradition he wished his epitaph to mention that service rather than his drama.
Before and after
- from 476 BCE to 221 BCEWarring States period
- 470 BCEBirth of Socrates
- 466 BCEDiscovery of Halley's Comet
- 460 BCEBirth of Hippocrates
- 456 BCEDeath of Aeschylus
- c. 451 BCEThe Twelve Tables, Rome's first written law
- from 450 BCE to 15 CELa Tène culture
- c. 449 BCEConstruction of the Temple of Hephaestus
- from 448 BCE to 433 BCEConstruction of the Parthenon begins
More in Art, literature & culture
- 551 BCEBirth of Confucius
- 6th century BCEOrigins of Judaism
- c. 375 BCEWriting of the Allegory of the Cave
- 33 CEOrigins of Christianity
- 381 CEFirst Council of Constantinople
- from 22 June 431 CE to 31 July 431 CEFirst Council of Ephesus
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 5th century BCE.