Persians

by Aeschylus, Translated by Stratos Constantinidis

Staged Readings: 
November 8 at 6:00 pm, Drake Performance and Event Center
November 10 at 8:00 pm, Mount Hall Studio Theatre
November 13 at 3:30 pm, Ohio State Faculty Club
November 15 at 6:00 pm, Drake Performance and Event Center
November 19 at 8:00 pm, Mount Hall Studio Theatre
November 20 at 8:00 pm, Mount Hall Studio Theatre 

 

The Persians are coming to Ohio State this November. This award winning classical Greek tragedy is the first play in the world to survive intact from antiquity. It was written by Aeschylus, a veteran of the Greek-Persian Wars, and was produced by Pericles of Athens in 472 B.C.E. The play reports on the naval battle at Salamis that caused the single greatest loss of human life in recorded history up to that time. Or, as Aeschylus put it in Ancient Greek, "Remember this well, never in one day has such a great number of human beings died." This play, translated into English by Stratos E. Constantinidis, shows how the Homeland Security Council of the Persian Empire accepted the news of the defeat that stopped its colonial expansion.