Aeschylus
525 BCE – 456 BCE
Aeschylus was the first of the great Athenian dramatists and playwrights. Aeschylus fought and was wounded at Marathon and took part in the defense of Greece when it was invaded by the Persians in 480 B.C. During his lifetime, Greece was marked by intense political rivalries and conflicts. In his plays Aeschylus dealt with these and other issues, including religious and philosophical ones, such as the nature of the divine power governing the universe.