The Persians ( Persae ) is Aeschylus’ first surviving play. Unlike all other surviving Greek tragedies, which deal with persons and events from the remote, mythical past, it is about living persons and events that took place barely eight years before it was produced in March 472 BC. The setting of the play is Susa, the Persian capital: its hero, the Persian king who came so close to defeating the Greeks in 480: its theme, his own defeat at their hands. Anthony J. Podlecki’s translation of the play is complemented by a comprehensive introduction and notes, drawing the reader’s attention to conventions of idiom and imagery, legend and allusion. With detailed discussion of the play in relation to possible antecedents, levels of tragic action and metrical schema, the book is ideally suited to students of drama and literature as well as classics.