ATHENA: There are two sides to this dispute. I've heard only one half the argument. (...) So you two parties, summon your witnesses, set out your proofs, with sworn evidence to back your stories. Once I've picked the finest men in Athens, I'll return. They'll rule fairly in this case, bound by a sworn oath to act with justice.

At least one of his works was influenced by the Persian invasion of Greece which took place during his lifetime. Hugh Lloyd-Jones (Regius Professor of Greek Emeritus at Oxford University) draws attention to Wagner's reverence of Aeschylus. During Aeschylus's lifetime dramatic competitions became part of the City Dionysia in the spring.

So important was the war to Aeschylus and the Greeks that upon his death around 456 BC his epitaph commemorated his participation in the Greek victory at Marathon rather than his success as a playwright. 456/455 BC) was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays can still be read or performed the others being Sophocles and Euripides. He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy and his Oresteia is the only ancient example of the form to have survived.