Suggested Reading

I'm about to begin reading THE PERSIANS by Aeschylus.

It's an interesting story about the second Persian invasion of Greece; specifically the defeat of Darius' army at the Battle of Salamis.

Aeschylus fought in the battle, and it was the only thing mentioned on his tombstone...never mind that he invented Western drama!

From what I've read about the work so far, it represents an interesting turning point in drama, and other areas, too.

Up 'till then, the storyteller had this god-like, aurthorial viewpoint...but when Thespis first turned and spoke to someone else, everything changed.

Suddenly his point of view was only *one of two.*

And as suddenly, there was a realization that truth resides not in the storyteller, but in the dialogue.

And in empathy, too.

I think this is kind of like Democracy. I think that, in order for a democracy to work, we have to believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth...instead, that truth resides in the space between the words and thoughts...in the dialogue between two different points of view.

THE PERSIANS was told *from the view of the Persians.* It was, apparently, very forward thinking for the time (and today, too?)...Aeschylus was asking the audience to identify with the Persians...to think what it must have felt to be them, and to have lost that war.

And, even more subversively, he, perhaps, is suggesting that the Greeks take a look at themselves. "We're the most powerful; we've triumphed. But look who, eight years ago, thought their empire would last forever. Look who was so positive that God was on their side. Look who was so sure that their armies could never be defeated. And now, look what happened."

My point is that, it's the dialogue which makes democracy function...and those who seek to close down this interchange are actually functioning as its adversaries.

One other thing: According to my notes, THE PERSIANS didn't win any dramatic awards that year...but it was re-copied by enough people to have survived the burning of the library at Alexandria and all of the other huge losses of that time period and the transition through the Dark Ages. In fact, it is one of only thirty-some plays to have been so fortunate.