The "Aeschylus Scholia" are a body of ancient and medieval scholarly notes, not the work of a single person. They are a compilation of commentary written in the margins and between the lines of manuscripts containing the plays of the Athenian tragedian Aeschylus. This tradition of annotation began with scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE and was continued, copied, and expanded by generations of grammarians and scribes through the Roman and Byzantine periods. The surviving manuscripts that preserve these notes primarily date from the 10th to the 14th centuries CE.
The scholia are attached to the seven surviving plays of Aeschylus. They address a wide variety of subjects to aid readers, including explanations of difficult words and grammar, notes on mythology and history, analysis of poetic meter, and discussions of different readings of the text. According to modern scholars, these notes are critically important for several reasons. They preserve fragments of lost ancient scholarship and provide direct insight into how Aeschylus's complex works were studied and interpreted for over a millennium. For editors today, the scholia are an essential tool for establishing the text of the plays, and they offer a valuable window into the history of classical philology and literary criticism from antiquity through the Middle Ages.
Available Works
Sources
- Perseus Entry (Perseus Digital Library) Accessed: 2026-01-26
- Oxford Research Encyclopedia Entry (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics) Accessed: 2026-01-26
- Britannica Entry (Encyclopædia Britannica) Accessed: 2026-01-26