Aeschylus was an ancient Greek playwright who lived from approximately 525 to 456 BCE. He was born in Eleusis, near Athens, and fought as a soldier for Athens in the Persian Wars, including the Battle of Marathon. He began writing and producing tragedies for the Athenian dramatic festivals around 499 BCE, winning his first major competition in 484 BCE.

He is traditionally considered the founder of Greek tragedy as a major dramatic art form. A key innovation credited to him is the introduction of a second actor to the stage, which allowed for direct character conflict and dialogue, moving theater beyond choral performance. He wrote an estimated 70 to 90 plays, of which seven complete tragedies survive today. His extant works include The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliants, and his famous trilogy, the Oresteia (comprising Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides). The authorship of another surviving play, Prometheus Bound, is disputed by modern scholars.

According to modern scholars, Aeschylus's work is profoundly engaged with the moral and political questions of his era, such as justice, divine law, and the consequences of violence. His Oresteia trilogy has been interpreted as a dramatic exploration of the transition from tribal blood feud to a system of civic justice, reflecting the development of the Athenian state. His powerful language and complex themes established the foundation for all later Western tragedy. Along with Sophocles and Euripides, he is one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens.