Aeschylus wrote his play, The Persians, following the victory of the Greek military over the forces of Xerxes' army. Xerxes ruled over the Persian Empire (moder day Iran) as "King of Kings" from 486 to 465 BC. In his play, Aeschylus portrays the Persian ruler's departure for battle against the Greeks, his waiting mother, Atossa, and ultimate defeat at the hands of the enemy. Though the play relates a great Greek victory, Aeschylus chose not to present Greek heroism, rather focusing on the despair of the defeated Persians.
The story of the Persians occupied much of the Bread and Puppet theater's 2021 Domestic Resurrection Circus, from circus to pageant and touring show. Peter Schumann later drew material from these various productions to again transform Aeschylus' work into different media. This book was put together with the support of Mina Odile, who also provided the Persian and Greek lettering. Raphael Royer composed the faces of the narrators in the last section, and did all the necessary image scanning. Puppeteer Ira Karp was the first to call the Greek author "Mister Aeschylus", an honorific we have chosen to preserve. Mark Estrin and Donna Bister at Fomite Press contributed the final page arrangements and details.
