Other than Sophocles, before him, were Aeschylus and Euripides. These play writes, apart from Shakespeare, were the founding fathers of the Greek tragedy. All of these play writes were from Athens (GreeenhavenPress), but contributed their own special piece to Greek theater. .
The Greek Tragedy began in the honor of Dionysus, who is the god of wine and fertility. The performances that would take place were among the first forms of theater; their singing and dancing were included in the rituals. These theatrical performances soon resulted in competitions in current day Turkey (Damen) There were three categories of Greek theater. Athenian had more concepts of religion and was in a simple space with wooden benches; at this time, all plays were performed outdoors (Inglert). Hellenistic included an orchestra, skene, and parados, and had painted back panels known as pinakes. The area was in a circular shape and had pillars. Roman and Greek theater come into play with Graceo-Roman theater. This held a larger audience, and had a lot of respect towards the gods. For example, if a character portrayed a god on stage, they had to arrive and leave in a godly manor. They included mostly comedies, and innovations such as exit rooms and trap doors (ruben).
Aeschylus, the first of these play writers, was born in Eleusis around 525 B.C (Helaine) in a city near Athens. He is known as "the father of the Greek tragedy " because he one of the earliest play writes, somewhat setting the stage for both Sophocles and Euripides. Aeschylus composed his first tragedy at the age of twenty six years old (Bates). His plays were presented in trilogies or groups of three, and he introduced the second actor. When Aeschylus began play writing, it was a fairly new idea. Before, there would be one actor on stage constantly changing costumes/masks; adding the second actor allowed more flexibility in the play. The "Supppliants" was his first work, but his most famous works that managed to survive of the over ninety plays were The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliant Maidens, The Orchestra, Agamemnon, and The Prometheus (Smith).
