Persians

“The musicality of Deborah Roberts’ translation of Aeschylus’ Persians, the earliest Greek tragedy that has come down to us, rivals the playwright’s own astonishing lyricism. She crafts extended speeches by the drama’s characters into captivating set-pieces of performance poetry. Roberts also replicates Herodotus’ celebrated storytelling energy in her translation of the passages from his Histories included in this volume. In her Introduction, Roberts examines Aeschylus’ drama and Herodotus’ representations of Persian culture as crucial records of ancient Greek conceptions of otherness and perceptively appraises the Persians itself as a sober contemplation upon the shared human toll of political ambition and warfare’s traumas and grief, making this book urgently relevant to contemporary audiences.” —James Bradley Wells, PhD, Edwin L. Minar Professor of Classical Studies, DePauw University

“In her new translation of Aeschylus’ Persians, Deborah Roberts seeks to balance readable English idiom with faithfulness to Aeschylean expression. This is not an easy feat, but Roberts is successful. She has produced a text that will be most suitable for the student or casual reader, due to its close translation and helpful bibliography. Roberts’ translation is lucid and often beautiful, and faithfully carries over some of the peculiarities of Aeschylean phrasing that make the Persians distinct. The introductory materials, notes, and excerpts from Herodotus contribute to a book that will help beginners not only to understand the play at first reading, but to begin thinking about it for themselves….In sum, Roberts’ translation will be a welcome resource for students, and a pleasure to readers of every level.” —Isabella Reinhardt, University of Austin, in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Deborah H. Roberts is Professor Emerita of Classics and Comparative Literature, Haverford College.