4 History in the Making: Theatre and
the Past
Herodotus of Helicarnassus here presents his research so that human events do
not fade with time.^1With this sentence, Herodotus, also known as the‘father of history’, begins
his account of the war between the Greeks and the Persians. The Greek
armies, vastly outnumbered, triumph over the invading forces of the East;
their victory makes possible the Athenian civilisation, including its philoso-
phy, its theatre and, of course, Herodotus’work itself. So just like philosophy
and theatre, history (as we now know it) can claim to have its origins in the
Greek world. And, in that Greek world, Herodotus, thefirst historian, is
known to have interacted with the philosophers and the playwrights. It is
thought, for example, that he was a friend of Sophocles, the tragedian;
and certainly Herodotus’history, just like Socrates’philosophy, is mocked
in the comedies of Aristophanes. But before Herodotus wrote his history –
probably while he was still a child–the tragedian, Aeschylus, put on a
play about the very same Persian war.
Aeschylus had actually fought in the Persian war, in the great Greek
victory at the Battle of Marathon; but he chose to write his tragedy about
the Battle of Salamis and from the Persian perspective.^2 Set at the court
of the Persian king,The Persiansfeatures a messenger’s speech, describing
the battle:
The shores of Salamis, and all the neighbouring coasts,
Are strewn with bodies miserably done to death. [...]
Our bows and arrows were no help; there, overwhelmed
By crashing prows, we watched a nation sink and die.^3Performed just eight years after the battle itself, the messenger’s speech is
the earliest surviving account of Salamis– earlier than, and different
from, the account left to us by Herodotus. It would have been performed
in front of an Athenian audience who knew all too well the cost of war;
many of them would have fought in the very battle described on stage;
all of them would have lived through it. Behind the spectators, ruined