Aeschylus staged his victory as tragedy from the enemy’s viewpoint

Evidence

The Persians by Aeschylus was first staged in 472 BC, seven years after the withdrawal of the Persian army from mainland Greece. Both the author and his audience were veterans of that war. Aeschylus’s brother was killed in the aftermath of Marathon. His hand was cut off as he was hanging on to a Persian ship. Aeschylus’s play commemorates the triumph of Greek arms against vastly superior forces. However, as Lewis has indicated, it seeks to do this from the Persian point of view. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 35

Categorization

• XREF: This is the play where Lewis and Said read opposite meanings — the crux of the Orientalism debate about empathy versus projection on to Asia.

Related

• Greek writing about Persia was respectful despite centuries of conflict (similarity 0.79)