Aeschylus: Agamemnon. Libation bearers. Eumenides

"Aeschylean tragedy represents the earliest extant Greek tragedy of the late-6th and 5th centuries B.C.E., as well as being one of the pinnackles of the art form. It is the product of an Athens that in the late 6th century devised and implemented a form of government known as democracy; not of a parliamentary or representative sort, but a direct democracy, one in which the Athenian citizen governed himself, which is what democracy means: rule by the people. ... Aeschylus loved Athens, and in particular its achievements in government, to such a degree that no matter in what time his plays are set ... there is always Athens, or Athens' image, and her glory, primarily in regard to justice. In many respects Aeschylus served as Athens' conscience as well as the profoundest expositor of her greatness."--Back cover