The Persians

It’s 480 BCE, and the Persian Empire controls almost all of Central Asia. Several months ago, the Persian King Xerxes set out to conquer Greece, sending troops by land and by sea to Salamis, an island near the Greek city of Athens. But Xerxes and his army should have returned already, and as each day passes, the citizens of Persia grow more anxious about what could have happened.

Now, a Chorus of elders (advisors to the Persian royal family) gather in Sousa, the capital city of the Persian empire. The Chorus boasts of the strong Persian army, gesturing to the tomb of King Darius—Xerxes’s father and one of Persia’s most beloved past leaders—behind them. In a chant structured around Strophes and Antistrophes, the Chorus notes that while they expected Xerxes to be back ages ago, they are still that convinced Persians are “never defeated” in battle.

The Queen of Persia, Xerxes’s mother, arrives onstage. The Queen is less hopeful than the Chorus, describing a dream she had that she believes is a bad omen for the Persians. In her dream, there were two sisters, one dressed in Persian clothing and the other dressed in Greek garb. The two sisters began to fight, so Xerxes tried to intervene, but he only made things worse. The Ghost of King Darius then appeared in the dream, just in time to witness Xerxes’s failure—and when Xerxes spotted his father, he was so overcome with shame that he tore his robes to shreds.

The Queen continues: after she woke up her dream, she was eager to shake off the ominous feeling with a small sacrifice to the gods. But when the Queen went to the palace altar, she saw an eagle in flight, pursued by a falcon. As the Queen watched, the falcon attacked and killed the eagle, terrifying the Queen and making her wonder if this, too, was a dangerous sign for the Persian troops.

The Chorus Leader steps forward, urging the Queen to offer libations to the gods and to her dead husband Darius. The Chorus also informs the Queen that Athens is a rich and populous city, suggesting that it may have been unwise for Xerxes to try to invade it. At the same time, the Chorus acknowledges that if Xerxes has successfully conquered Athens, then Persia will be able to rule over all of Greece.

A Messenger arrives, bringing bad news from Greece: the Greeks and Persians fought a bloody battle at Salamis. But though the Persians initially far outnumbered the Greek forces, the Greeks have nevertheless triumphed, and the Persians have been decimated. And while Xerxes himself survived, much to the Queen’s relief, almost of all of Persia’s other generals were slaughtered.

The Queen, devastated, wonders how the Greeks pulled off this victory despite the Persians’ stronger numbers. The Messenger explains that a Greek soldier gave Xerxes false intel about the Greek troops’ plans, thus tricking the Persian king into steering all of his ships into the narrow straits surrounding Salamis. Once the Persian fleet was trapped in these straits, the Greek forces attacked, pushing Persia’s boats so close together that they crashed into each other and sunk.

The Messenger goes on, revealing that in addition to this naval defeat, the Persians also suffered a terrible loss on land, when Xerxes sent a group of his troops on a misguided mission to a smaller island near Salamis. There, too, the Greeks emerged victorious, slaughtering Persians and leaving their bodies strewn across the shore. When Xerxes took in the carnage, he was so humiliated that he collapsed to the ground, tearing his robes just like the Queen had envisioned in her dream.

In addition to Xerxes, the Messenger explains, a few other soldiers did survive. Those who made it out of Salamis had to make a difficult trek back to Persia, crossing a frozen river to do so. But to add insult to injury, the river melted while the Persian forces were crossing it, meaning that even some of the few surviving men drowned before they could make it safely back to Sousa.

The Messenger departs, and the Queen vows that despite this terrible news, she will not lose hope for the future. Instead, she will offer libations to the gods and prayers to her dead husband’s ghost. After the Queen departs, the Chorus chants in unison, reflecting that Persia’s imperial era has now come to an end. Under Darius, the Chorus laments, Persia seemed unstoppable—but when “Xerxes led, […] Xerxes lost.”

The Queen returns with her offerings, and the Chorus joins her prayer to Darius. At last, Darius rises from his grave, demanding to know why the Queen has summoned him. Tearfully, the Queen tells Darius about Xerxes’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Greeks. Darius blames his son’s hubris and greed for this loss, declaring that those who take for granted their “present fortune, lusting after more […] end up squandering great prosperity.” To avoid another such tragedy, Darius also cautions that the Persians should never again try to invade the Greeks.

Darius prepares to return to his grave. Before he does so, however, he reminds the Queen that not all is lost—with proper worship and respect for the gods, Persia can survive this tragedy. The Queen also exits, declaring that she will prepare clean clothes for Xerxes, since he has shredded his robes. Even “when evils fall on those we dearly love,” the Queen sighs as she leaves, “we never will betray them.”

At last, Xerxes returns, collapsing when he sees the Chorus in mourning. As the Chorus sings of the devasted women and children all across Persia, Xerxes joins in their song, begging the members of the Chorus to “cry out antiphonal to me.” The Chorus obliges, and they welcome Xerxes into their chant, promising to escort him back to his palace with their shared “mournful lament.”