Eteocles, high king of Cadmus' folk,

I stand here with news certified and sure

From Argos' camp, things by myself descried.

Seven warriors yonder, doughty chiefs of might,

Into the crimsoned concave of a shield

Have shed a bull's blood, and, with hands immersed

Into the gore of sacrifice, have sworn

By Ares, lord of fight, and by thy name,

The Seven Against Thebes is the third and only surviving play of a Oedipus-themed trilogy, presented in 467 BC, that dealt with the impious transgressions of Laius and the doom subsequently inflicted upon his descendants. It concerns the battle between an Argive army led by Polynices and the army of Thebes led by Eteocles and his supporters. The first two plays of the triology, Laius and Oedipus as well as the satyr play Sphinx are no longer extant.

Asechylus(525/524 BC–456/455 BC): the first of classical Athens' great dramatists, who raised the emerging art of tragedy to great heights of poetry and theatrical power. Aeschylus wrote approximately 90 plays, including satyr plays as well as tragedies; of these, only seven survived. According to the philosopher Flavius Philostratus, Aeschylus was known as the “Father of Tragedy.”Aeschylus' influence on the development of tragedy was fundamental. Previous to him, Greek drama was limited to one actor and a chorus engaged in a largely static recitation. By adding a second actor with whom the first could converse, Aeschylus vastly increased the drama's possibilities for dialogue and dramatic tension and allowed more variety and freedom in plot construction.