Ascyhlus lived around 525-456 B.C. Besides being a writer, he fought in the Battle of Salamis, which ended the Persian Wars. He added another actor and reduced the chorus to fifteen. Of the ninety plays that he wrote, seven tragedies have been preserved.
He lived during the height of Athenian power, and his writings reflect this. A theme that underlies Aeschylus' plays is the will to live in the face of death. One triumphs heroically over adversity by struggling against it and refusing to submit. Asychulus also wrestles with the question of how a just God could allow innocent individuals to suffer. Suffering is the result of sin. Through this pain and suffering, though, individuals gain wisdom.