This article argues that Aeschylus’ Persae provides fascinating source material for thestudy of causality and tragic responsibility in ancient Greek tragedy. Rather than subscribingto the traditional viewpoint that Persae consolidates archaic religious belief, itaims to demonstrate the ways in which the play continuously calls into question the statusof human agency. By paying close attention to parallels and shifts in the word usagethroughout the play, the article focuses in particular on the growing tension between thehuman and the divine, on the varied attributions of causality, and on the emergence of atragic vocabulary centered around the notion of deep thought.
