Editing Aeschylus (section)

===Trilogies===
One hallmark of Aeschylean [[dramaturgy]] appears to have been his tendency to write connected trilogies in which each play serves as a chapter in a continuous dramatic narrative.<ref>{{harvnb |Sommerstein |2010}}</ref> The ''[[Oresteia]]'' is the only extant example of this type of connected trilogy, but there is evidence that Aeschylus often wrote such trilogies. The satyr plays that followed his tragic trilogies also drew from myth.

The satyr play [[Oresteia#Proteus|Proteus]], which followed the ''Oresteia'', treated the story of Menelaus' detour in Egypt on his way home from the [[Trojan War]]. It is assumed, based on the evidence provided by a catalogue of Aeschylean play titles, [[scholia]], and play fragments recorded by later authors, that three other extant plays of his were components of connected trilogies: ''Seven Against Thebes'' was the final play in an Oedipus trilogy, and ''The Suppliants'' and ''Prometheus Bound'' were each the first play in a Danaid trilogy and Prometheus trilogy, respectively. Scholars have also suggested several completely lost trilogies, based on known play titles. A number of these treated myths about the Trojan War. One, collectively called the ''[[Achilleis (trilogy)|Achilleis]]'', comprised ''Myrmidons'', ''Nereids'' and ''Phrygians'' (alternately, ''The Ransoming of Hector'').

Another trilogy apparently recounted the entrance of the Trojan ally [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]] into the war, and his death at the hands of Achilles (''Memnon'' and ''The Weighing of Souls'' being two components of the trilogy). ''The Award of the Arms'', ''The Phrygian Women'', and ''The Salaminian Women'' suggest a trilogy about the madness and subsequent suicide of the Greek hero [[Ajax the great|Ajax]]. Aeschylus seems to have written about [[Odysseus]]' return to Ithaca after the war (including his killing of his wife [[Penelope]]'s suitors and its consequences) in a trilogy consisting of ''The Soul-raisers'', ''Penelope'', and ''The Bone-gatherers''. Other suggested trilogies touched on the myth of Jason and the Argonauts (''Argô'', ''Lemnian Women'', ''Hypsipylê''), the life of Perseus (''The Net-draggers'', ''Polydektês'', ''Phorkides''), the birth and exploits of Dionysus (''Semele'', ''Bacchae'', ''Pentheus''), and the aftermath of the war portrayed in ''Seven Against Thebes'' (''Eleusinians'', ''Argives'' (or ''Argive Women''), ''Sons of the Seven'').{{sfn|Sommerstein|2010|p=34}}