At length we reach a poet who seems to have been really great, a dramatist whose works, even to a generation which knew and reverenced Æschylus, seemed unworthy to be let die—PHRYNICHUS of Athens, son of Polyphradmon, whose first victory occurred 512-509 B.C. It is said that he was the first to bring female characters upon the stage (always, however, played by men). The following dramas are known by name: _Egyptians_; _Alcestis_; _Antæus_ or _The Libyans_; _The Daughters of Danaus_; _The Capture of Miletus_; _Phœnician Women_ (_Phœnissæ_); _The Women of Pleuron_; _Tantalus_; _Troilus_. The _Egyptians_ seems to have dealt with the same subject as the _Supplices_ of Æschylus; so does the _Danaides_; these two dramas may have formed part of a trilogy. The _Alcestis_ followed the same lines as the Euripidean play; it is probable, indeed, that the apparition of Death with a sword was borrowed by Euripides from Phrynichus. The _Antæus_ related the wrestling-match between Heracles and his earth-born foe. The manner in which Aristophanes[16] refers to the play shows that the description of the wrestling-bout was still celebrated after the lapse of a century. The _Pleuroniæ_ treated of Meleager and the fateful log which was preserved, and then burnt in anger, by his mother Althæa. Two plays were specially important. The _Phœnissæ_ (produced in 476), celebrated the victory of Salamis, had Themistocles himself for choregus, and won the prize; its popularity never waned throughout the fifth century. We are told that the prologue was spoken by an eunuch while he placed the cushions for the Persian counsellors; further—an important fact—that this person, at the beginning of the play, announced the defeat of Xerxes. The _Capture of Miletus_, less popular in later days—no fragments at all are to be found—created even more stir at the moment. Miletus had been captured by Darius in 494 B.C., Athens having failed to give effective support to the Ionian revolt. While the distress and shame excited by the fall of the proudest city in Asiatic Greece were still strong in Athenian minds, Phrynichus ventured to dramatize the disaster. Herodotus tells how “the theatre burst into tears; they fined him a thousand drachmæ for reminding them of their own misfortunes, and gave command that no man should ever use that play again”.[17]