*Athens. Powerful city-state of ancient Greece and capital of Attica, a province of east-central Greece. Athenian forces were prominent in defeating the Persians at Salamis and in other battles in a fifteen-year war.
*Persia. Country in western Asia that is now known as Iran. At the time of the play, Persia controlled a vast empire extending from India through Asia Minor to the Aegean Sea, solidified by Cyrus the Great and sustained by his son Darius, who ruled until 529 b.c.e.
*Susa. Capital of the Persian Empire in which the play is set. Darius built the city on an ancient fertile tract on the lower Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, a site now south of Dezfl in southwestern Iran. The ancient city had a strongly fortified citadel containing the treasury and the palace, consisting of self-contained units with successive rooms opening onto central courts. The city’s ruins were discovered in the nineteenth century. Xerxes’ father Darius, probably buried in Susa, had sought to reclaim a portion of his empire by invading Greece in 490 b.c.e. but was defeated by Athenian forces. Ten years later, Xerxes invaded Greece only to be defeated and forced to retreat, thus liberating Greek cities in Asia Minor. Queen Atossa, Xerxes’ mother, and a chorus of elders mourn her son’s defeat on his return.
*Salamis. Island off the coast of Attica in east-central Greece, whose capital was the city-state of Athens. The Bay of Salamis was the scene of the Greek naval victory over the Persian fleet in 490 b.c.e.