4. The “father of tragedy”, the ancient playwright Aeschylus is traditionally held to have died after a large bird dropped a tortoise onto his bald head after mistaking it for a rock
An acclaimed playwright from Ancient Greece, Aeschylus is widely regarded as the father of tragedy from whom academic knowledge of the genre begins. Described by Aristotle as being responsible for expanding the number of characters in Greek theater, as well as permitting conflict among them rather than merely interactions with the chorus, only seven of the legendary authors estimated seventy to ninety works have survived to the modern day. Presenting the first known trilogy in human history – the Oresteia – his plays were celebrated by both his contemporaries and modern scholars as masterpieces of the discipline.
Returning to Sicily for the last time in 458 BCE, at the age of almost seventy, the circumstances of Aeschylus’ death remains a subject of controversy within classical scholarship. According to tradition, whilst visiting the city of Gela in either 456 or 455, Aeschylus was slain after a bird – most likely an eagle, lammergeier or Cinereous vulture – dropped a tortoise onto his head after mistaking his bald pate for a rock suitable for breaking the reptile’s shell. Whether true or not, Aeschylus was sufficiently respected by his peers and lamented in death that only his plays were admissible in subsequent dramatic competitions in the city-state of Athens.