Tragedy before Aeschylus

Greek tragedy is often seen today as intimately and essentially bound up with Athenian democracy. This connection is in large part thanks to Aeschylus. His Persians commemorates the victory at Salamis which preserved the nascent democratic state; his Suppliant Women portrays a king who nevertheless defers to his city's democratic assembly; his Oresteia concludes unexpectedly with the establishment of the jury system which was at the heart of democratic Athens. Aristotle's Poetics mentions in passing how Dorian Greeks claimed tragedy as their own invention, but does not elaborate, apart from noting the specifically Sicilian associations of early comedy. Aeschylus's own first entry in the tragic competitions is said to have taken place between 499 and 496, though it was over a decade before he won first prize in 484.