Persians recap

At the Persian court in Susa, elderly councillors and Queen Atossa wait anxiously for news of Xerxes's enormous expedition against Greece. A messenger arrives with word that the Persian fleet has been destroyed at Salamis after being drawn into confined waters, and that much of the army and its leadership has been lost during the retreat. Atossa and the elders summon the ghost of the former king Darius. He condemns the campaign's arrogance, warns of another Persian defeat at Plataea, and urges an end to invasions of Greece. Xerxes finally returns in torn clothing with only a fraction of his forces. The play closes with the defeated king and the chorus mourning the dead and the ruin of Persian power abroad.

In Susa, a chorus of elderly Persian nobles waits for news from the immense army that King Xerxes has led into Greece. Queen Atossa, disturbed by a symbolic dream and a troubling omen, asks the elders about Athens and the people her son is fighting. A messenger arrives and reports catastrophe: Xerxes lives, but the Persian fleet has been destroyed at Salamis after the Greeks lured it into waters where its numerical advantage could not be used. Many commanders are dead, and the army's retreat has brought further losses. Atossa and the elders make offerings and summon the ghost of her late husband, Darius. He rebukes the expedition's excesses, warns that the troops left in Greece face another defeat at Plataea, and tells Persia not to invade Greece again. After the ghost departs, Xerxes returns in disgrace with a shattered remnant of his force. King and chorus end the play in a shared lament for the dead and for the expedition's collapse.

Darius's ghost returns below after warning that the surviving Persian force will suffer another defeat at Plataea and that Persia should not again send an army into Greece. Atossa goes to fetch suitable clothing for her son. Xerxes then reaches Susa with only a remnant of his expedition, grieving for the commanders and soldiers lost in Greece. He and the chorus answer one another in a final lament over the fleet, the army, and the collapse of Persian confidence. Xerxes survives, but his attempt to extend Persian rule into Greece has ended in national bereavement and humiliation.