Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. He created conflict between characters rather than a character and the chorus, and increased the number of characters in the theatre, as described by Aristotle. He was born around 525 BC in a place called 'Attica' just northwest of Athens. He worked in a vineyard, until one day he claimed the Greek god of wine and fertility visited him in his sleep, ordering him to turn his attention to theatre and tragedy.

Euripides was 1 of the 3 mentioned here which had surviving plays from that time to modern times. He was born around 490 BC. He was born on Salamis island, with an affinity towards athletics, but was destined for theatre. His first play was staged 13 years after Sophocles' debut in the theatre, and he was known as "the most tragic of all poets" with a focus on the inner lives of his characters. His plays had tragic, comic, romantic, and political elements intertwined inside of them.

Sophocles was born around 500 BC, and he wrote around 120 plays but only 7 survived in full to modern times. For nearly 50 years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens during the festivals of Dionysia (celebration of Dionysus) and Lenaea (celebration of drama and Dionysus.) He was a wealthy member of his community in Attica called 'Hippeios Colonus'. His style was normally focusing on a few characters with strong qualities which ended up leading to their tragedy.