The Persians (Persii) was part of a trilogy produced in 472 BC and the story takes place in Susa, one of the capitals of Persia, and opens with the chorus of Persian nobles and Queen Mother Atossa awaiting news of King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks.

This is an unusual beginning for a tragedy by Aeschylus; normally the chorus would not appear until slightly later, after a speech by a minor character. A messenger then arrives, delivering news of the defeat, the names of the Persian leaders who have been killed, and the relieving news that King Xerxes had escaped and is returning. Then he leaps into a graphic description of the Battle of Salamis and its gory outcome. The climax of the messenger's soliloquy is his rendition of the battle cry of the Greeks as they charged: "Forward, sons of the Greeks, liberate the fatherland, liberate your children, your women, the temples of your ancestral gods, the graves of your forebears: this is the battle for everything" .

Atossa then goes to the tomb of her dead husband Darius, and summons his ghost. Upon learning of the Persian defeat, Darius condemns the hubris behind his son’s decision to invade Greece. He particularly rebukes as impious Xerxes’ decision to build a bridge over the Hellespont to expedite the Persian army’s advance. Before departing, the ghost of Darius prophesies another Persian defeat at Plataea. Xerxes finally appears, reeling from his crushing defeat. The rest of the drama consists of the king and chorus lamenting the enormity of Persia’s defeat.