Skip to content
The Return of Xerxes
Scene 6
The Reckoning

The Return of Xerxes

The king who commanded millions comes home alone, in torn robes, holding an almost-empty quiver. In the kommos — the great antiphonal lament that closes the play — Xerxes and the elders call the roll of the dead, name by name, and answer each other shriek for shriek as the broken king is led weeping into his palace.
Invoking the sacred fire...