The Persians is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilogy that won the first prize at the dramatic competitions in Athens' City Dionysia festival in 472 BCE. It takes place in Susa, which at the time was one of the capitals of the Persian Empire, and opens with a chorus of old men, who are soon joined by the Queen Mother, Atossa, as they await news of her son King Xerxes' expedition against the Greeks.