A Turtle Dropped from the Heavens

Aeschylus was the founding father of Greek tragedy. He believed life was vicious, the gods were brutal, and all were doomed to meet a tragic end, either at the hand of fate or the gods, neither of which cared about the sickness unto death that is the pitiable plight of human life.

As legend has it, Aeschylus was walking around one day when an eagle soared overhead, a turtle in its talons hoping to crack its shell and enjoy a tasty meal. As misfortune would have it, Aeschylus’s bald, shiny dome caught the eagle’s eye, and mistaking it for a rock, the eagle dropped the turtle from high in the heavens, and poor Aeschylus met (or didn’t meet) his maker by way of a turtle dropped from the heavens.