Aeschylus was born about the year 525 BC in a small town called Eleusis , which is about 27 kilometers northwest of Athens . The date is based on counting back forty years from his first victory in the Great Dionysia . He was said to have been born in c. 525 BC in Eleusis , a small town about 27 kilometers northwest of Athens , which is nestled in the fertile valleys of western Attica , though the date is most likely based on counting back forty years from his first victory in the Great Dionysia .