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Thomas Godfrey
1736–1763
A promising early American poet and dramatist, he is best remembered for writing The Prince of Parthia, the first play by an American to be performed by a professional cast in the colonies. He died at just twenty-six, leaving behind a small but notable body of work.
1 Audiobook
The Prince of Parthia: A Tragedy
by Thomas Godfrey
About the author
Born in Philadelphia on December 4, 1736, Thomas Godfrey was an American poet and playwright whose literary reputation rests mainly on The Prince of Parthia and The Court of Fancy. He was the son of Thomas Godfrey, the inventor associated with the octant, and he grew up in a family connected to the intellectual life of colonial Philadelphia.
Godfrey worked for a time as a mercantile agent and spent several years in North Carolina, but writing remained at the center of his ambitions. Although The Prince of Parthia was published after his death, it later earned an important place in American theater history as the first play written by an American to be staged by a professional company in the United States.
His life was brief—he died in Philadelphia on August 3, 1763—but his work helped mark an early moment in the development of American literature and drama.