Sophocles

His Years of Life 496-406 B.C. Age 91 Sophocles was an ancient Greek playwright, born in Colonus

near Athens, Greece in 496 B.C.E. His father, Sophilus, was a rich member of a small community, the rural ‘Deme’. Sophocles was highly educated. He is one of three Greek tragedians whose plays have lived on. The Suda, which is an ancient 10th Century encyclopedia, from which we know that Sophocles wrote 123 plays out of which we have 7 complete plays. These are ‘Ajax’, ‘Antigone’, ‘The Women of Trachis’, ‘Oedipus the King’, ‘Electra’, ‘Philoctetes’ and ‘Oedipus at Colonus’. He took part in competitions and even won over the two popular playwrights Aeschylus and Euripides.

His Home Sophocles was born and grew up in the town of

Colonus, just outside of Athens

His Accomplishments In 468, Sophocles defeated the first of the the three great

Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, in a dramatic competition; then in 441, the third of the tragedian trio, Euripides, beat him. During his long life Sophocles earned many prizes, including about 20 for 1st place.

He was the Imperial Treasurer from 443 to 442 B.C.E, helping control the funds of the Delian Confederacy for the Athenian Empire. He was also elected as a member of the Board of Generals more than once.

Oedipus the King Sophocles (495 BC-405 BC) was a famous and successful

Athenian writer of tragedies in his own lifetime. Of his 120 plays, only 7 have survived. Oedipus the King, also called Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, written around 420 BC, has long been regarded not only as his finest play but also as the purest and most powerful expression of Greek tragic drama.

Antigone The tragedy was written somewhere around 442 BC. Chronologically,

it is the third of the three Theban plays, but was the first to be written. The play continues Aeschylus' play Seven Against Thebes, and it extends the Theban legend that predated it.

Philoctetes “Philoctetes” is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles,

first performed at the City Dionysia of Athens in 409 BCE, where it won first prize. The story takes place towards the end of the Trojan War, after the events recounted in Homer’s “Iliad”, and describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to persuade or trick the disabled Philoctetes into accompanying them to Troy, in order to fulfill a prophecy and finally bring the ten-year war to a close.

The Women of Trachis In The Women of Trachis, Sophocles presents another well-rounded

female character--Deianira, the wife of Heracles. His greatest character drama, however, is probably Electra.

Oedipus at Colonus Oedipus at Colonus is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian

tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles' death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson at the Festival of Dionysus in 401 BC

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