AUTHORS: Sophocles

  Sophocles was born in 496 BC near Athens in the town of Colonus to a wealthy family. He lived for 90 years, during which he received the finest aristocratic education, held minor political offices, wrote over 100 plays, won 24 literary contests, and became a leading dramatist. Of the many plays he rote, only seven have survived intact, and 80 or 90 fragments of others. The seven complete works are all considered to be powerful for their intricate plots and dramatic style, but the trilogy is regarded by many as a masterpiece. Sophocles is now considered by many to be the greatest of the Greek tragedians. He contributed many things to dramatic technique, including two important innovations: he increased the number of actors from two to three to allow for a more complicated plot and a more effective portrayal of characters by contrast and juxtaposition, and he changed the Aeschylan fashion of composing plays in three’s with one myth or theme to each play with its own.

List Of Works:
 
Oedipus the King - 430 BC
Oedipus at Colonus - (Produced posthumously) 401 BC
Antigone - 441 BC
Ajax - 451-444 BC
Electra - 415 BC
Philoctetes - 409 BC
The Trachiniae - 441 BC

 

 

Updated on: Sunday, August 16, 1998 04:46:27 PM