Sophocles Biography

He was one of the most famous and celebrated writers of tragedy plays in ancient Greece and his surviving works, written throughout the 5th century BCE, include such classics as "Oedipus the King", "Antigone", and "Women of Trachis". As with other Greek plays, Sophocles’ work is not only a record of Greek theatre but also provides an invaluable insight into many of the political and social aspects of ancient Greece, from family relations to details of Greek religion. In addition, Sophocles’ innovations in theatre presentation would provide the foundations for all future western dramatic performance, and his plays continue to be performed today in theatres around the world.

The Greek world had three great tragedians: Aeschylus (c. 525 - c. 456 BCE), Euripides (c. 484 - 407 BCE), and Sophocles. Their works were usually first performed in groups of threes (not necessarily trilogies) in such religious festivals as the competitions of Dionysos Eleuthereus, notably the City Dionysia in Athens. The plays were often performed again in lesser theatres around Greece, and the best were even distributed in written form for public reading, kept as official state documents for posterity, and studied as part of the standard Greek education.

Athens held a dramatic competition every year, at the Festival of Dionysus. At this time, three playwrights would each present a tetralogy — four tragedies as well as a "satyr play," a kind of short, rough comedy — on three successive days. At the end of the festival, ten judges would award first, second, and third prizes for the best drama. The prize itself is not known, although it was probably money and a symbol of some sort; but the true glory of winning first place was the approval of the Athenian public.

Sophocles won first prize at the Festival of Dionysus 18 times, frequently over such competitors as Aeschylus and Euripides. Some of Sophocles' plays won second prize — "Oedipus the King", for example — but none ever came in third. Year after year, Sophocles' tragedies gained recognition as among the best dramas written at a time when competition was at its highest.

Perhaps Sophocles' greatest achievement is his enduring popularity as a dramatist. The fact that his works are studied today, approximately 2,400 years after they were written, is a testament to the power of his words and the impact those stories have on current culture.

We know that Sophocles wrote around 120 plays in all but these have survived only in a fragmentary form. A reasonable chunk of the satyr play The Searchers survives but in many cases only a few lines have withstood the ravages of time.

Sophocles’ seven surviving full plays are:

• Antigone (c. 442 BCE) about a woman torn between public and private duty.
• Oedipus The King (429 - 420 BCE) about the famous king who loved his mother a little too much.
• Philoctetes (409 BCE) on how Odysseus persuades the hero to join the Trojan War.
• Oedipus at Colonus (401 BCE) the final part of the trilogy about Oedipus.
• Ajax (date unknown) on the hero of the Trojan War and his wounded pride.
• Electra (date unknown) about two siblings who take revenge for their father’s murder.
• Women of Trachis (date unknown) about the wife of Hercules and her failed attempt to regain her husband’s affections.