Sophocles (c. 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian. Along with Aeschylus and Euripides, he is one of the rare ancient Greek tragedian whose plays have survived. He is an author of over 120 plays but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. He was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens.
According to Aristotle, Sophocles was responsible for adding a third actor in performance of drama (thught according to Themistius, this was done by Aeschylus). Addition of a third actor influenced the development of drama by reducing the importance of the chorus in the presentation of the plot.
Biography[]
Sophocles grew up in a wealthy family in the rural deme of Hippeios Colonus in Attica. It is suggested this was his place of birth. He was born a few years before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact year is unclear, but 497/6 is most likely.
Historian Plutarch states Sophocles' first produced work was presented in competition in 468 BC in which he beat the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus. Later scholars, however, think his first production was probably in 470 BC. According to Plutarch, the victory came under unusual circumstances: instead of following the usual custom of choosing judges by lot, the archon asked Cimon, and the other strategoi present, to decide the victor of the contest.
Politician Cimon might have been one of Sophocles' patrons in Sophocles' early career. Regardless of whether Cimon was a patron or not, Cimon's rival, democrat Pericles (who ostracized Cimon in 461 BC) held no grudges against Sophocles. In 443/2, during the political ascendancy of Pericles, Sophocles served as one of the Hellenotamiai (tresurer) of the city. In 441 BC, he was elected one of the ten generals, executive officials at Athens, as a junior colleague of Pericles and he served in the Athenian campaign against Samos. He was said said to have been elected elected to this position as the result of his production of Antigone but historians believe this was most likely not the real reason.
Sophocles died at the age of 90 or 91 in the winter of 406/5 BC and just like with many famous men in classical antiquity it inspired a number of apocryphal stories. The most famous one is that he he died from the strain of trying to recite a long sentence from his Antigone without pausing to take a breath. Others say that he choked while eating grapes at the Anthesteria festival in Athens or that he died of happiness after winning his final victory at the City Dionysia.
Writing career and legacy[]
Historian Plutarch states Sophocles' first produced work was presented in competition in 468 BC in which he beat the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus. Later scholars, however, think his first production was probably in 470 BC. According to Plutarch, the victory came under unusual circumstances: instead of following the usual custom of choosing judges by lot, the archon asked Cimon, and the other strategoi present, to decide the victor of the contest.
Sophocles participated in thirty Athenian dramatic competitions which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He won eighteen at Dionysia, and six at Lenaia festivals and he was was never judged lower than second place.
Sophocles' career can be seperated into three stages. He was heavily influenced by Aeschylus and he immitaded him in the first stage. In the second stage, his writting style became independet. He also introduced new ways of evoking feeling out of an audience. For example, in Ajax the stage is emptied before Ajax commits suicide. In the third stage, Sophocles put more attention at improving the character's way of speaking.
Sophocles signifficantly developed dramatic structure. He developed characters deeper than previous playwrights. According to Aristotle, he added a third actor thereby reducing the role of the chorus, and increasing opportunities for development and conflict. However, according to Themistius, this was done by Aeschylus. Aristotle also credits Sophocles with the introduction of skenographia, or scenery-painting. However, according to Vitruvius, this was done by Agatharchus of Samos.
Works[]
Surviving works[]
Note: Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus are the only Sophocles' plays which can be dated securely. The chronological order of other works is estimated by their stylistic elements. (Electra is simmilar to Philocteses and Oedipus at Colonus; Ajax, Antigone and Women of Trachis are thought to be early period and Oedipus Rex middle period).
- Ajax
- Antigone
- Women of Trachis
- Oedipus Rex
- Electra
- Philocteses (409 BC)
- Oedipus at Colonus (401 BC)
Fragmentary plays[]
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