Ancient Greek & Roman
Sophocles
Sophocles (c. 497–406 BC) was born at Colonus, just outside Athens, and lived through the city’s greatest age. He was celebrated as a boy for his skill in music and dance, and in 468 BC won the tragic competition at the Dionysia over Aeschylus. He went on to win first prize many times and is said never to have taken third place.
He served the city as a treasurer of the Athenian empire and as one of its generals, and held a priesthood. Of well over a hundred plays, seven survive complete: Ajax, Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra, Trachiniae, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. He is credited with adding a third actor and with developing painted scenery.
Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, the Theban plays, were written years apart and not as a trilogy. Oedipus at Colonus was produced after his death, in 401 BC, by his grandson Sophocles.
Major Works (7)
- Ajax — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
- Antigone — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
- Electra — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
- Oedipus at Colonus — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
- Oedipus the King — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
- Philoctetes — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)
- The Trachinian Maidens — translated by Lewis Campbell (1906)