Sophocles

While we can't be completely certain, most sources agree that Sophocles was born in 495 or 496 B.C.E. . He wrote over a hundred plays, but only seven survive to this day. Two of those plays (Oedipus Rex and Antigone) are read in class your sophomore year.



Biographical Information
"The son of Sophilus, the owner of a successful weapons factory, Sophocles was born c. 496 B.C.E. in Colonus near Athens, Greece. He grew up during the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens. Sophocles won awards while in school for music and wrestling, and because of his constant activity he was known as the "Attic Bee." His music teacher was Lamprus, a famous composer. Tradition says that because of his beauty and talent, Sophocles was chosen to lead the male chorus at the celebration of the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis.

In 468 B.C.E. Sophocles defeated the famous playwright Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.E. ) in one of the drama contests common at the time. He gained first prize more than any other Greek dramatist. He was also known for being friendly and popular. From 443 to 442 B.C.E. he served the Athenian empire as imperial treasurer, and he was elected general at least twice. His religious activities included service as a priest, and he turned over his house for the worship of Asclepius (the Greek god of medicine) until a proper temple could be built. For this he was honored with the title Dexion as a hero after his death. Sophocles had two sons, Iophon and Sophocles, by his first wife, Nicostrata. He had a third son, Ariston, by his second wife, Theoris."

Career
Sophocles began his theatre career by entering the festival at the City Dionysia. Each year, the citizens would hold a festival to honor the Greek god Dionysus. His first year, Sophocles won the competition by defeating another famous Grecian playwright (Aeschylus).

"In addition to his theatrical duties, Sophocles served for many years as an ordained priest of Alcon and Asclepius, the god of medicine. He also served on the Board of Generals, a committee that administered civil and military affairs in Athens, and for a time he was director of the Treasury, controlling the funds of the association of states known as the Delian Confederacy.

One of the great innovators of the theatre, he was the first to add a third actor. He also abolished the trilogic form in which Aeschylus, for example, had used three tragedies to tell a single story. Sophocles chose to make each tragedy a complete entity in itself as a result of which he had to pack all of his action into the shorter form, and this clearly offered greater dramatic possibilities."

Many authorities also credit him with the invention of scene-painting and periaktoi or painted prisms.

Selected Works
It's believed that Sophocles wrote over one hundred and twenty plays, but only seven exist today. Those plays are:
 * Antigone
 * Ajax
 * Oedipus Rex
 * Electra
 * The Trachinian Maidens
 * Philoctetes
 * Oedipus at Colonnus

Literary Criticism

 * Criticism for Electra - http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ElAnt/V3N6/grote.html
 * Oedipus Rex - http://www.enotes.com/classical-medieval-criticism/oedipus-tyrannus-sophocles