SOPHOCLES

born c. 496 BC, Colonus, near Athens died 406, Athens with Aeschylus and Euripides, one of classical Athens' three great tragic playwrights. The best known of his 123 dramas is Oedipus the King. born c. 496 BC, , Colonus, near Athens died 406, Athens with Aeschylus and Euripides, one of classical Athens' three great tragic playwrights. The best known of his 123 dramas is Oedipus the King. Sophocles' father, Sophillus, was a wealthy manufacturer of armour who gave his son a good education. It is not known when Sophocles first competed in dramatic festivals; he gained his first victory in 468, defeating Aeschylus. This began a career of unparalleled success and productivity. He wrote 123 dramas for the major dramatic competition, won perhaps as many as 24 victories, and never received less than second place at the competitions he entered. He also distinguished himself in the public life of Athens. In 442 he was one of the treasurers responsible for receiving and managing the tribute from Athens' subject-allies in the Delian League. In 440 he was elected one of 10 strategi (military and naval commanders); his senior colleague was Pericles. All the ancient biographical sources depict Sophocles as a gracious and well-loved public figure who participated actively in his community and exercised outstanding artistic talents. Outliving Euripides by a few months, he died just before the end of the Peloponnesian War. Only seven of Sophocles' tragediesAjax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonussurvive in their entirety; all are works of his maturity. He is credited with several dramatic innovations, including some type of scene paintings or pictorial prop, an increase in the number of members in the chorus, and the addition of a third actor onstage. He also is noted for his supple language and superb artistry. His plays centre on the collision of defective personal judgment with an unkind fate that leads to human loss and disaster. The formal perfection and vivid characterizations in his plays make them the epitome of classical Greek drama. Additional reading Greek tragedy in general is treated in H.D.F. Kitto, Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study, 3rd ed. (1961, reissued 1976), a lively survey but becoming dated; Richmond Lattimore, Story Patterns in Greek Tragedy (1964, reissued 1969); Arthur Pickard-Cambridge, The Dramatic Festivals of Athens, 2nd ed. rev. by John Gould and D.M. Lewis (1968), a standard work on the practical arrangements; H.C. Baldry, The Greek Tragic Theatre (1971), a simple, orthodox introduction; Albin Lesky, Greek Tragic Poetry (1983; originally published in German, 3rd rev. ed., 1972); Erika Simon, The Ancient Theatre (1982; originally published in German, 2nd ed., 1981), a concise and expert introduction to staging; Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Tragedy and Myth in Ancient Greece (1981; originally published in French, 1972), stimulating structuralist essays; Brian Vickers, Towards Greek Tragedy: Drama, Myth, Society (1973, reprinted 1979), long but thought-provoking; Oliver Taplin, Greek Tragedy in Action (1978), emphasis on the significance of performance; Bernard Knox, Word and Action: Essays on the Ancient Theater (1979), a collection of important essays; Donald J. Mastronarde, Contact and Discontinuity: Some Conventions of Speech and Action on the Greek Tragic Stage (1979), a specialist study of dialogue; R.G.A. Buxton, Persuasion in Greek Tragedy: A Study of Peitho (1982); and Erich Segal (ed.), Greek Tragedy: Modern Essays in Criticism (U.K. title, Oxford Readings in Greek Tragedy, 1983), a well-chosen and varied selection of articles.Influential interpretations of Sophocles' life and works are T.B.L. Webster, An Introduction to Sophocles, 2nd ed. (1969, reprinted 1979); G.H. Gellie, Sophocles: A Reading (1972); R.P. Winnington-Ingram, Sophocles: An Interpretation (1980), an important study; Charles Segal, Tragedy and Civilization: An Interpretation of Sophocles (1981), a structuralist approach; Bernard M.W. Knox, The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy (1964, reprinted 1983), an important study of Sophocles' stubborn heroes; Karl Reinhardt, Sophocles (1979; originally published in German, 3rd ed., 1947), a great classic; G.M. Kirkwood, A Study of Sophoclean Drama (1958, reprinted 1967); R.W.B. Burton, The Chorus in Sophocles' Tragedies (1980); and David Seale, Vision and Stagecraft in Sophocles (1982). Thomas M. Woodard Oliver Taplin Major Works: Works Aias mastigophoros (probably before 441 BC; Ajax); Antigone (c. 442441 BC); Oidipous Tyrannos (soon after 430 BC; Latin trans., Oedipus Rex; Eng. trans., Oedipus the King); Trachiniai (possibly after 430 BC; Trachinian Women); Elektra (between 418 and 410 BC; Electra); Philoktetes (409 BC; Philoctetes); Oidipous epi Kolono (produced posthumously in 401 BC; Oedipus at Colonus); Ichneutai (sizable fragments; date uncertain; Trackers). Texts The Greek text is available in A.C. Pearson (ed.), Sophoclis fabulae (1924, reprinted 1975), in the Oxford Classical Text series; and R.D. Dawe (ed.), Sophoclis tragoediae, vol. 1 and 2 (197579), part of the Teubner series. Greek text with English translation is presented in R.C. Jebb (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, 7 vol. (188396, reprinted from various editions, 1976). Recommended editions Sophocles, 2 vol. (195469), contains translations of all the plays and is part of The Complete Greek Tragedies series, ed. by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene. See also Robert Fagles (trans.), The Three Theban Plays (1982, reissued 1984), which includes Antigone, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus at Colonus. The plays Only seven of Sophocles' tragedies survive in their entirety, along with 400 lines of a satyr play, numerous fragments of plays now lost, and 90 titles. All seven of the complete plays are works of Sophocles' maturity, but only two of them, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus, have fairly certain dates. Ajax is generally regarded as the earliest of the extant plays. Some evidence suggests that Antigone was first performed in 442 or 441 BC. Philoctetes was first performed in 409, when Sophocles was 90 years old, and Oedipus at Colonus was said to have been produced after Sophocles' death by his grandson. Ajax The entire plot of Ajax (Greek Aias mastigophoros) is constructed around Ajax, the mighty hero of the Trojan War whose pride drives him to treachery and finally to his own ruin and suicide some two-thirds of the way through the play. Ajax is deeply offended at the award of the prize of valour (the dead Achilles' armour) not to himself but to Odysseus. Ajax thereupon attempts to assassinate Odysseus and the contest's judges, the Greek commanders Agamemnon and Menelaus, but is frustrated by the intervention of the goddess Athena. He cannot bear his humiliation and throws himself on his own sword. Agamemnon and Menelaus order that Ajax' corpse be left unburied as punishment. But the wise Odysseus persuades the commanders to relent and grant Ajax an honourable burial. In the end Odysseus is the only person who seems truly aware of the changeability of human fortune.