Ancient Classics: Sophocles

The son of a well-to-do manufacturer of armor, Sophocles was born just outside Athens at Colonus. He spent his long life in Athens at the height of the city's wealth and renown. Most of his professional effort went into playwriting.

His translator and editor, Hugh Lloyd-Jones, lists the titles of 124 of Sophocles’ tragedies, of which seven survive in their entirety. A significant fragment of an eighth entitled Ichneutae (The hunters) was discovered in an ancient trash heap in an Egyptian city called Oxyrhynchus in ancient times and Behnasa today. That fragmentary play concerns the theft of the cattle of Apollo, the sun god, by the messenger of the gods, Hermes. Less sizable fragmentary remains exist for more than 90 other plays. More have been uncovered that are unassignable. Beyond Sophocles’ tragedies, Lloyd-Jones lists the titles of 24 lost satyr plays attributed to Sophocles with varying degrees of confidence. The works surviving in their entirety include Ajax, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus Tyrannus, Philoctetes, and Trachiniae...

Sophocles (ca. 496–406/5 BCE) was one of the three great fifth-century Athenian tragic dramatists, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, and a leading figure in Athenian public life. He wrote around 120 plays, seven of which survive. He competed in the City Dionysia for the first time in 468 BCE, defeating the old master Aeschylus. This was the first of his 18 victories, and he was never placed lower than second. He was thus by far the most successful fifth-century tragedian in his own lifetime...

Generally considered to be Sophocles’ best play, Oedipus Rex (also known as Oedipus Tyrannus or Oedipus the King) opens in the midst of a series of terrible misfortunes for the citizens of the city of Thebes. (See below for a critical commentary.) The crops are dying in the fields, the herds are expiring in the pastures, the children of the women of Thebes are stillborn, and plague is decimating the population. A priest—a member of the chorus—and the city's king, Oedipus, are discussing this situation, and the priest implores Oedipus to do something about it...

The story of Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus by his wife and mother, Jocasta, tells the final episode in a series of events also treated by Aeschylus in The Seven against Thebes. (See below for a critical commentary on Antigone.) As the legend has it, the sons of Oedipus by Jocasta, Eteocles and Polynices, were reared by their uncle Creon and succeeded to his power while he was still living. Although they were supposed to rule by turns, the brothers fell out and ended up hating each other. When Eteocles became king, he exiled Polynices. Enraged, Polynices gathered a military force in Argos and besieged his native city. Aeschylus tells the story of that battle and how the war between the brothers fulfilled a curse upon them that they would die by each other's hands. As that play ends, the elders of Thebes have decreed that Polynices’ body cannot be buried because he had invaded his native city. His sister, Antigone, disobeys their edict...