Sophocles

Sophocles was a famous Greek writer that lived from 496 B.C.- 406 B.C. in the town of White Colonus. Sohpocles was born to a wealthy merchant, and was able to study all of the arts, literature and musical. Sophocles "competed" during many festivals by showing his plays. he altered the original trilogic form, of telling one stoy with three plays, to having three linked stories in the trilogy. He had a first marriage with Nicostrata, by whom he became the father of Lophon. Sophacles, like Aeschylus and Euripedes, mostly wrote tragedies. These writers developed their tragedies to show the struggle of human beings reconcileing the existence of both good and evil. The basic form and tone had been set by earlier playwrites like Thespis and Phyrnichus. It was not until the earlier fifth-century B.C., however, that tragedies were raised to the next level. Also, Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than those of Euripidis. Sophocles wrote trageties that twist lives and family ties. According to the //Suda//, a 10th century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 123 plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form: //Ajax//, //Antigone//, //Trachinian Women//, //Oedipus the King//, //Electra//, //Philoctetes// and //Oedipus at Colonus//
 * Sophocles- Greek Drama**

Plays

 * //Oedipus//
 * //Oedipus is about a king of Thebes (named Oedipus.) His city is in despair, and Creon comes to tell Oedipus a message. He tells him that all the suffering in the city will be diminished if they find Laius’s killer is found and banish him out of the city. Oedipus consults Tiresias, the blind prophet. He tells him that Oedipus is the killer, and Oedipus refuses to believe this. Jocasta, Oedipus’s wife, tells him of an old prophecy stating that her son would kill his father and have kids by his mother. This proved to have been fulfilled by Oedipus, because he had killed Laius (his father) and had married and had children with his mother (Who was his wife, Jocasta.) At the end of the play, Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus gouges his eyes out. He is also exiled. //
 * //Antigone//
 * After Oedipus was exiled, his son Etocles took the throne. He threw out his brother Polyneices. In a war between the two, they both are killed on the battlefield. Creon takes the throne. He declares Etocles to be buried a hero, and Polyneices be left out for the rodents to eat his body. Antigone, their sister, does not think this is fair. Contradicting Creon’s order that no one touch his body, Antigone buries Polyneices. She is caught, and is subject to starving in a cave till death. Tiresias tells Creon that he will be punished for this deed, and that his son Haimon will die as a result. He gives Polyneices a proper burial, and goes to free Antigone but finds he is too late. Haimon kills himself as a result of Antigone’s death, and Creon’s wife kills herself as a result of Haimon’s death.
 * //Ajax//
 * //Ajax is about a strong warrior named… Ajax. Ajax was the son of Telamon (King of Salamis.) He was a very strong and courageous warrior. In the beginning of the play, Achilles is dead. Ajax expected to be honored with Achilles’s armor, but instead it’s given to Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Odysseus. Enraged, he tries to murder Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Menelaus one night and Athena prevents this attempt. She casts a spell on him, and he kills sheep instead of the three men. He ends up disgracing Salamis. He is so humiliated that he kills himself at the end of the play. //
 * //Trachiniae//
 * //Trachiniae starts out with Deineira, Heracles’s wife. She is complaining to her nurse about married life. Concerned about Heracles, she sends their son Hyllus to go find him. A messenger arrives with some slave girls that were taken from the siege of Oechalia, which Heracles’ aided in. The messenger tells Deineira how Heracles sieges the city to gain revenge from Eurytus. She finds out later that he really sieges for a girl named Lole, who was one of the slave girls. She makes a robe with Nessus’s blood. Nessus tricked her into thinking that it was a love potion, when really it was poison. Heracles ends up dying as a result. Deineira kills herself in despair at the end of the play. //
 * //Electra//
 * //summary n/a//
 * //Philoctetes//
 * //summary n/a//

__Plays found in fragments__


 * Aias Lokros
 * Akhaiôn Syllogos
 * Aleadae
 * Creusa
 * Eurypylus
 * Hermione
 * Inachos
 * Lacaenae
 * Manteis or Polyidus
 * Nauplios Katapleon
 * Nauplios Pyrkaeus
 * Niobe
 * Oeneus
 * Oenomaus
 * Poimenes
 * Polyxene
 * Syndeipnoi
 * Tereus
 * Thyestes
 * Troilus
 * Phaedra
 * Triptolemus
 * Tyro Keiromene
 * Tyro Anagnorizomene



__ Composition and inconsistencies __
The plays were written across thirty-six years of Sophocles' career and were not composed in chronological order, but instead were written in the order // Antigone //, // Oedipus the King //, and // Oedipus at Colonus //. Nor were they composed as a //trilogy// - a group of plays to be performed together, but are the remaining parts of three different groups of plays. As a result, there are some inconsistencies: notably, Creon is the undisputed king at the end of //Oedipus the King// and, in consultation with Apollo, single-handedly makes the decision to expel Oedipus from Thebes. Creon is also instructed to look after Oedipus' daughters Antigone and Ismene at the end of //Oedipus the King//. By contrast, in the other plays there is some struggle with Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices in regard to the succession. In //Oedipus at Colonus//, Sophocles attempts to work these inconsistencies into a coherent whole: Ismene explains that, in light of their tainted family lineage, her brothers were at first willing to cede the throne to Creon. Nevertheless, they eventually decided to take charge of the monarchy, with each brother disputing the other's right to succeed. In addition to being in a clearly more powerful position in //Oedipus at Colonus,// Eteocles and Polynices are also culpable: they condemn their father to exile, which is one of his bitterest charges against them.

Sophocle's life
Sophocles lived through most of the 5th century, experiencing [|the Age of Pericles] and the [|Peloponnesian War]. In 443 B.C. he was a treasurer for the Delian League.During the [|Samian] War (441-439) and the [|Archidamian War] (431-421) Sophocles was //strategos//'general'. In 413 B.C. he was on the board of the 10 probouloi. Sophocles was also a priest of Halon. In 468 B.C., Sophocles beat Aeschylus, in a dramatic competition; then in 441, Euripides, beat him. During his lifetime, he won about 20 1st place awards in drama competitions.

Sophocles's Death
In the winter of 406/ 405 BC, Sophocles died at the age of ninety or ninety one, and it isn't quite clear how he died. The first of the stories says that he died from the strain of trying to recite a long sentence from his play, “Antigone” without pausing to take a breath. Another suggests that he choked to death while eating grapes at the Anthesteria festival in Athens. The final story says that he died due to excessive happiness over winning his final victory at the City Dionysia.

__References__
[] [] [] //The Complete History of Ancient Greece// Edited by Don Nardo (P. 317) [] [] [] (Oedipus) [] (Antigone) [] (Ajax) [] (Trachiniae)