Photo: Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sophocles

c. 496 BCE – c. 406 BCE · exact dates unknown^[1][2]

Literature

Fun Facts About Sophocles

• Sophocles competed in 30 Athenian drama competitions, won 24 of them, and was never judged lower than second place.^[1]
• Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived complete, including Oedipus Rex and Antigone.^[1]
• The playwright was also a military man: according to an ancient biography, he was elected one of Athens's ten generals and served in the campaign against Samos.^[1]
• One ancient legend claimed Sophocles died from the strain of reciting a long sentence from his Antigone without pausing for breath; another said he choked on grapes.^[1]
• According to some accounts, his sons tried to have him declared incompetent in old age, and he answered them in court by reading from his new play Oedipus at Colonus.^[1]
• The three Theban plays are not a trilogy: Sophocles wrote them years apart, and in the order Antigone, Oedipus Rex, then Oedipus at Colonus.^[1]
• Sophocles was alive at the same time as Lao Tzu — their lives overlapped for about 25 years (c. 496 BCE–c. 471 BCE).^[1][2][3][4]

Sophocles was an ancient Greek tragedian, one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens, which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in 30 competitions, won 24, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won 13 competitions and was sometimes beaten by Sophocles; Euripides won four.^[1]

Contemporaries

Socrates

64 yr overlap

Herodotus

59 yr overlap

Hippocrates

54 yr overlap

Lao Tzu

25 yr overlap

Plato

22 yr overlap

Confucius

17 yr overlap

Leonidas I

16 yr overlap

Gautama Buddha

13 yr overlap

Pythagoras

1 yr overlap

Questions About Sophocles

When was Sophocles born?

Sophocles was born about 496 BCE and died about 406 BCE. The exact dates are not known.

What was Sophocles known for?

Sophocles was known for: Greek tragedian of Oedipus Rex. Sophocles was an ancient Greek tragedian, one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens, which took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in 30 competitions, won 24, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won 13 competitions and was sometimes beaten by Sophocles; Euripides won four.

Who was alive at the same time as Sophocles?

Sophocles's closest contemporary was Socrates. Their lives overlapped for 64 years.