This article is about the Greek tragedian. For the script-writing software, see Sophocles (software).

Sophocles or Sofokles (pronounced /ˈsɒfəkliːz/; ancient Greek Σοφοκλῆς, pronounced [sopʰoklɛ̂ːs]; circa. 496 BC - 406 BC) was the second of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived to the present day. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than those of Euripides. According to the Suda, a 10th century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 120 or more plays during the course of his life,^[1] but only seven have survived in a complete form, namely Ajax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most-awarded playwright in the dramatic competitions of ancient Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. Sophocles competed in around thirty drama competitions; he won perhaps twenty four and never received lower than second place. Aeschylus won fourteen competitions and was defeated by Sophocles at times. Euripides won only four competitions (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.). In classical Greece Hippeios Colonus (Greek: Ίππειος Κολωνός, Colonus of the Horses) was a deme about 1 km (1 mile) to the northwest of Athens, near Platos Academy. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ... Sophocles is a Windows-based screenwriting software application used for writing feature film and television screenplays. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. ... For other uses, see Tragedy (disambiguation). ... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... A statue of Euripides. ... Suda (Σουδα or alternatively Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopædia of the ancient Mediterranean world. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Cyclopedia redirects here. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ... The Lenaia was a dramatic but one of the lesser festivals in Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. ... This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...

The most famous of Sophocles's tragedies are those concerning Oedipus and Antigone: these are often known as the Theban plays or The Oedipus Cycle, although they were not originally written or performed as a single trilogy. Sophocles influenced the development of the drama, most importantly by adding a third actor and thereby reducing the importance of the chorus in the presentation of the plot. He also developed his characters to a greater extent than earlier playwrights such as Aeschylus.^[2] For other uses, see Oedipus (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Antigone (disambiguation). ... The so-called three Theban plays, written by Greek dramatist Sophocles in the 5th century BCE, follow the tragic downfall of the mythical king Oedipus of Thebes and his descendants. ... The Greek chorus (choros) is believed to have grown out of the Greek dithyrambs and tragikon drama in tragic plays of the ancient Greek theatre. ...

Life

A marble relief of a poet, perhaps Sophocles.

Sophocles, the son of Sophillus, was a member of the rural deme (small community) of Colonus Hippius in Attica, which would later become a setting for his plays, and was probably born there.^{[3] [4]} His birth took place a few years before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC: the exact year is unclear, although 497/6 is perhaps most likely.^[5][3] His artistic career began in earnest in 468 BC when he took first prize in the Dionysia theatre competition over the reigning master of Athenian drama, Aeschylus.^[3][6] The production probably included Triptolemus.^[4] Although Plutarch says that this was Sophocles' first production, it is now thought that this is an embellishment of the truth and his first production was most likely in 470 BC.^[4] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1715x2300, 2621 KB) en: Marble relief of a poet, maybe Sophocles, Hellenistic Period. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1715x2300, 2621 KB) en: Marble relief of a poet, maybe Sophocles, Hellenistic Period. ... In biology, a deme (rhymes with team) is another word for a local population of organisms of one species that actively interbreed with one another and share a distinct gene pool. ... In classical Greece Hippeios Colonus (Greek: Ίππειος Κολωνός, Colonus of the Horses) was a deme about 1 km (1 mile) to the northwest of Athens, near Platos Academy. ... Attica (in Greek: Αττική, Attike; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a periphery (subdivision) in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. ... Combatants Athens, Plataea Persia Commanders Miltiades, Callimachus â€ , Arimnestus Datis â€ ?, Artaphernes Strength 10,000 Athenians, 1,000 Plataeans 20,000 - 100,000 a Casualties 192 Athenians killed, 11 Plataeans killed (Herodotus) 6,400 killed, 7 ships captured (Herodotus) a These are modern consensus estimates. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 540s BC 530s BC 520s BC 510s BC 500s BC - 490s BC - 480s BC 470s BC 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC Years: 495 BC 494 BC 493 BC 492 BC 491 BC - 490 BC - 489 BC 488 BC... The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honour of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedies and comedies. ... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... Suspected of plotting to seize power in Sparta by instigating a helot uprising, Pausanias takes refuge in the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House to escape arrest. ...

Sophocles became a man of importance in the public halls of Athens as well as in the theatres. Sophocles was chosen to lead the paean, a choral chant to a god, at the age of 16 celebrating the decisive Greek sea victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. This rather insufficient information about Sophocles’ civic life implies he was a well-liked man who participated in activities in society and showed remarkable artistic ability. He was also elected one of ten strategoi, high executive officials that commanded the armed forces, as a junior colleague of Pericles. Sophocles was born highly wealthy (his father was a wealthy armour manufacturer) and was highly educated throughout his entire life. Early in his career, the politician Cimon might have been one of his patrons, although if he was there was no ill will borne by Pericles, Cimon's rival, when Cimon was ostracized in 461 BC.^[3] In 443/2 he served as one of the Hellenotamiai, or treasurers of Athena, helping to manage the finances of the city during the political ascendancy of Pericles.^[3] In 420 he welcomed and set up an altar for the icon of Asclepius at his house, when the deity was introduced in Athens. For this he was given the posthumous epithet Dexion (receiver) by the Athenians.^[7] He was also elected, in 413 BC, to be one of the commissioners crafting a response to the catastrophic destruction of the Athenian expeditionary force in Sicily during the Peloponnesian War.^[8] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the Shakespeare play, see Pericles, Prince of Tyre. ... Asclepius (Greek , transliterated AsklÄ“piós; Latin Aesculapius) is the demigod of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology. ... Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... Athenian War redirects here. ...

Several ancient writers have commented on Sophocles' love of youths. Athenaeus wrote that in addition to seeking and keeping female courtesans, "Sophocles was fond of young lads, as Euripides was fond of women."^[9] He quotes from a now-lost book by Ion of Chios regarding an incident of Sophocles flattering a serving boy at a symposium and then using a strategem to kiss and embrace him, as well as another, ascribed to Hieronymus of Rhodes, in which Sophocles is tricked by a hustler.^[10] Plutarch, in his "Life of Pericles," [1] mentions an incident, during a naval expedition, in which Sophocles praised the beauty of a young recruit. Pericles rebuked him by warning that a general must keep not only his hands clean, but also his eyes.^[11] Pederastic courtship scene Athenian black-figure amphora, 5th c. ... Athenaeus (ca. ... Ion of Chios was a versatile writer, dramatist, lyric poet and philosopher in Ancient Greece. ... Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means to drink together) but has since come to refer to any academic conference, whether or not drinking takes place. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... For the Shakespeare play, see Pericles, Prince of Tyre. ...

Sophocles died at the venerable age of ninety in 406 or 405 BC, having seen within his lifetime both the Greek triumph in the Persian Wars and the terrible bloodletting of the Peloponnesian War.^[3] He was so respected by the Athenians that two plays performed at the Lenea soon after his death paid homage to him, and his unfinished play Oedipus at Colonus was completed and performed years later.^[3] Both Iophon, one of his sons, and a grandson, also called Sophocles, followed in his footsteps to become playwrights themselves.^[12] The Greco-Persian Wars or Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek world and the Persian Empire that started about 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC. The term can also refer to the continual warfare of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire against the Parthians and... The Lenaia was a dramatic but one of the lesser festivals in Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. ... Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus, and in Greek Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ) is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. ...

Works and legacy

	Plays by Sophocles Ajax | Antigone | The Trachiniae | Electra | Oedipus the King | Philoctetes | Oedipus at Colonus

A portrait from a vase of a Greek actor performing in Sophocles' lost play Andromeda.

In Sophocles' time, the Greek art of the drama was undergoing rapid and profound change. It had begun with little more than a chorus, but earlier playwrights had added first one and then two actors and thereby shifted the action of the plays away from the chorus.^[13] Among Sophocles' earliest innovations was the addition of a third actor, further reducing the role of the chorus and creating greater opportunity for character development and conflict between characters.^[2] In fact, Aeschylus, who dominated Athenian playwrighting during Sophocles' early career, adopted this third character into his own playwriting towards the end of his life.^[2] It was not until after the death of the old master Aeschylus in 456 BCE that Sophocles became the preeminent playwright in Athens.^[3] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (654x1385, 85 KB) From http://runeberg. ... Ajax is a play by Sophocles. ... Antigone (play) redirects here. ... The Trachiniae (or The Women of Trachis) is a play by Sophocles, notable mainly for the unsympathetic portrayal of Heracles. ... Electra or Elektra is a Greek tragic play by Sophocles. ... Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Oedipus the King Oedipus the King (Greek , Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the Tyrant), also known as Oedipus Rex, is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles and first performed ca. ... The Philoctetes is a play by Sophocles written about 410 BC. Its subject is Philoctetes, the friend of Herakles, who was also a participant in the Trojan War. ... Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus, and in Greek Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ) is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (768x1024, 652 KB) Own photo, July 20. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (768x1024, 652 KB) Own photo, July 20. ... The Greek chorus (choros) is believed to have grown out of the Greek dithyrambs and tragikon drama in tragic plays of the ancient Greek theatre. ...

Thereafter, Sophocles emerged victorious in dramatic competitions at 18 Dionysia and 6 Lenaia festivals.^[3] In addition to innovations in the structure of drama, Sophocles' work is known for deeper development of characters than earlier playwrights, whose characters are more two-dimensional and are therefore harder for an audience to relate to.^[2] His reputation was such that foreign rulers invited him to attend their courts, although unlike Aeschylus who died in Sicily, Sophocles never accepted any of these invitations.^[3] Aristotle used Sophocles's Oedipus the King as an example of perfect tragedy, which suggests the high esteem in which his work was held by later Greeks.^[14] Sicily ( in Italian and Sicilian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,708 km² (9,926 sq. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Oedipus the King Oedipus the King (Greek , Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the Tyrant), also known as Oedipus Rex, is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles and first performed ca. ...

Only two of the seven surviving plays have securely dated first or second performances: Philoctetes (409 BC) and Oedipus at Colonus (401 BC, put on after Sophocles' death by his grandson). Of the others, Electra shows stylistic similarities to these two plays, and so was probably written in the latter part of his career. Ajax, Antigone and The Trachiniae are generally thought to be among his early works, again based on stylistic elements, with Oedipus the King coming in Sophocles' middle period. Most of Sophocles' plays show an undercurrent of early fatalism and the beginnings of Socratic logic as a mainstay for the long tradition of Greek tragedy.^[15][16] The Philoctetes is a play by Sophocles written about 410 BC. Its subject is Philoctetes, the friend of Herakles, who was also a participant in the Trojan War. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC - 400s BC - 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC Years: 414 BC 413 BC 412 BC 411 BC 410 BC - 409 BC - 408 BC 407 BC... Oedipus at Colonus (also Oedipus Coloneus, and in Greek Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ) is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC - 400s BC - 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC Years: 406 BC 405 BC 404 BC 403 BC 402 BC - 401 BC - 400 BC 399 BC... Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Electra was daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. ... Ajax is a play by Sophocles. ... Antigone (play) redirects here. ... The Trachiniae (or The Women of Trachis) is a play by Sophocles, notable mainly for the unsympathetic portrayal of Heracles. ... Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Oedipus the King Oedipus the King (Greek , Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the Tyrant), also known as Oedipus Rex, is a Greek tragedy, written by Sophocles and first performed ca. ... It has been suggested that Theological fatalism be merged into this article or section. ...

A modern painting portraying Oedipus at Colonus.

Image File history File links Oedipus_at_Colonus. ... Image File history File links Oedipus_at_Colonus. ... For other uses, see Oedipus (disambiguation). ...

The Theban plays (The Oedipus Cycle)

The Theban plays or The Oedipus Cycle consists of three plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King (Oedipus Tyrannus), and Oedipus at Colonus. Although they are now sometimes published under a single cover, Sophocles wrote the three plays for separate festivals, possibly over a duration of forty years or more. Thus, they are not a true trilogy (three plays presented as a continuous narrative). The so-called three Theban plays, written by Greek dramatist Sophocles in the 5th century BCE, follow the tragic downfall of the mythical king Oedipus of Thebes and his descendants. ...

The tale of Oedipus takes up the themes of being trapped by fate and family. Oedipus, in Ancient Greek mythology killed his father and married his mother without knowledge that they were his parents. His family is fated to be doomed for three generations.

In Sophocles’ first drama of the trilogy, Oedipus the King, the main character, Oedipus, becomes the ruler of Thebes after solving the riddle of the sphinx. However before solving this riddle, Oedipus had met at a crossroads a man accompanied by servants, Oedipus and the man got in an argument and Oedipus killed the man. Oedipus continued on to Thebes to marry the widowed Queen, although unknown to him, his mother. Oedipus eventually learns that his mother and father gave him up when he was just an infant in fear that he would kill his father and fulfill the Delphic Oracle’s prophecy of him. Upon learning of the complete prophecy, his mother, Jocasta, realizes the incest and commits suicide. However, they had four children before this occurred.

Sophocles’ drama, Antigone, focuses on Oedipus’ daughter Antigone. Antigone is faced with the choice of allowing her brother Polyneices’ body to get eaten by savage dogs or bury him and face death. The king of the land, Creon, has forbidden the burial of Polyneices for he was a traitor to the city. Antigone decides to bury his body and face the consequences of her actions. Creon sentences her to death. Eventually, Creon is convinced to free Antigone from her punishment, but his decision comes too late and Antigone commits suicide. Her suicide triggers the suicide of two others close to King Creon, his son, Haemon, who loved Antigone, and his wife who commits suicide after losing her only son. Antigone focuses on the conflicting duties of civic versus personal loyalties.

Other plays

Some of Sophocles' other surviving works include Ajax, The Trachiniae, Electra, and Philoctetes, the last of which won first prize.^[17] Ajax is a play by Sophocles. ... The Trachiniae (or The Women of Trachis) is a play by Sophocles, notable mainly for the unsympathetic portrayal of Heracles. ... Electra or Elektra is a Greek tragic play by Sophocles. ... The Philoctetes is a play by Sophocles written about 410 BC. Its subject is Philoctetes, the friend of Herakles, who was also a participant in the Trojan War. ...

Ajax focuses on the prideful hero of the Trojan War. He is driven to treachery and eventually his own death. Ajax becomes gravely upset when Achilles’ armor is presented to Odysseus instead of himself. However, Odysseus persuades the kings Menelaus and Agamemnon to grant Ajax a proper burial.

Fragmentary plays

Fragments of The Tracking Satyrs (Ichneutae) were discovered in Egypt in 1907.^[18] These amount to about half of the play, making it the best preserved satyr play after Euripides' Cyclops, which survives in its entirety.^[18] Fragments of The Progeny (Epigonoi) were discovered in April 2005 by classicists at Oxford University with the help of infrared technology previously used for satellite imaging. The tragedy tells the story of the siege of Thebes.^[19] A number of other Sophoclean works have survived only in fragments, including: The Tracking Satyrs (or Ichneutae) is a fragmentary satyr play by Sophocles written during the 5th century BC. Fragments of the play were discovered in Egypt in 1907. ... Papposilenus playing the crotals, theatrical type of the satyr play, Louvre Satyr plays were an ancient Greek form of tragicomedy, similar to the modern-day burlesque style. ... The Cyclops is an Ancient Greek satyr play by Euripides, the only complete satyr play that has survived. ... The Progeny (Epigonoi) is a ancient Greek tragedy written by the Greek playwright Sophocles in the 5th century BC and based, as are most Greek tragedies, on Greek mythology. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... For other uses, see Infrared (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ... For the ancient capital of Upper Egypt, see Thebes, Egypt. ...

• Aias Lokros (Ajax the Locrian)
• Akhaiôn Syllogos (The Gathering of the Achaeans)
• Hermione
• Lacaenae (Lacaenian Women)
• Nauplios Katapleon (Nauplius' Arrival)
• Nauplios Pyrkaeus (Nauplius' Fires)
• Niobe
• Oenomaus
• Poimenes (The Shepherds)
• Polyxene
• Syndeipnoi (The Diners, or, The Banqueters)
• Tereus
• Troilus
• Phaedra
• Triptolemus
• Tyro Keiromene (Tyro Shorn)
• Tyro Anagnorizomene (Tyro Rediscovered).

For modern day Sparta, see Sparti (municipality). ...

Sophocles' opinion of himself

There is a passage of Plutarch's tract De Profectibus in Virtute 7 in which Sophocles discusses his own growth as a writer. A likely source of this material for Plutarch was the Epidemiae of Ion of Chios, a book that recorded many conversations of Sophocles. This book is a likely candidate to have contained Sophocles' discourse on his own development because Ion was a friend of Sophocles, and the book is known to have been used by Plutarch.^[20] Though some interpretations of Plutarch's words suggest that Sophocles says that he imitated Aeschylus, the translation does not fit grammatically, nor does the interpretation that Sophocles said that he was making fun of Aeschylus' works. C. M. Bowra argues for the following translation of the line: "After practising to the full the bigness of Aeschylus, then the painful ingenuity of my own invention, now in the third stage I am changing to the kind of diction with is most expressive of character and best."^[21] Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra (April 8, 1898 – July 4, 1971) was an English classical scholar, teacher, and wit. ...

Here Sophocles says that he has completed a stage of Aeschylus' work, meaning that he went through a phase of imitating Aeschylus' style but is finished with that. Sophocles' opinion of Aeschylus was mixed. He certainly respected him enough to imitate his work early on in his career, but he had reservations about Aeschylus' style,^[22] and thus did not keep his imitation up. Sophocles' first stage, in which he imitated Aeschylus, is marked by "Aeschylean pomp in the language".^[23] Sophocles' second stage was entirely his own. He introduced new ways of evoking feeling out of an audience, like in his Ajax when he is mocked by Athene, then the stage is emptied so that he may commit suicide alone.^[24] Sophocles mentions a third stage, distinct from the other two, in his discussion of his development. The third stage pays more heed to diction. His characters spoke in a way that was more natural to them and more expressive of their individual character feelings.^[25]

Notes

Athenaeus (ca. ... Athenaeus (ca. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ...

References

• Finkel, Raphael; et al. (eds.). Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography s.v. Σοφοκλῆς. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
• Bowra, C. M. (1940). "Sophocles on His Own Development" (JSTOR access required). American Journal of Philology 61 (4): 385–401. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
• Freeman, Charles. (1999). The Greek Achievement: The Foundation of the Western World. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0670885150
• Lloyd-Jones, Sir Hugh (ed.) (1994). Sophocles. Ajax. Electra. Oedipus Tyrannus. Harvard University Press.
• Scullion, Scott (2002). Tragic dates, Classical Quarterly, new sequence 52, pp. 81-101.
• Seaford, Richard A. S. (2003). "Satyric drama". The Oxford Classical Dictionary (revised 3rd edition). Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1361. ISBN 0-19-860641-9. 
• Smith, Philip (1867). "Sophocles". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 3. Ed. William Smith. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 865–873. Retrieved on 2007-02-19. 
• Sommerstein, Alan Herbert (2002). Greek Drama and Dramatists. Routledge. ISBN 0415260272
• Sommerstein, Alan Herbert (2007). "General Introduction" pp.xi-xxix in Sommerstein, A.H., Fitzpatrick, D. and Tallboy, T. Sophocles: Selected Fragmentary Plays: Volume 1. Aris and Phillips. ISBN 0856687669
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. "Macropaedia Knowledge In Depth." The New Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 20. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2005. 344-346.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 73rd day of the year (74th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra (April 8, 1898 – July 4, 1971) was an English classical scholar, teacher, and wit. ... JSTOR®, begun in 1995, is an online system for archiving academic journals. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 328th day of the year (329th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is a encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. ... Sir William Smith (1813 - 1893), English lexicographer, was born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... [[Media:Italic text]]{| style=float:right; |- | |- | |} is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Theatre of ancient Greece

For other uses of Greek Theatre, see Greek theatre (disambiguation). ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Sophocles

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Sophocles

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Sophocles

• Works by Sophocles at Project Gutenberg
• Works of Sophocles at the Perseus Digital Library (Greek and English)

• Sophoclis tragœdiæ superstites et deperditarum fragmenta
• Poetae scenici graeci, accedunt perditarum fabularum fragmenta Sophocles
• Fragmentary Tragedies of Sophocles Project
• Studies in Sophoclean Fragments
• Films based on Sophocles plays
• Sophocles in Spanish
• Life of Sophocles
• Selected Monologues by Sophocles

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View of the reconstructed Temple of Trajan at Pergamon Sketched reconstruction of ancient Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum (Greek: Πέργαμος, modern day Bergama in Turkey, ) was an ancient Greek city, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river... The lower half of the benches and the remnants of the scene building of the theater of Miletus (August 2005) Miletus (Carian: Anactoria Hittite: Milawata or Millawanda, Greek: Μίλητος transliterated Miletos, Turkish: Milet) was an ancient city on the western coast of Anatolia (in what is now Aydin Province, Turkey), near... For other uses, see Delphi (disambiguation). ... Olympia among the principal Greek sanctuaries Olympia (Greek: Olympía or Olýmpia, older transliterations, Olimpia, Olimbia), a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. ... For other uses of Troy or Ilion, see Troy (disambiguation) and Ilion (disambiguation). ... The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present, particularly in the areas of sculpture and architecture. ... Kylix, the most common drinking vessel in ancient Greece, c. ... TRENT IS SOOOOOOOOO HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ancient Greek law is a branch of comparative jurisprudence relating to the laws and legal institutions of Ancient Greece. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... To the ancient Greeks, Paideia (παιδεία) was the process of educating man into his true form, the real and genuine human nature. ... Pederastic courtship scene Athenian black-figure amphora, 5th c. ... Bilingual amphora by the Andokides Painter, ca. ... Courtesan and her client, Attican Pelike with red figures by Polygnotus, c. ... Funerary stele: the slave represented as a shorter person, beside the mistress, Munich Glyptothek Slavery was an essential component of the development of Ancient Greece throughout its history. ... Ancient Greek technology is a set of artifacts and customs that lasted for more than one thousand years. ... Ruins of the training grounds at Olympia The Ancient Olympic Games, originally referred to as simply the Olympic Games (Greek: ; Olympiakoi Agones) were a series of athletic competitions held between various city-states of Ancient Greece. ... Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. ... Anaxagoras Anaxagoras (Greek: Αναξαγόρας, c. ... This article is about the Pre-Socratic philosopher. ... Anaximenes (in Greek: Άναξιμένης) of Miletus (585 BC - 525 BC) was a Greek philosopher from the latter half of the 6th century, probably a younger contemporary of Anaximander, whose pupil or friend he is said to have been. ... Portrait bust of Antisthenes Antisthenes (Greek: , c. ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... ‎ Democritus (Greek: ) was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace ca. ... Diogenes Apolloniates or Diogenes of Apollonia (c. ... Diogenes (Greek: Diogenes o Sinopeus) the Cynic, Greek philosopher, was born in Sinope (modern day Sinop, Turkey) about 412 BC (according to other sources 399 BC), and died in 323 BC at Corinth. ... Epicure redirects here. ... Empedocles (Greek: , ca. ... Heraclitus of Ephesus (Ancient Greek - Herákleitos ho Ephésios (Herakleitos the Ephesian)) (about 535 - 475 BC), known as The Obscure (Ancient Greek - ho Skoteinós), was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor. ... This article is about the philosopher. ... Parmenides of Elea (Greek: , early 5th century BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Hellenic city on the southern coast of Italy. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Protagoras (in Greek Πρωταγόρας) was born around 481 BC in Abdera, Thrace in Ancient Greece. ... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; between 580 and 572 BC–between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian (Greek) philosopher[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ... This page is about the Classical Greek philosopher. ... For the Defense and Security Company, see Thales Group. ... Zeno of Citium Zeno of Citium (The Stoic) (sometime called Zeno Apathea) (333 BC-264 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium, Cyprus. ... Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Greek language until the 4th century AD. // Wikisource has original text related to this article: an essay on the transition to written literature in Greece This period of Greek literature stretches from Homer until the 4th century BC and the rise... This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... Aesop, as conceived by Diego Velázquez Aesop, as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel in 1493. ... This article is about the 5-4th century BC dramatist. ... Euripides (c. ... Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Hērodotos Halikarnāsseus) was a Greek historian from Ionia who lived in the 5th century BC (ca. ... Roman bronze bust, the so-called Pseudo-Seneca, now identified by some as possibly Hesiod Hesiod (Hesiodos, ) was an early Greek poet and rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BC. Hesiod and Homer, with whom Hesiod is often paired, have been considered the earliest Greek poets whose work has survived... For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Lucian. ... Bust of Menander Menander (342–291 BC) (Greek ), Greek dramatist, the chief representative of the New Comedy, was born in Athens. ... For the PINDAR military bunker in London, please see the PINDAR section of Military citadels under London Pindar (or Pindarus, Greek: ) (probably born 522 BC in Cynoscephalae, a village in Boeotia; died 443 BC in Argos), was a Greek lyric poet. ... Mestrius Plutarchus (Greek: Πλούταρχος; 46 - 127), better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist. ... Polybius (c. ... For other uses, see Sappho (disambiguation). ... Bust of Thucydides residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. ... Xenophon, Greek historian Xenophon (In Greek , ca. ... The restored Stoa of Attalus, Athens Architecture, defined as building executed to an aesthetically considered design, was extinct in Greece from the end of the Mycenaean period (about 1200 BC) to the 7th century BC, when urban life and prosperity recovered to a point where public building could be undertaken. ... For other uses, see Parthenon (disambiguation). ... The site of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Turkey. ... The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis (high city, The Sacred Rock) in the world. ... Remains of the agora built in Athens in the Roman period (east of the classical agora). ... [Image:http://www. ... A 1908 illustration of the temple as it might have looked in the 5th century BCE Ruins of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece Metope showing Hercules and the Cretan Bull The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece was built between 470 BCE and completed by 456 BCE to... “The Colossus of Rhodes” redirects here. ... Temple of Hephaestus, an Doric Greek temple in Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted) Temple of Hephaestus, Athens: eastern face The Temple of Hephaestus in central ancient Athens, Greece, is the best-preserved ancient Greek temple in the world, but is far less well... General location of Samothrace The Samothrace Temple Complex, known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods is one of the principal Pan-Hellenic religious sanctuaries, located on the island of Samothrace within the larger Thrace. ... Insert non-formatted text here This is a timeline of ancient Greece. ... Aegean civilization is a general term for the Bronze Age civilizations of Greece and the Aegean. ... The Minoan civilization was a bronze age civilization which arose on Crete, an island in the Aegean Sea. ... This article is about the Greek archaeological site. ... The Greek Dark Ages (ca. ... Parthenon This article is on the term Classical Greece itself. ... The Hellenistic period of Greek history was the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 BC. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity of Hellenistic society and culture, which... Roman Greece is the period of Greek history following the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC until the reestablishment of the city of Byzantium and the naming of the city by Emperor Constantine I as the capital of the Roman Empire (as Nova... This an alphabetical list of ancient Greeks. ... For the film of the same name, see Alexander the Great (1956 film). ... // Lycurgus Lycurgus (Greek: , Lukoûrgos; 700 BC?–630 BC) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, who established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. ... For the Shakespeare play, see Pericles, Prince of Tyre. ... Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (Greek: ; English /ælsɪbaɪədi:z/; 450 BC–404 BC), also transliterated as Alkibiades, was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. ... Demosthenes (384–322 BC, Greek: Δημοσθένης, Dēmosthénēs) was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. ... Themistocles (Greek: ; c. ... For other uses, see Archimedes (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hippocrates (disambiguation). ... The Charioteer of Delphi, Delphi Archaeological Museum. ... The great kouros of Samos, the largest surviving kouros in Greece (Samos Archaeological Museum) The Ancient Greek word kouros meant a male youth, and is used by Homer to refer to young soldiers. ... The Lady of Auxerre, an example of a kore Kore (Greek - maiden), plural korai, is the name given to a type of ancient Greek sculpture of the archaic period, the female equivalent of a kouros. ... The Kritios boy belongs to the Late Archaic period and is considered the precursor to the later classical sculptures of athletes. ... The Doryphoros of Polykleitos The Doryphoros (Greek δορυφόρος, lit. ... Statue of Zeus The Greek sculptor Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall Statue of Zeus in about 435 bc. ... Townley Discobolus, London, British Museum, with incorrectly restored head defying the balance of the figure The Discobolus of Myron (discus thrower Greek Δισκοβόλος του Μύρωνα) is a famous Roman marble copy of a lost Greek bronze original, completed during the zenith of the classical period between 460-450 BC. Myrons Discobolus was... -1... The statue of Laocoön and His Sons, also called the Laocoön Group, is a monumental marble sculpture, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome. ... Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema Phidias (or Pheidias) (in ancient Greek, ) (c. ... Death of Sarpedon, painted by Euphronios Euphronios was a Greek painter and potter of red-figure vases, active in Athens between 520 and 470 BC, the time of the Persian Wars. ... Polykleitos (or Polycletus, Polyklitos, Polycleitus, Polyclitus) the Elder was a Greek sculptor of the 5th century BC and the early 4th century BC. Next to famous Phidias, Myron and Kresilas he is the most important sculptor of the Classical antiquity. ... Minotaur, from a fountain in Athens, reflecting Myrons lost group of Theseus and the Minotaur (National Archeological Museum, Athens) Myron of Eleutherae (Greek Μύρων) working 480-444 BCE, was an Athenian sculptor from the mid-fifth century BCE.[1] He was born in Eleutherae on the borders of Boeotia and... Cavalry from the Parthenon Frieze, West II, British Museum. ... Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus, was the greatest of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC, who has left an imperishable mark on the history of art. ... In classical Greece Hippeios Colonus (Greek: Ίππειος Κολωνός, Colonus of the Horses) was a deme about 1 km (1 mile) to the northwest of Athens, near Platos Academy. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ...