Sophocles biography wikipedia

Sophocles ( BC, BC, or BC – BC) was an Ancient Greek writer who wrote over plays, according to the Suda. Only seven of his tragedies have survived complete. Sophocles was the second of the three greatest Ancient Greek writers of tragedies, the others were Aeschylus and Euripides.

The most famous of Sophocles' tragedies are those about Oedipus and Antigone: these are often called the Theban plays. Each play was a part of different tetralogy (set of four), the other members of which are now lost.

Life

Sophocles, the son of Sophillus, was a rich member of the rural community of Colonus Hippius in Attica. This was the setting for his plays. He was probably born there. His birth took place a few years before the Battle of Marathon in BC: the exact year is unclear, although /6 is perhaps most likely. Sophocles' first great play was in BC when he took first prize in the Dionysia theatre competition ahead of Aeschylus.

Surviving plays

• The Theban plays (the Oedipus Cycle):
  • Antigone
  • Oedipus the King (Oedipus Tyrannos (Greek) or Oedipus Rex (Latin)
  • Oedipus at Colonos
• Ajax
• The Trachiniae
• Electra
• Philoctetes

The Oedipus story

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is the main character.

Oedipus' death as a child is planned by his parents, Laius and Jocasta, to stop him fulfilling a prophecy. A servant passes the infant on to a childless couple, who adopt him. They did not know his history.

Oedipus eventually learns of the Delphic Oracle's prophecy of him. It was: he would kill his father and marry his mother. He thought this meant his adopted parents. He flees to avoid his fate. Oedipus meets a man at a crossroads accompanied by servants. Oedipus and the man fight, and Oedipus kills the man. This man was his father, Laius, not that anyone apart from the gods knew this at the time.

Oedipus becomes the rul

Classical Athenian tragedy by Sophocles

This article is about the play by Sophocles. For other uses, see Oedipus Rex (disambiguation).

Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus (Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, pronounced[oidípuːstýrannos]), or Oedipus the King, is an Atheniantragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed c.&#;&#;BC, this is highly uncertain. Originally, to the ancient Greeks, the title was simply Oedipus (Οἰδίπους), as it is referred to by Aristotle in the Poetics. It is thought to have been renamed Oedipus Tyrannus to distinguish it from Oedipus at Colonus, a later play by Sophocles. In antiquity, the term "tyrant" referred to a ruler with no legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation.

Of Sophocles' three Theban plays that have survived, and that deal with the story of Oedipus, Oedipus Rex was the second to be written, following Antigone by about a dozen years. However, in terms of the chronology of events described by the plays, it comes first, followed by Oedipus at Colonus and then Antigone.

Prior to the start of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus has become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius (the previous king), and marry his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx). The action of Sophocles's play concerns Oedipus's search for the murderer of Laius in order to end a plague ravaging Thebes, unaware that the killer he is looking for is none other than himself. At the end of the play, after the truth finally comes to light, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified at his patricide and incest, proceeds to gouge out his own eyes in despair.

In his Poetics, Aristotle refers several times to the play in order to exemplify aspects of the gen

Ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles

This article is about the play by Sophocles. For the mythological figure, see Philoctetes.

Philoctetes (Ancient Greek: Φιλοκτήτης, Philoktētēs; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, -tet-) is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, but before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos.

Background

When Heracles was near his death, he wished to be burned on a funeral pyre while still alive. In the play Philoctetes, Sophocles references the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light Heracles' funeral pyre, and in return for this favor Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow (seen in later texts, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses). Philoctetes left with the Greeks to participate in the Trojan War, but was bitten on the foot by a snake while walking on Chryse, a sacred ground. The bite caused him constant agony, and emitted a horrible smell. For this reason he was left by Odysseus and the Atreidai (sons of Atreus) on the desert island Lemnos.

Ten years pass, and the Greeks capture the Trojan seer Helenus, son of Priam. He foretells that they will need the master archer Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles to win the war. Odysseus sails back to Lemnos with Neoptolemus (son of Achilles) to get Philoctetes. The task is not easy, as Philoctetes bitterly hates Odysseus and the Greeks for leaving him there.

Synopsis

Sophocles' Philoctetes begins with their arrival on the island. Odysseus explains

Greek university professor (–)

Evangelinos Apostolides Sophocles (Greek: Ευαγγελινός Αποστολίδης Σοφοκλής; March&#;8, &#;&#; December&#;17, ) was a professor of classics and Modern Greek at Harvard University, and lexicographer. He was born in Tsangarada, Thessaly, Ottoman Empire, and he died in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is considered to be a pioneer of Modern Greek studies.

Biography

Evangelinos Apostolides Sophocles' father's name was Apostolos. The name Sophocles was given to him by his teacher Anthimos Gazis to compliment his scholarship; this is the name by which he is commonly known "away from home". At a young age, Evangelinos traveled to Cairo with his uncle. He spent several years there at a metochion of Saint Catherine's Monastery, of which Evangelinos' uncle, the hieromonk Konstantios, was the administrator. Together, they also visited the principal monastery Saint Catherine's Monastery.

Sophocles, now thirteen, returned to the Thessaly region in He attended school for one year studying Greek classic authors, under the instruction of different reputable scholars, including Anthimos Gazis. The school closed in because of the Greek Revolution and Sophocles returned to the monastery in Cairo. After several years, he left the monastery due to the death of his uncle. Though he was profoundly shaped by his monastic upbringing, he was never formally tonsured as a monk. Evangelinos reunited with Anthimos Gazis on the Greek island of Syros. On that island, he met American missionary, Reverend Josiah Brewer, a member of the American Board of Foreign Missions, who invited Sophocles to the United States.

Sophocles arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in He was 21 years old. He studied with Chauncey Colton at Mount Pleasant Classical Insti