Sophocles | Times Glo

Crucial details about Sophocles's life have been preserved, despite the fact that the biography is incomplete and sketchy at best. A twelfth-century manuscript titled Sophocles, His Life and Works and a Greek dictionary titled the Suda Lexicon from the tenth century provide the bulk of the limited information we have about Sophocles. He was born around 496 B.C.E. in the Greek city of Colonus, not far from the national capital of Athens. His father, the senior Sophillus, was a powerful politician and wealthy arms dealer. Being born into a wealthy family in Athens ensured Sophocles a prominent position in the city's political and artistic communities. A boy's education in wealthy Greek households centred on reading, writing, arithmetic, and the four arts (poetry, music, dance, and gymnastics). Sophocles was no exception. His early education and experiences in many fields enabled him to grow into a powerful figure in politics, diplomacy, and the arts. Sophocles's early prowess in dance and music was evident. He was the youngest member of the boys' chorus, but at the age of 15 he was tasked with leading a triumph paean in honour of the Athenian naval victory over the Persians at the battle of Salamis (joyous song). Sophocles's early successes foreshadowed his later roles as a prominent Greek artist and active citizen. Changes in Athens' government and society were dramatic by the time Sophocles died (around 400 B.C.), as the city entered the Classical Period. Sophocles' work was profoundly influenced by Homer's The Odyssey and The Iliad. A contemporary biographer who wishes to remain anonymous suggests that Sophocles was profoundly influenced by Homer, the greatest of the Greek poets. His play Triptolemus, performed at the competition, took first place. The tragedies of Aeschylus came in second. Sophocles, who lived for an entire century, made many important contributions to Athens' government and culture. Sophocles was a diplomat, a general, and a priest to the minor healing deity Alscepius in addition to being a playwright. Athenian democracy demanded citizen engagement in all elements of governance, even if some of his public duty appeared outside his professional training as a playwright. Athenian statesman Pericles appointed Sophocles treasurer of the Delian Confederacy in 443 B.C. He was a member of the commission the Athenians established after their military defeat in Sicily to figure out what went wrong (s). To end the decisive Peloponnesian War, Sophocles negotiated a peace treaty on behalf of Athens and its allies. Playwrighting was not Sophocles' only accomplishment; he was also a successful businessman and politician. As of 406 B.C., he had already departed irrevocably. to the point where he was worshipped as a deity and a shrine was built in his honour. Approximately 500 B.C. where the city of Athens, Greece, was located back in antiquity. raised the bar for Greek and international theatre. Sophocles, unlike his contemporaries Aeschylus and Euripides, is widely recognised for his oratory and poetic abilities. Ajax, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus the King, The Trachinae, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus are some of Sophocles' plays that have stood the test of time and contributed to his current reputation. In 445 B.C., the vengeful goddess Athena drives the legendary Trojan War hero Ajax insane. Speed it up with some Ajax! Sophocles' 440 B.C.E. play Antigone, about Oedipus's daughter, dramatises a clash between human law and divine law through the characters of Oedipus and King Creon. Sophocles dramatises Hercules' death in The Trachinae (413 B.C.) and the Trojan War in Philoctetes (384 B.C.) (390 B.C. ). (410 B.C.). Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles's final play, wasn't staged until 205 B.C., five years after the Greek playwright's death in 401 B.C. and gives a heartrending account of Oedipus's impending doom..The purpose of a tragedy, according to Aristotle's Poetics, is to evoke in the audience feelings of both sympathy and disgust in order to prompt introspection about their own lives and the nature of destiny (a state known as "catharsis"). Each of the three plays in the Oedipus Trilogy reaches this ending, which Aristotle said was present in all tragedies. The only part of Sophocles that will likely survive the ages is his written works. His words and stories have such power that they continue to captivate readers over 2,400 years after they were first published.