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Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays, 4/e
Judith Stanford, Rivier College


About the Author

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Sophocles (c. 496--406 B.C.) lived during the Athenian Gold Age, when the military power, artistic glory, and philosophical achievements of Athens were at their zenith. The most generally admired of the ancient Greek dramatists, Sophocles also held political and military positions. He wrote more than one hundred plays, only seven of which survive. More conservative than his contemporaries (including Aeschylus and Euripides), Sophocles emphasized the individual's uncompromising search for the truth, which is evident in Oedipus Rex.


Major works by Sophocles

Ajax (c. 445 B.C.)
Trachiniae (c. 430 B.C.)
Antigone (c. 441 B.C.)
Oedipus Rex (c. 430 B.C.)
Electra (c. 418 B.C.)
Philoctetes (409 B.C.)
Oedipus at Colonus (401 B.C.)


Sophocles and the Web

Here's the directory listing for Socrates from Bartleby.com.

This table of contents from the Perseus Digital Library has links to all of Sophocles' existing plays.

This page from the University of Saskatchewan contains background information about ancient Greek tragedy and Sophocles' life and work.