Sophocles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sophocles
Sophocles, as depicted in the Nordisk familjebok
Born	495 BC Colonus Hippius
Died	ca. 406 BC Athens
Occupation	Playwright and Politician

Sophocles (ancient Greek: Σοφοκλής; 495 BC - 406 BC) was the second of three great ancient Greek tragedians. He was preceded by Aeschylus, and was followed by or contemporary to Euripides. According to the Suda, a tenth century AD encyclopedia, he wrote 123 or more plays during the course of his life.^[1] For almost 50 years, he was the dominant competitor in the dramatic competitions of ancient Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. His first victory was in 468 BC, although scholars are no longer certain that this was the first time that he competed.

Only seven of his tragedies have survived into modern times with their text completely known. The most famous of these are the three tragedies 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 character 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 like Aeschylus, and used female characters in his plays.^[2] The most famous line of all of these is "Expect Everything and Nothing shall suprise you. Being suprised by nothing takes the joy out of life."

Contents 1 Life 2 Works and legacy 2.1 The Theban plays (The Oedipus Cycle) 2.2 Other plays 2.3 Fragmentary plays 3 Notes 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Life

Sophocles was born in the rural deme (small community) of Colonus Hippius in Attica, which would later become a setting for his plays.^[3] 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.^[4][3] The young Sophocles won awards in wrestling and music, was graceful and handsome, and led the chorus of boys (paean) at the Athenian celebration of the victory against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.^[5] 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]

Sophocles became a man of importance in the public halls of Athens as well as in the theatres. 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] He was also elected by the Athenian people as one of the ten generals for 441/0, during which he participated in the crushing of the revolt of Samos, though his contemporaries did not consider him a great politician or general.^[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 at the age of 83, 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]

Several ancient writers have commented on Sophocles' love of youths. Athenaeus alleged that in addition to seeking and keeping female courtesans, Sophocles loved boys as Euripides loved 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]

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]

[edit] Works and legacy

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 BC that Sophocles became the preeminent playwright in Athens.^[3]

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]

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, also called Sophocles). 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.^[15][16]

[edit] The Theban plays (The Oedipus Cycle)

Perhaps the most famous of Sophocles plays are commonly known as the Theban plays or The Oedipus Cycle.^[2] The cycle consists of the plays Oedipus Rex (or Oedipus Tyrannos), which won second prize at the Dionysia festival in 427, Oedipus at Colonus, which won first prize when produced by his grandson, and Antigone.^[2] Although these three plays are related in plot, they were not written or performed at the same time, and so were likely not originally intended to be a trilogy.^[17] Taking up the theme of humans being trapped both by fate and their own frailties, the plays tell the story of the family of Oedipus, who in Greek mythology killed his father and married his mother without knowing that they were, in fact, his parents.^[17] Antigone, a play about Oedipus' daughter's death, is an example of Sophocles' use of prominent female characters.^[2]

[edit] Other plays

Similar themes of human powerlessness in the winds of fate appear in some of Sophocles' other surviving works, which include Ajax, The Trachiniae, Electra, and Philoctetes, the last of which won first prize.^[17] In 'Ajax', for example, the Greek hero commits suicide out of remorse for his attack on his fellow Greeks before he can be told that the gods have forgiven him.^[17]

[edit] 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:

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

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Suda (ed. Finkel et al.): s.v. Σοφοκλῆς.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Freeman: 247
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Sommerstein: 41
4. ^ Lloyd-Jones 1994: 7
5. ^ Freeman: 246-247
6. ^ Freeman: 246
7. ^ Clinton, Kevin "The Epidauria and the Arrival of Asclepius in Athens", in Ancient Greek Cult Practice from the Epigraphical Evidence, edited by R. Hägg, Stockholm, 1994.
8. ^ Lloyd-Jones: 12-13
9. ^ Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists, Book XIII (603)
10. ^ Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists, Book XIII (604E)
11. ^ Plutarch, The Lives, "Life of Pericles" 8.5
12. ^ Sommerstein: 41-42
13. ^ Freeman: 242-243
14. ^ Aristotle. Ars Poetica.
15. ^ Lloyd-Jones 1994: 8-9
16. ^ Scullion, pp. 85-86, rejects attempts to date Antigone to shortly before 441/0 based on an anecdote that the play led to Sophocles' election as general. On other grounds, he cautiously suggests c. 450 BC.
17. ^ ^{a b c d} Freeman: 247-248
18. ^ ^{a b} Seaford: 1361
19. ^ Keys, David, Pyke, Nicholas, "Decoded at last: the 'classical holy grail' that may rewrite the history of the world", The Independent (UK), 17 April 2005, "Scientists begin to unlock the secrets of papyrus scraps bearing long-lost words by the literary giants of Greece and Rome ..."

[edit] References

• Finkel, Raphael; et al. (eds.). Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography s.v. Σοφοκλῆς. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
• 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): 1361. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Smith, Philip. (1867). "Sophocles". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 3: 865–873. Ed. William Smith. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
• Sommerstein, Alan Herbert (2002). Greek Drama and Dramatists. Routledge. ISBN 0415260272

[edit] External links

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

• Fragmentary Tragedies of Sophocles Project
• Studies in Sophoclean Fragments
• Films based on Sophocles plays
• Life of Sophocles

Persondata
NAME	Sophocles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Major ancient Greek playwright, one of only three whose works have survived into modern times.
DATE OF BIRTH	495 BC
PLACE OF BIRTH	Colonus Hippius
DATE OF DEATH	ca. 406 BC
PLACE OF DEATH	Athens