Sophocles was a Greek dramatist and, together with Aeschylus and Euripides, one of the three great tragic poets of antiquity whose complete plays have survived. He was born in Colonus, near Athens, in 496 BC, the son of a wealthy Athenian citizen who owned a cutlery workshop. Because of his family’s comfortable position, he probably received an excellent education at a time when art, literature, and democracy were flourishing in Athens.
At the age of sixteen, because of his education, talent, and impressive appearance, he was chosen to lead the chorus of young Athenians celebrating the Greek victory at the Battle of Salamis. He first competed in the dramatic contests in 468 BC, at the age of twenty-eight, and won first prize, defeating Aeschylus. In the following years he achieved about twenty-four victories and wrote around 120 plays, of which only seven survive: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus.
Out of love for Athens, Sophocles refused royal invitations to leave the city. He travelled outside Athens only on public missions, since he held important civic and military positions. He served as an Athenian envoy to Chios and Lesbos, and during the Samian War he was elected general alongside Pericles in 441/440 BC.
Sophocles was married twice. From his first marriage he had four children, and later, with another woman, he had another son. In 406 BC, when he heard of the death of his rival Euripides, he dressed his actors in mourning. A few months later, Sophocles himself died. Ancient tradition gives several versions of his death: some said he choked while eating unripe grapes, others that he lost his breath while reading a long passage from Antigone, and others that he died of joy after winning yet another dramatic contest.
