Sophocles


 * SOPHOCLES (495 BC - 405 BC) **

Time Period:
 * The Golden Age of Athens (The Age of Pericles)**
 * Starting roughly from the end of the Persian Wars to the end of the Peloponnesian Wars
 * Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman. He was an Athenian general, politician and orator.
 * Athens flourished and reached its peak in the areas of philosophy, art and literature.
 * Attracted many different people from around Greece
 * Took command of the other states


 * Peloponnesian War**
 * Sparta was suspicious and fearful of Athens' wealth and power
 * Sparta outnumbered Athens two to one
 * Sophocles fought with Pericles
 * Pericles died in the second year of the war
 * Army carried on with with Pericles' tactics for the second half of the war, after his death, but they weren't strong enough to win

Background:
 * Born in Colonus, a city near Athens
 * Born into an extremely wealthy family
 * His father, Sophilus, was an armor manufacturer and had an excellent reputation.
 * Highly educated throughout his entire life. He was educated in music, dancing and gymnastics
 * His instructor was Lamprus, a celebrated musician of the period.
 * By the age of sixteen, he was chosen to lead a choir of boys at a celebration of the victor of Salamis
 * In his first competition, at the age of 28, Sophocles took first prize, defeating Aeschylus
 * Sophocles wrote around 123 plays throughout his life time, but only seven have been recovered in complete form.
 * He completed in around 30 competitions, 24 of which he won, but he was never judged lower than second place.
 * Performed in many of his own plays, but his voice was relatively weak and he eventually gave up his acting career.
 * He was twice elected general -- the highest office which an Athenian could hold.
 * Discharged certain priestly functions in connection with the worship of Asclepius
 * Married to wife named Nicostrata and they had son Iophon. A little later in life, he formed a connection with Theoris and they had son Ariston. He also had three other sons, which are only mentioned by name, but nothing is actually known about the. There are sayings that in extreme old age, he fell into the clutches of Archippe, whom he made heiress of his property.
 * Passed away at the age of 90 or 91

What Influenced Him: - Sophocles’s life corresponds very closely to the “Golden Age” of Greek culture and society. - Saw his country expand and thrive after defeating the Persians, was also was born shortly after democracy was established in Athens. Lived to see the downfall of the Athens, when they lost the Peloponnesian war to Sparta. - Life paralleled a tragedy: he was born, reached fame and fortune in terms of both his playwriting and the power of Athens, and then died after his country had lost a great war to Sparta: The Peloponnesian War. - Born in Colonus, the city that he would later write about in his play __Oedipus at Colonus__. This inarguably shows that his hometown had a great effect on his, even though it was quite near to and far less significant to the powerful city of Athens. - Studied many arts, with special emphasis on dancing and music. His teacher was one of the more celebrated musicians of the time; Sophocles himself would become a very talented musician. - After the Greeks defeated the Persians Sophocles was chosen to lead a choir of boy singers to celebrate, as well as play the harp to accompany them. - Early musical experiences would likely come to influence him, especially seeing as theatre at the time relied heavily on choirs and song. - General structure of an ancient Greek tragedy: prologue, song sung by the chorus., “episode,” which was when characters and the chorus would talk, then anode, or “stasimon,” sung by the chorus. - Episodes would often build up into an argument in the form of stichomythia: characters would exchange brief and powerful lines. - Several episodes and stasimons, followed finally by an exodus: final song in which the chorus would sing the “moral” of the story. - Traditional sturcture or an ancient Greek tragedy undoubtedly influenced Sophocles’s plays, as he followed the structure closely in his own plays. - Sophocles introduced a third character in his scenes instead of the traditionnal two: allowed for more plot complexity. - Sophocles “learnt tragedy from Aeschylus;” however, there is no evidence that the two playwrights even knew each other personally. - It seems inevitable, however, that Sophocles, as a future playwright, would have studied and learnt from Aeschylus’s works, seeing as Aeschylus was and still is widely considered the greatest of the Greek playwrights before Sophocles.

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-size: 110%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">How He Influenced the World: <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Sophocles decorated the stage on which his plays were acted, and gave characters more expressive masks, both of which made the play seem more realistic and dramatic. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"> <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;"> -- Aeschylus, the great playwright who had come before Sophocles, had written dramatic trilogies that were about many characters and long, continued plots. Sophocles, on the other hand, liked to make his plays focus on individual characters and their tragedies, so that the audience could become emotionally attached to the main character instead of having to follow several characters. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Sophocles’s characters were a lot let passive than characters of previous Greek tragedy, and they moved toward questioning their role in the universe instead of accepting it as the will of the gods. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Character change could have been due to the fact that he lived when democracy was still new and exciting. Sophocles’ philosophy in this respect is spread throughout all aspects of literature and theatre, and allows more plot complexity as everything has a question related to it that cannot be easily answered. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Depicted realistic characters under stress. Character’s virtues also can turn out to be their flaws, such as Antigone, who is very stoic but also seems overly stubborn. In this way, Sophocles could comment on specific aspects of human nature, such as intelligence or pride, all within the scope of one character. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Finally, Sophocles introduced a third character into Greek tragedy, which had previously only used two characters and the chorus. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Plots could become more complex, while still having the story revolve around the one main character. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">- Without Sophocles, all modern theatre could still be restricted to two characters, which would be a lot more boring than modern plays and movies that rely on many characters for plot development. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -18pt;">** - All of these changes helped to make Sophocles's plays more of an emotional experience that the audience could get involved in, instead of watching distant actors that they couldn't relate to up on a stage. **

=
-Revolves around Greek warrior Ajax, who kill the great Achilles. When he is not rewarded for his feat, he goes on a rampage, killing various farm animals after being tricked into thinking that they were the Greek leaders that refused to praise him.====== **Electra** -Written in his later years -Centers around Orestes, a prince sent away from home during infancy by his sister, Electra, when his mother, Clytemnestra went on a murdering spree -Orestes returns to his home for revenge, fakes his own death to gain access to the palace, kills his mother and her lover, Aegisthus

**Philoctetes** -Revolves around Greek warrior Odysseus Neoptolemus, the son of Achelles, who are trying to convince, Philoctetes, a legendary Greek archer whose bow and poisoned arrows are the only things capable of ending the years-long Trogan War, to return to Troy and fight **The Trachiniae** -About the wife of Hercules, Deianira, who is miserable because her husband is never around. -Deianira sends one of her sons to look for Hercules, but then hears from a messenger that Hercules is alive, but has attempted to take a woman, Iole, as a lover -Deianira sends Hercules a robe thought to work as a love charm, ends up slowly killing Hercules by eating away at his flesh

**Oedipus Rex** -Most famous of works, said to be the “perfect tragedy” -Concerns Oedipus, the new king of Thebes, who comes to the realization that he has fulfilled his prophesized fate of killing his father and marrying his mother, despite his parents and his own measures of trying to prevent it **Oedipus At Colonus** -A continuation of Oedipus Rex, revolves around Oedipus stay in Colonus with daughter Antigone as well as the fights between Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, for the crown of Thebes -Play much more Philosophical than Oedipus Rex, less action takes place **Antigone** -Final installment of Oedipus series, revolves around Antigone, who tries to bury her brother Polyneices after he is killed in a civil war against Eteocles, despite the orders of king Creon. -Creon orders Antigone to be buried alive, resulting in the suicide of Creon’s wife and son, leaving him miserable and alone

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<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"SOPHOCLES (C. 497 - 406 B.C.)." Theatre Database. Theatre Database, n.d. Web. 4 Oct 2010. <http://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/sophocles_001.html

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hooker, Richard. "The Peloponnesian War." WSU. N.p., 1996. Web. 4 Oct 2010. <http://wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/PELOWARS.HTM>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Barrett, Matt. "The Golden Age of Greece." A History of Greece. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct 2010. <http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/goldenage.htm>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Peloponnesian War." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 26 Sep 2010. Web. 5 Oct 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Age of Pericles." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 3 Oct 2010. Web. 5 Oct 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Pericles>.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Sophocles." UsefulTrivia.com. UsefulTrivia.com, n.d. Web. 5 Oct 2010. <http://www.usefultrivia.com/biographies/sophocles_001.html

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 24pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">"BBC - Primary History - Ancient Greeks." //BBC - Homepage//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancient_greeks/>. <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">"BBC - Primary History - Timelines." //BBC - Homepage//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/timeline/timeline.shtml>. <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">"Greek Theater." //Reed College//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/Theater.html>. <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">Hubbard, Will, and Alex Carnevale. "In Which These Are The 100 Greatest Writers Of All Time." //Home - This Recording//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://thisrecording.com/today/2009/8/3/in-which-these-are-the-100-greatest-writers-of-all-time.html>. <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">"Image:Greek Mask.JPG - LoveToKnow Costumes." //Costume Ideas | Halloween Costumes | Making Costumes and More...// Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://costumes.lovetoknow.com/Image:Greek_mask.JPG>.

<span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">"Sophocles (c. 496-406 B.C.)." //Imagi-nation.com//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc1.htm>. <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: black; display: block; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-indent: -36pt;">"Sophocles." //Theatre Database//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/sophocles_001.html>. "Sophocles Quotes." //Notable Quotes//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.notable-quotes.com/s/sophocles_quotes.html>. "The Women of Trachis." //Washington State University//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/women_trachis.html>.

Sophocles . Venekera. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.sophocles.net/>. "Sophocles and His Tragedies." //Theatre History//. 2002. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/sophocles001.html>. "Index of Sophocles." //The Internet Classics Archive//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles>. "Sophocles' Plays." //Free Study Guides for Shakespeare and Other Authors//. Web. 08 Oct. 2010. <http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Plays.html>.