Homer

Homer (lived in the 8th or 9th century BC)

Greek Poet

Famous for Iliad and Odyssey, Homer is the most mysterious and extraordinary of all the poets of ancient Greece. Nothing at all is known for certain about his life, and many scholars have argued that he never even existed.

Homer Profile

Homer may have lived c. 8th or 9th century BC. As no definite facts are known about him, by tradition he was blind, and that he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, c. 9th – 8th century BC. Seven towns claim to be his birthplace.

Admired by Aristotle for his writing, his two epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, are regarded the finest ever written, with realistic and descriptive style.

Read more… Homer and his Two Epic Poems

Sophocles

Sophocles (c. 496 BC – c. 406 BC)

Greek Playwright

As one of the greatest playwrights of ancient Greece, Sophocles, best-known for Oedipus and Antigone, developed the art of tragic drama from the work of the first tragic playwright, Aeschylus.

Nutshell Biography of Sophocles

Sophocles was born c. 496 B.C. into a wealthy family at Colonus, near the city of Athens. He was well-educated and socialized with some to the most powerful and prominent figures of his day.

Read more — Sophocles Brief Biography 

Link to Operas:

• Elektra by Richard Strauss
• Oedipus Rex Opera

Works by Sophocles

• Ajax, c. 450 BC
• Antigone, c. 442
• Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King), c.430 BC
• Women of Trachis, c. 420 BC
• Electra, c. 413 BC
• Philoctetes, 409 BC
• Oedipus at Colonus, 401 BC, Published after his death

Aristophanes

Aristophanes (c. 450 BC – 385  BC)

Greek Playwright

Aristophanes was the greatest comic playwright of Ancient Greece. Along with Aeschylus and Euripides, he is regarded as a great Ancient Greek dramatist. His comedies are said to be the earliest roots of the film, television and theatre comedies we are enjoying today. He is said to have written 40 plays, 11 of which have survived.

Read more — Greek Playwright Aristophanes

Works by Aristophanes

• The Acharnians, 425 BC
• The Knights, 424 BC
• The Clouds, 423 BC
• The Wasps, 422 BC
• The Peace, 421 BC
• The Birds, 414 BC
• Lysistrata, 411 BC
• Thesmophoriazusae, 411 BC
• The Frogs, 405 BC
• Ladies’ Day, 392 BC
• Plutus, 388 BC
• Wealth, 388 BC

Aeschylus

Aeschylus (c. 424 BC-456 BC)

Ancient Greek Playwright

Aeschylus was one of the greatest playwrights of ancient Greece. He is said to have invented tragedy as a form of theatre. For this, he is called the father of Greek tragedy.

Aeschylus was extremely influential on prominent playwrights who followed him, namely, Aristophanes and Euripides.

Read more — Ancient Greek Playwright Aeschylus

Works by Aeschylus

• The Persians, 472 BC
• Seven Against Thebes, 467 BC
• The Suppliant Women, c. 463 BC
• Prometheus Bound, c. 460-456 BC
• The Oresteia Trilogy: 458 BC, consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and Eumenides (The Furies, for Greek deities of vengeance)

Odysseus Elytis

Greek poet Odysseus Elytis (1911) is born today, November 2.