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