Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Sophocles

SOPHOCLES, a Greek tragic poet; born in the Attic demus or village of Colonus, 495 B. C., 30 years later than Æschylus.

He received a good education, and at an early age gained the prize in music and gymnastics. He was 15 when the battle of Salamis was fought, and for his remarkable beauty and skill in music he was chosen to lead the chorus which sang the paean of victory. His first appearance as a dramatist was in 468, when, under memorable circumstances, he had Æschylus for his rival and won the victory. Of the next 28 years of his life nothing is recorded; but it is known that he made poetry his business, and that he composed a great many plays during that period. Not one of them, however, is now extant. The "Antigone," the earliest of his extant tragedies, was brought out in 440, and won the prize. The number of plays attributed to him without question was 113, of which 81 were probably produced after the "Antigone." Seven only are extant, viz., "Antigone," "Electra," "Trachinian Women," "King Œdipus," "Ajax," "Philoctetes," and "Œdipus at Colonus." These exhibit his art in its maturity, and sustain the verdict of ancient and modern critics that Sophocles carried the Greek drama to its highest perfection. He effected a complete change in the constitution of tragedy as Æschylus left it; loosening the connection between the parts of the trilogy and the satiric drama, and making them not one great poem, but four distinct ones; introducing a third actor; and for subjects selecting, not a series of heroic and mythical actions, but for each play one leading fact of real human interest and lasting significance. Sophocles lived to be nearly 90, and in his latest years most probably wrote the "Œdipus at Colonus," so full of sweetness and tender melancholy, and consoling hopes, which was not presented on the stage till five years after the poet's death, 406 B. C.