Sophocles Antigone - Sophocles and Antigone :: Antigone essays

Sophocles and Antig one(a) Sophocles is an ancient Grecian writer and philosopher, who wrote one of the greatest stories of entirely time Antigone. Sophocles is also said to be one of the greatest minds in the ancient world. This paper talks round Antigone, achievements and measure of Sophocles. Sophocles was born about 496 BC at Colonus in Attica, near Athens and died 406 BC. He lived in the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens. Sophillus, his father, was a wealth Athenian citizen and gave him a sound education in music, gymnastics, and dancing. He was vigorous cognize as having a reputation for learning and esthetic taste. He was well versed in Homer and the Greek lyric poets, and because of his industriousness he was known as the Attic Bee (Rexine 132). Do to his youthful beauty, he was elect to lead the chorus in the Paen of Thanksgiving for the naval victory at Salamis in 480 BC. (Rexine 132) In Sophocles long life he several times held public offic e, partly do to his fame as a dramatist and his winsome qualities as a man. In 440 BC he was appointed one of the generals in the war which Pericles led against Samos, and in 413 BC. (Magill, Kohler p 1023) He was also one of the ten commissioners appointed after the failure of the expedition to Sicily, to range Athens. Pericles once said to him you know how to write poetry, but you certainly foolt know how to command an army (Internet) Sophocles maiden won first pry, in a competition with Aeschylus, on 468 BC at the era of twenty-eight. During his career he never won less than second prize and gained first prize twenty times, more than any other Greek tragedian. Sophocles wrote more than 120 tragedies, only a mear seven assume survived. Plutarch tells us that there were three periods in Sophocless literary development delusive of the grand style of Aeschylus, use of artificial and incisive style, and use of the high hat style and that which is most expressive of charac ter. It is only from the third period we have examples of. (Rexine p134) The seven tragedies that survive are Ajax 447 BC, Antigone 442/441 BC, Oedipus at Colonus 401 BC, Tracheniae 437-432 BC, Oedipus Rex 429 BC, Electra 418-414 BC.