Search Results: Sophocles

Ajax is a play written by the 5th-century BCE Greek poet and dramatist Sophocles. Although Sophocles wrote at least 120 plays, only seven have survived. Of his surviving plays, the best-known is Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) - part of a...

Electra is a Greek tragedy written by the playwright Euripides c. 420 BCE. It retells the classic myth concerning the plotting of Electra and her brother Orestes to kill their mother and her lover. This version of the story should not be...

Women of Trachis is a Greek tragedy, one of Sophocles' (c. 496 BCE - c. 406 BCE) lesser-known works, the only one that does not deal with the aftermath of the Trojan War, rather it is concerned with the death of the Greek hero Heracles (or...

Greek theatre began in the 6th century BCE in Athens with the performance of tragedy plays at religious festivals. These, in turn, inspired the genre of Greek comedy plays. The two types of Greek drama would be hugely popular and performances...

Seven Against Thebes is the third part of a trilogy written by one of the greatest of the Greek tragedians, Aeschylus in 467 BCE, winning first prize in competition at Dionysia. Unfortunately, only fragments of the first two plays, Laius...

Euripides (c. 484-407 BCE) was one of the greatest authors of Greek tragedy. In 5th century BCE Athens his classic works such as Medeia cemented his reputation for clever dialogues, fine choral lyrics and a gritty realism in both his text...

The play Libation Bearers was written by one of the greatest of all Greek tragedians Aeschylus (c. 525-455 BCE). Winning first prize at the Dionysia competition in 458 BCE, Libation Bearers was the second play in the trilogy The Oresteia...

The Suppliants (also given as Suppliant Women) is a Greek tragedy written by Euripides, not to be confused with Aeschylus' tragedy of the same title. Its exact date of production is not known, possibly around 424 to 420 BCE, and may have...

The ancient Greeks built open-air theatres where the public could watch the performances of Greek comedy, tragedy, and satyr plays. They then exported the idea to their colonies throughout the Aegean so that theatres became a typical feature...

The tragedy Medea was written in 431 BCE by Euripides (c. 484 – 407 BCE). Euripides authored at least 90 plays of which 19 have survived intact. As with the plays by Sophocles and Aeschylus, the audience was already well aware of the myth...