Tuesday, November 5th

Background video

Introduction to Greek Mythology

The stories of the Greek myths are all that remain of an ancient religion. The gods and goddesses of stories represent the metaphors that the ancient Greeks used to make sense of the world around them and of life in general. Those metaphors provided inspiration for a wealth of literature. Since the ancient Greeks began telling these stories in a pre-literate era (before they had writing), at first the stories were passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition. Once poets and dramatists began writing the stories down, they preserved them for future generations. What they preserved, is the story as they told it. So we must look at the stories as both religion and literature at the same time.

Sophocles

Information about Sophocles’ life is at best sketchy and incomplete, but some important details survive. Most of what scholars know about the playwright comes from two sources: the Suda Lexicon, a tenth-century Greek dictionary, and the anonymous Sophocles: His Life and Works, an undated manuscript found in the thirteenth century.

Early Years

Sophocles was born about 496 B.C. at Colonus, a village just outside Athens, Greece. His father, Sophillus, was a wealthy weapons-maker and a leading citizen. Both birth and wealth, then, set Sophocles apart as someone likely to play an important role in Athenian society.

Education

Like other Greek boys from wealthy families, Sophocles studied poetry, music, dancing, and gymnastics—subjects regarded as the basis of a well-rounded education for a citizen. His early schooling prepared him to serve as a leader in all aspects of public life, including the military, foreign policy, and the arts.

The young Sophocles showed great skill at music and dancing. In fact, at age 15, he won the great honor of leading the boys’ chorus in the victory paean (joyful song) celebrating the Athenian naval victory over the Persians at the battle of Salamis. This achievement foreshadowed the leadership role Sophocles would have in society, both as an active member of the government and as an influence on Greek arts.

Sophocles lived during the Classical Period (500 to 400 B.C.), a time of transition for Greece, when political and cultural events were changing and shaping Athenian culture. As a dramatist, Sophocles played an important part in this creation of a civilization, which included looking backward to ancient traditions and the first epic poetry of Greece, written by Homer. His great Greek epics The Odyssey and The Iliad profoundly influenced Sophocles. An anonymous biographer of the time called him “the pupil of Homer”—suggesting that Sophocles’ great power came to him from the greatest of Greek poets.

Sophocles probably also studied under the Greek playwright Aeschylus. If so, then Sophocles’ first dramatic success had a very personal significance. In 468 B.C., his play Triptolemus took first prize for tragedy, while Aeschylus’ play came in second.

Public Service

Over many years, Sophocles actively participated in Athenian political and cultural life, often in positions of great responsibility. Besides his contributions as playwright, Sophocles served as a diplomat, general, and even a priest of Alscepius, a minor god of healing. While some of his public service may seem beyond his professional experience as a dramatist, Athenian democracy nevertheless demanded that its citizens take part in all aspects of government.

In 443 B.C., the great Athenian leader Pericles chose Sophocles to be treasurer of the Delian Confederation. As Hellenotamias—his official title—Sophocles collected taxes from the states under the control of Athens. In effect, he represented the power of the entire Athenian empire in his office, and the funds he collected bolstered Athenian glory at home and around the Mediterranean.

In 440 B.C., Sophocles served as a general in the siege of Samos, an island that challenged the authority of Athens. He may have served another term as a general in either 426 B.C. or 415 B.C., and he later took part in a special commission to investigate the Athenian military defeat in Sicily in 413 B.C. During the crucial Peloponnesian War, Sophocles conducted negotiations with Athenian allies.

Despite all his public service, though, Sophocles remained first and last a dramatist. His death in 406 B.C. inspired a national cult that worshipped him as a cultural hero at a shrine dedicated to his memory.

                             Antigone Character chart: