Biography and characteristic features of the creative method of Sophocles. Brief biography of Sophocles

(495 - 406 BC)

Sophocles' birthplace - Colon

Tragedy, which, thanks to Aeschylus, received such a development, reached the highest degree of perfection in the works of Sophocles, the greatest tragedian of antiquity. It is impossible to determine exactly the year of his birth; but according to the most probable calculation, he was born in Ol. 71, 2, or in 495 BC. Therefore, he was 30 years younger than Aeschylus and 15 years older than Euripides. He came from a rich and noble family. His father, Sophill, was a gunsmith, i.e. had a workshop in which his slaves made weapons, and belonged to the demos or district of Kolon Ippios, located near Athens, which should be distinguished from that located in the inner city of Kolon Agoraios. At a distance of half an hour from the Dipyla gates, to the northwest of Athens, near the Academy, there was a sloping hill with two peaks, of which one, dedicated to Apollo Hippias and Athena Hippias, made up the so-called Colon. On the slopes of this hill, in its environs, attractive by nature, there were many temples; here were the dwellings of the colonies. Sophocles loved this place of his birth, where he played as a boy, and already in his old age immortalized it by placing its description in his tragedy "Oedipus in Colon". In the first chorus of this tragedy of Sophocles, the colonials glorify before Oedipus the beauties of their district and call Colon an adornment of the whole Attic land.

On the western hill, near the olive grove, there is now the tomb of the famous explorer of antiquity, Otfried Müller; from the eastern hill there is a magnificent view, especially attractive in the light of the evening dawn. From here you can see the city of the Acropolis, the entire coast from Cape Kolia to Piraeus, and then the dark blue sea with Aegina and the coast of Argolis disappearing on the distant horizon. But the sacred groves of Poseidon and Erinnes, the temples that were once in this area, and Demos himself - all this has already disappeared, leaving behind only a few ruins on the hill and its slopes. Only further to the west, where the olive grove begins, the grapes, laurels and olives turn green just as in the time of Sophocles, and in the shady bushes, irrigated by the ever-running stream of Kephiss, the nightingale still sings its sweet-sounding songs.

Childhood and youth of Sophocles

In an ancient biography of Sophocles, which is an extract from the writings of Alexandrian critics and literary historians, it says: "Sophocles grew up in a hall and was brought up well"; Athens of that time delivered rich funds for this. He received good knowledge in the arts necessary for a tragic poet, in music, gymnastics and choral singing. In music, he was tutored by Lampr, the most famous of the teachers of his time, who, for his lyrical works in an ancient, sublime style, was compared by the ancients with Pindar. For his knowledge of music and choral singing, and at the same time, of course, for his blossoming youthful beauty, the 15 or 16-year-old Sophocles was chosen, in 480 BC, to lead the choir that sang victorious a paean at a feast after the Battle of Salamis. Naked, according to the custom of gymnasts, or (according to other news) in a short cloak, the young man Sophocles, with a lyre in his hand, led a circular dance around the victorious trophies taken at Salamis. With his skill in dancing and playing the cithara, he sometimes took part in the performance of his own tragedies, although, due to the weakness of his voice, he could not, contrary to the custom prevailing in his time, act in his plays as an actor. In his drama "Tamir" he played the role of a beautiful young man Tamir or Tamiris, who dared to compete with the muses themselves in playing the cithara; in his other play, Nausicaa, he aroused general approval as an excellent ball player (σφαιριστής): he played the role of Nausicaa, who in one scene amuses herself with her friends by dancing and playing ball.

The biographer says that Sophocles studied the tragic art with Aeschylus; this can also be taken literally; but the biographer, apparently, only wanted to say that Sophocles took his great predecessor as his model and, at the beginning of his poetic activity, tried to improve in the tragic art, studying the works of Aeschylus. Although the poetry of Sophocles in many respects deviates from the path laid down by Aeschylus and has its own original character, however, Sophocles, as everyone admits, nevertheless, followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, which is quite consistent with the very essence of the matter.

Sophocles' first performance as a playwright

With this great teacher of his, a 60-year-old old man, Sophocles, a young man of 27 years old, decided to enter into a poetic competition, for the first time putting on stage works of his art during the great Dionysius 468 BC. day were extremely excited and divided into two parties. “Here it was not two works of art that argued about primacy, but two literary genres, and if the first works of Sophocles attracted the depth of feeling and the subtlety of mental analysis, then his opponent was a great teacher, whom until then he had not yet surpassed in majesty of characters and fortitude. none of the Hellenes." (Welker). The first archon, Apsephius, who, as chairman of the festival, had to choose the judges for awarding the award, seeing the excited state of the spectators, arguing heatedly among themselves and divided into two sides - one for the glorious representative of the old art, the other for the new direction of the young tragedian, was in difficulty and did not know where to find impartial judges. At this time, the chief commander of the Athenian fleet, Cimon, who had just returned from the island of Skyros, conquered by him, from where he took the ashes of the Athenian national hero Theseus, appeared, along with other generals, to the theater in order, according to ancient custom, to offer a sacrifice to the culprit of the festival, the god Dionysus. This is what the archon took advantage of; he asked these 10 commanders to stay in the theater until the end of the performance and take on the duty of judges. The generals agreed, took the established oath, and at the end of the performance awarded the first award to Sophocles. Such was the great and glorious victory of the young poet, remarkable both in the strength of the opponent and in the personality of the judges.

According to some writers, old Aeschylus, distressed by his failure, left his fatherland and went to Sicily. Welker, who proved the groundlessness of this opinion, at the same time notes that there is no reason to assume hostile relations between the two poets. Rather, the opposite can be argued; Sophocles always highly respected Aeschylus, as the father of tragedy, and often imitated him in his works, not only in relation to myths and characters, but also in individual ideas and expressions.

Lessing, in his biography of Sophocles, with the help of a witty combination, made a very probable assumption that among the works that delivered this first victory to Sophocles was the tragedy Triptolemos, which had not come down to us, which should have earned the favor of the audience already for its patriotic content: the plot for it was the spread of agriculture that arose in Attica and the softening of morals by the labors of the Eleusinian-Attic hero Triptolemus. But the real reason why the Athenians gave Sophocles precedence over Aeschylus was, of course, Sophocles' innovations in tragic poetry.

Sophocles' innovations in ancient Greek theater

Aeschylus in his trilogies combined a whole series of mythical actions into one big whole, depicting the fate of generations and states in such a way that the main lever of the tragedy was the action of divine forces, while little space was given to the depiction of characters and the everyday situation of the action. Sophocles left this form of the trilogy and began to compose separate dramas, which, in their content, did not have an internal connection with each other, but each individually constituted an independent, complete whole. But at the same time, he nevertheless put on stage three tragedies at once with a satirical drama. Since in each individual play he had in mind only one main fact, thanks to this, he was able to process each tragedy more fully and better and give it more vitality, sharply and definitely outlining the characters of the characters that determine the course of the dramatic action. In order to introduce more variety of characters into his dramas and, as it were, to set off some characters by others, he added a third to the previous two actors; this number of actors has since remained constant in ancient Greek tragedy, with the exception of a few isolated cases.

Adding a third actor, Sophocles also reduced the singing of the choir, gave him the role of a calm spectator. From this, the conversations of the characters gained predominance over the chorus, the action became the main element of the drama - and the tragedy acquired an ideal beauty.

Comparison of Sophocles with Aeschylus and Euripides

The characters of Sophocles, created on the basis of many-sided and thoughtful experience, appear, in comparison with the gigantic images of Aeschylus, purely human, without losing, however, their ideality and not lowering, like in Euripides, to the level of everyday life. Their passions, despite all their strength, do not violate the laws of grace. The denouement is prepared slowly and diligently, and when it has already come, the excited feeling of the viewer is calmed by the thought of the justice of the eternal gods, to which the will of mortals must obey. Everywhere wise moderation and dignity prevail, combined with the attractiveness of form.

The Athenian citizens of the Periclean age wanted tragedy to arouse only sympathy, not horror; their refined taste disliked coarse impressions; therefore Sophocles eliminated or softened everything terrible or ferocious that was in the myths, from which he took the content of his tragedies. He does not have such majestic thoughts, such deep religiosity as Aeschylus. The characters of the mythical heroes are not depicted in him according to popular ideas about them, as in Aeschylus; they are given universal human traits, they arouse sympathy for themselves not with national Greek features, but with moral, purely human greatness, dying in a collision with the power of inevitable fate; they are free, they act according to their own motives, and not according to the will of fate, as in Aeschylus; but fate also rules over their lives. It is the eternal divine law that rules over the moral world, and its requirements are above all human laws.

Aristophanes says that Sophocles' mouth is covered with honey; he was called the "Attic bee" for his pleasantness, as Svida says, or, according to his biographers, for the fact that he primarily had in mind the beautiful, graceful. In his works, the highest development of the Hellenic spirit of the times of Cimon and Pericles was fully reflected; that is why he was the favorite of the Attic people.

Tragedies of Sophocles

The greatness of thought is combined in Sophocles with the artistic construction of the details of the plan, and his tragedies give the impression of harmony generated by the full development of education. Tragedy became for Sophocles a faithful mirror of the impressions of the human heart, all the aspirations of the soul, the whole struggle of passions. The language of Sophocles is noble, majestic; his speech gives picturesqueness to all thoughts, strength and warmth to all feelings; the form of the tragedies of Sophocles is quite artistic; their plan is excellently thought out; the action develops clearly, consistently, the characters of the characters are thoughtfully created, clearly outlined; their spiritual life is depicted with full vivacity, and the motives of their actions are skillfully explained. No other ancient writer penetrated so deeply into the mysteries of the human soul; tender and strong feelings are distributed in him in beautiful proportion; the denouement of the action (catastrophe) corresponds to the essence of the matter.

From his first appearance on the stage, in 468 BC, and until his death in 406, for more than half a century, Sophocles worked in the field of poetry, and in his old age he still aroused surprise with the freshness of his creations. In ancient times, 130 dramas were known under his name, of which 17 the Byzantine grammarian Aristophanes considers not to belong to Sophocles. Consequently, he wrote 113 plays - tragedies and satirical dramas. Of these, according to the same Aristophanes, the tragedy "Antigone", presented in 441 BC, was the 32nd, so that the period of the poet's greatest fertility coincides with the time of the Peloponnesian War. Throughout his long career, Sophocles enjoyed the unfailing favor of the Athenian people; he was preferred over all other tragedians. He won 20 victories, and often won the second award, but never received the third.

Among the poets who competed with Sophocles in the tragic art were, besides Aeschylus, his sons Vion and Euphorion, of whom the latter once defeated Sophocles. Aeschylus' nephew Philocles also defeated Sophocles, who staged his Oedipus; the orator Aristides considers such a defeat shameful, since Aeschylus himself could not defeat Sophocles. Euripides competed with Sophocles for 47 years; in addition, at the same time, tragedies were written by Ion of Chios, Achaeus of Eretria, Agathon the Athenian, who spoke for the first time 10 years before the death of Sophocles and defeated him, and many other tragedians of the lowest rank. The universally praised, humane and good-natured character of Sophocles suggests that his relations with these comrades in the case were friendly, and that the stories of anecdotes about the envious enmity between Sophocles and Euripides are stories, in themselves rather empty, devoid of probability. At the news of the death of Euripides, Sophocles expressed the most sincere sadness; Euripides' letter to Sophocles, although forged, nevertheless testifies that in ancient times the mutual relations of the two poets were viewed differently. This letter speaks of a shipwreck that Sophocles suffered during his trip to Fr. Chios, which killed several of his tragedies. Euripides on this occasion says: “The misfortune with the dramas, which everyone will call a general misfortune for all of Greece, is difficult; but we will easily console ourselves, knowing that you remained unharmed.

The news that has come down to us from antiquity, about the relationship of Sophocles to the actors who performed his tragedies, allows us to conclude that these relations were also friendly. Of these actors, we have information about Tlepolemus, who constantly participated in the tragedies of Sophocles, about Clydemides and Callipides. The biographer says that Sophocles, in composing his tragedies, had in mind the abilities of his actors; at the same time, it is said that he made up “from educated people” (which, of course, actors should also be included) a society in honor of the muses. The latest researchers explain this in such a way that Sophocles founded a circle of art and knowledge lovers who honored the muses, and that this circle should be considered the prototype of a troupe of actors.

Sophocles retained the form of a trilogy, which has a satirical drama as its epilogue; but the plays that form this group are not united in him by a common content; they are four different pieces (cf. p. 563). Of the 113 plays by Sophocles, only seven have come down to us. The most excellent of them both in form, and in content, and in characterization is Antigone, for which the Athenian people chose Sophocles as a strategist in the Samos war.

Sophocles - "Antigone" (summary)

Read also separate articles Sophocles "Antigone" - analysis and Sophocles "Antigone" - abstract

The three best tragedies of Sophocles are borrowed from the Theban cycle of myths. These are: “Antigone”, staged by him around 461; "Oedipus Rex", written perhaps in 430 or 429, and "Oedipus in Colon", put on stage in 406 by the grandson of the poet, who died in this year, Sophocles the Younger.

However, the first in the order of development of the plot of the main Theban myth should not be Antigone, but the tragedy Oedipus Rex written later. The mythological hero Oedipus once commits an accidental murder on the road, not knowing that the murdered man is his own father, Laius. Then, in the same ignorance, he marries the widow of the murdered man, his mother Jocasta. The gradual disclosure of these crimes is the plot of the drama of Sophocles. After the murder of his father, Oedipus becomes the king of Thebes instead of him. His reign is happy at first, but after a few years the Theban region is subjected to pestilence, and the reason for his oracle is the stay in Thebes of the murderer of the former king Laius. Not knowing that this killer is himself, Oedipus begins to look for the criminal and orders the only witness to the murder to be brought - a slave shepherd. Meanwhile, the soothsayer Tiresias announces to Oedipus that he himself is the killer of Laius. Oedipus refuses to believe it. Jocasta, wanting to refute the words of Tiresias, says that she had a son from Laius. She and her husband left him in the mountains to die in order to prevent the prediction that in the future he would kill his father. Jocasta also tells how, years later, Laius fell at the hands of some robber at the crossroads of three roads. Oedipus remembers that he himself once killed a man at such a crossroads. Heavy doubts and suspicions settle in his soul. A messenger arrived at this time announcing the death of the Corinthian king Polybus, whom Oedipus considered his father. At the same time, it turns out: Polybus had previously concealed that Oedipus was not his own son, but only an adopted one. After that, from the interrogation of the Theban shepherd, it becomes clear: Oedipus was the very son of Laius, whom his father and mother ordered to be killed. Oedipus suddenly reveals that he is the murderer of his father and is married to his mother. In desperation, Jocasta takes his own life, and Oedipus blinds himself and condemns himself to exile.

The theme and culmination of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is retribution for the crimes committed by Oedipus. He did not know that Laius was his father and Jocasta was his mother, but he was still a parricide, and his marriage was still incest. These terrible facts result in the death of Oedipus and his entire family. The drama of Oedipus Rex consists in the transition of Oedipus and Jocasta gradually depicted by Sophocles from happiness, from peace of conscience to a clear consciousness of their terrible crime. The chorus soon guesses the truth; Oedipus and Jocasta do not yet know her. The contrast of their delusion with the choir's knowledge of the truth makes a tremendous tragic impression. Through the whole drama of Sophocles, the thought of the limitations of the human mind, of the short-sightedness of its considerations, of the fragility of happiness, passes with sublime irony; the viewer foresees catastrophes that will destroy the happiness of Oedipus and Jocasta, who do not know the truth. “O people, how insignificant is your life!” exclaims the chorus in Oedipus Rex. Indeed, Oedipus and Jocasta plunge into such despair that she takes her own life, and he takes his sight.

Sophocles - "Oedipus in Colon" (summary)

Oedipus at Colon was Sophocles' last work. It is the swan song of an old man, filled with the most tender love for the motherland, inspired by Sophocles with memories of his youth, which he spent in the quiet countryside of his native town of Colon, near Athens.

"Oedipus in Colon" tells how the blind Oedipus, wandering with his loving daughter Antigone, comes to Colon, finally finds here protection from the Athenian king Theseus and the last calm shelter. Meanwhile, the new Theban monarch Creon, having learned the prediction that Oedipus, after death, will be the patron of the area where he dies, is trying to return Oedipus to Thebes by force. However, Theseus protects Oedipus and does not allow violence against him. Then his son Polynices comes to Oedipus, who is just gathering the Campaign of the Seven against Thebes against his own brother, another son of Oedipus, Eteocles. Polyneices wants his father to bless his enterprise against the motherland, but Oedipus curses both sons. Polyneices leaves, and Oedipus hears the call of the gods and, together with Theseus, goes to the sacred grove of the goddesses of heavenly punishment, Eumenides, who have reconciled with him. There, in a mysterious grotto, his peaceful death takes place.

This drama of Sophocles is imbued with a wondrous tenderness and grace of feeling, in which the sadness of the misery of human life merges with the joy of hope. “Oedipus in Colon” ​​is the apotheosis of an innocent sufferer, to whom divine providence gives consolation at the end of his mournful earthly life; the hope of bliss beyond the grave serves as a consolation for the unfortunate: a man dejected and cleansed by disasters will find in that life a reward for his undeserved suffering. At the same time, before his death, Oedipus shows in all his grandeur his parental and royal dignity, nobly rejecting the self-serving ingratiations of Polyneices. The material for the tragedy "Oedipus in Colon" was Sophocles' local legends of Colon, near which stood the temple of Eumenides with a cave, which was considered the path to the underworld and had a copper threshold at the entrance.

Oedipus in Colon. Painting by Harriet, 1798

Sophocles - "Electra" (summary)

In Electra, Sophocles refers to a cycle of myths about how Agamemnon, the main leader of the Greek army on a campaign against Troy, was killed on his return from it by his own wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Clytemnestra also wanted to kill her son from Agamemnon, Orestes, so that in the future he would not avenge her father. But the boy Orestes was saved by his sister Elektra. She gave him to the old uncle, and he took the boy to Phokis, to the king of the city of Chris. Electra, left with her mother, suffered harassment and humiliation from her, for more than once she boldly reproached Clytemnestra and Aegisthus for the crime they had committed.

Sophocles' "Electra" begins with the fact that the matured Orestes comes to his homeland, to Argos, accompanied by the same faithful Uncle and friend Pylades, the son of King Chrisa. Orestes wants to take revenge on his mother, but he intends to do it by cunning and therefore hides his arrival from everyone. Meanwhile, Elektra, who has endured so much, learns that Clytemnestra and Aegisthus decided to throw her into the dungeon. Uncle Orestes, in order to deceive Clytemnestra, comes to her under the guise of a messenger from a neighboring king and, deceiving her, reports that Orestes has died. This news plunges Electra into despair, but Clytemnestra rejoices, believing that now no one will be able to avenge her for Agamemnon. However, another daughter of Clytemnestra, Chrysothemis, returning from her father's grave, tells Electra that she saw grave sacrifices there that only Orestes could bring. Elektra doesn't believe this at first. Orestes, under the guise of a messenger from Phocis, brings a funeral urn to the grave and, recognizing his sister in the woman grieving there, calls himself to her. Orestes at first hesitates to immediately begin to take revenge on his mother, but Elektra, who is firm in character, persistently encourages him to punish the violators of the divine law. Pushed by her, Orestes kills his mother and Aegisthus. In contrast to the interpretation of Aeschylus's drama The Choefors, Orestes does not experience any torment in Sophocles, and the tragedy ends with the triumph of victory.

Electra at the tomb of Agamemnon. Painting by F. Leighton, 1869

The legend of the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes is reflected in the tragedies of each of the three great Athenian tragic poets - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, but each of them gave it a special meaning. For Sophocles, the main person in this bloody affair is Electra, an inexorable, passionate avenger, endowed with high moral strength. Of course, we must judge her case in accordance with the concepts of Greek antiquity, which placed on the relatives of the murdered the duty to take revenge. Only from this point of view does the power of hatred, irreconcilably burning in the soul of Electra, become clear; her mother is a stranger to repentance and calmly enjoys the love of the blood-stained Aegisthus - this supports the thirst for revenge in Electra. Transferring our thoughts to the concepts of Greek antiquity, we will sympathize with the grief with which Electra embraces the urn containing, as she thinks, the ashes of her brother, and we will understand the delight with which she sees Orestes alive, whom she considered dead. We will also understand the ardent cries of approval with which she, hearing the cries of the slain from the palace, induces Orestes to complete the work of revenge. In Clytemnestra, at the news of the death of Orestes, a maternal feeling awakened for a moment, but he was immediately drowned out by the joy that she was now freed from the fear of his revenge.

Sophocles - "Trachinian Women" (summary)

The content of the tragedy "Trachinyanka" is the death that Hercules exposes to the jealousy of his wife, Dejanira, who passionately loves him. The choir in this tragedy is made up of girls, natives of the city of Trakhin: their name serves as the title of the drama. Hercules, having destroyed the Euboean city of Echalia, captured the beautiful Iola, the daughter of the Echalia king; Dejanira, who remained in Trakhina, fears that he will leave her, fall in love with Iola. Sending her husband the festive clothes that he wants to wear at the sacrifice, Dejanira smears it with the blood of the centaur Nessus, who was killed by the arrows of Hercules. Nessus, dying, told her that his blood was a magical means by which she could turn her husband away from any other love and bind him to herself. Hercules put on these clothes, and when the warmth from the sacrificial fire warmed the centaur's blood, Hercules felt the painful effect of the blood poison. The shirt stuck to the body of Hercules and began to cause him unbearable torment. In a rage, Hercules smashed the herald of Lichad on the rock, who brought him clothes; from that time these rocks began to be called Likhadovye. Dejanira, learning that she killed her husband, takes her own life; Hercules, tormented by unbearable pain, orders a fire to be laid on the top of Mount Eta and burns himself on it. The artistic merits of The Trachinians are not as high as those four tragedies mentioned earlier.

Sophocles - "Philoctetes" (summary)

The plot of Philoctetes, staged in 409 BC, is also connected with the myth of the death of Hercules. Poias, the father of the hero Philoctetes, agreed to light the funeral pyre of Hercules and, in return for this service, received his bow and arrows, which always hit the target. They passed on to his son, Philoctetes, a participant in the Trojan War, the legends of which are the theme of Sophocles' seventh tragedy, Ajax the Battered. Philoctetes went with the Hellenes on a campaign near Troy, but on the way to the island of Lemnos he was stung by a snake. The wound from this bite did not heal, besides emitting a strong stench. In order to get rid of Philoctetes, who became a burden for the army, the Hellenes, on the advice of Odysseus, left him alone on Lemnos, where he, continuing to suffer from an incurable wound, could somehow earn his living only thanks to the bow and arrows of Hercules. However, later it turned out that without the miraculous arrows of Hercules belonging to him, the Trojans could not be defeated. In the tragedy of Sophocles, the son of Achilles, Neoptolemos, and Odysseus come to the island where Philoctetes is left to take him to the Greek camp. But Philoctetes mortally hates the Greeks who left him in trouble, especially the insidious Odysseus. Therefore, it is possible to take him to the camp near Troy only by cunning, deceit. The straightforward, honest Neoptolemus at first succumbs to the cunning advice of the cunning Odysseus; they steal the bow from Philoctetes, without which the unfortunate patient will die of hunger. But Neoptolemus feels sorry for the deceived, defenseless Philoctetes, and innate nobility triumphs in his soul over the plan of deception. He reveals the truth to Philoctetes and wants to take him to his homeland. But the deified Hercules appears, and conveys to Philoctetes the command of the gods that he should go under Troy, where, after taking the city, he will be rewarded from above with healing from his serious illness.

Thus, the conflict of motives and passions is terminated by the appearance of a deity, the so-called Deus ex machina; the knot is not untied, but cut. This already clearly expresses the influence of the corruption of taste, which also affected Sophocles. Euripides uses the deus ex machina method even more widely. But with amazing skill Sophocles performed the difficult task of making physical suffering the subject of the drama. He excellently portrayed the character of a true hero in the person of Neoptolemus, unable to remain a deceiver, rejecting dishonest means, no matter how beneficial they might be.

Sophocles - "Ajax" ("The Madness of Ajax", "Ajax the Scourge", "Eant")

The subject of the tragedy "Ajax" or "The Madness of Ajax" is borrowed from the legend of the Trojan War. Her hero Ajax, after the death of Achilles, expected, as the most valiant warrior of the Hellenic army after the deceased, to receive Achilles armor. But they were given to Odysseus. Ajax, considering this injustice the machinations of the main Greek leader, Agamemnon, and his brother, Menelaus, planned to kill them both. However, the goddess Athena, in order to prevent the crime, clouded the mind of Ajax, and instead of his enemies, he killed a herd of sheep and cows. After regaining consciousness and realizing the consequences and shame of his madness, Ajax decided to commit suicide. His wife Tekmessa and faithful warriors (who in the tragedy of Sophocles make up the choir) try to keep Ajax from his intentions, carefully watching him. But Ajax escapes them to the seashore and stabs himself there. Agamemnon and Menelaus, who quarreled with Ajax, do not want to bury his body, but at the insistence of Ajax's brother, Teucer, and Odysseus, who is now showing nobility, the body is still buried. The case thus ends with the moral victory of Ajax.

In a humiliating state of madness, Ajax appears to Sophocles only at the very beginning of the drama; its main content is the mental suffering of the hero, who is sad that he has dishonored himself. The fault for which Ajax was punished by madness is that he, proud of his strength, did not have the proper humility before the gods. Sophocles in "Ajax" followed Homer, from which he borrowed not only the characters of the characters, but also expressions. Tekmessa's conversation with Ajax (verses 470 et seq.) is an obvious imitation of Homer's farewell of Hector to Andromache. The Athenians really liked this tragedy of Sophocles, partly because Ajax of Salamis was one of their favorite heroes, as the ancestor of two noble Athenian families, and secondly, because the speech of Menelaus seemed to them a parody of the backwardness of concepts and the arrogance of the Spartans.

Sophocles and Pericles in the Samian War

In 441 B.C. (Ol. 84:3), at the time of the great Dionysius (in March), Sophocles staged his Antigone, and this drama won such approval that the Athenians appointed an author, along with Pericles and eight other persons, the commander for the war with the island of Samos. However, this distinction fell to the lot of the poet not so much for the merits of his tragedy, but because he enjoyed a general disposition for his amiable character, for the wise political rules expressed in this tragedy, and for its moral merits in general, since in it deliberation and rationality in actions is always placed much higher than outbursts of passion.

The Samian war, in which Sophocles participated, began in the spring of 440 under the command of the archon Timocles; the reason for it was that the Milesians, defeated by the Samians in one battle, turned, along with the Samian democrats, with a request for help to the Athenians. The Athenians sent 40 ships against Samos, conquered this island, established a people's government there, took hostages and, leaving their garrison on the island, soon returned home. But in the same year they had to resume hostilities. The oligarchs who fled from Samos entered into an alliance with the Sardian satrap Pissufn, gathered an army and captured the city of Samos at night, capturing the Athenian garrison. This garrison was handed over to Pissufnus, the Samian hostages taken by the Athenians to Lemnos were released, and new preparations began for war with the Milesians. Pericles and his comrades again marched against Samos with 44 ships, defeated 70 Samos ships near the island of Tragia and laid siege to the city of Samos from land and from the sea. A few days later, at the time when Pericles with part of the ships went to Caria, towards the approaching Phoenician fleet, the Samians broke through the blockade and, under the command of the philosopher Melissa, who had already defeated Pericles once before, defeated the Athenian fleet, so that in the course of 14 days inseparably dominated the sea. Pericles hastened to return, again defeated the Samians and laid siege to the city. In the ninth month of the siege, in the spring of 439, Samos was forced to surrender. The walls of the city were torn down, the fleet was taken by the Athenians; the Samians gave hostages and pledged to pay military expenses.

If Sophocles, as it must be assumed, was a strategist only in 440, while Pericles retained this position for himself the next year, then he probably participated in the first war and partly in the second, but did not remain a commander until the end of the war . Pericles, not only a great statesman, but also a great commander, was the soul of this war and did more than anything in it; what Sophocles' participation was expressed here, we know very little about it. Svyda says that Sophocles fought with the philosopher Meliss at sea; but this news, apparently, is not based on historical information, but on a simple guess. If Melissus and Pericles fought each other, and Sophocles was Pericles' comrade in office, then the thought could easily arise that Sophocles also fought Melissa; and "the idea that Melissus the philosopher and Sophocles the poet fought each other is so attractive that it fully excuses the conjecture of a later writer." (Beck). Sophocles was, of course, not a particularly good commander, and therefore Pericles hardly sent him to any military enterprises; on the contrary, for negotiations, which during the entire existence of the Attic state constituted a very important part of the commander's occupation, Sophocles could be very useful as a person who knew how to handle people and dispose of them in his favor. At the time when Pericles fought at Tragia, Sophocles went to about. Chios and Lesbos to negotiate with the allies about sending auxiliary troops, and ensured that 25 ships were sent from these islands.

The character of Sophocles

Athenaeus preserved the news of this trip of Sophocles to Chios, literally borrowed from the book of the poet Ion of Chios, a contemporary of Sophocles. We bring it here, as it contains an interesting image of Sophocles, already 55 years old, in a cheerful society.

“I met the poet Sophocles in Chios (says Ion), where he stopped by as a commander on his way to Lesbos. I found in him an amiable and cheerful companion. Hermesilaus, a friend of Sophocles and the Athenian people, gave a dinner in his honor. A handsome boy pouring wine, flushed from the fire near which he stood, apparently made a pleasant impression on the poet; Sophocles said to him: "Do you want me to drink with pleasure?" The boy answered in the affirmative, and the poet continued: “Well, then bring the goblet to me as slowly as possible, and just as slowly take it back.” The boy blushed even more, and Sophocles, turning to his neighbor at the table, remarked: “How beautiful are the words of Phrynichus: on purple cheeks the fire of love burns.” One school teacher from Eretria said about this: “Sophocles, you certainly know a lot about poetry; but Phrynichus still spoke badly, because he called the cheeks of a beautiful boy purple. After all, if the painter really took it into his head to cover the cheeks of this boy with purple paint, then he would cease to seem beautiful. There is no need to compare with what does not seem so. Sophocles smiled and said: “In that case, my friend, you certainly do not like the expression of Simonides, which, however, is praised by all Greeks: “A girl from whose purple lips a sweet word escaped!” You probably don't like the poet who calls Apollo golden-haired? In fact, if a painter had taken it into his head to draw this god with golden, and not with black hair, then the picture would not be good. Surely you don't like the poet who speaks of pink-fingered Eos? After all, if someone paints his fingers in pink paint, then these will be the fingers of a dyer, and not at all a beautiful woman. Everyone laughed, and the Eretrian became embarrassed. Sophocles again turned to the boy pouring wine, and noticing that he wanted to remove the straw that had fallen into the goblet with his little finger, he asked him if he saw this straw. The boy replied that he saw, and the poet said to him: “Well, then blow it off so as not to wet your finger.” The boy tilted his face towards the goblet, and Sophocles brought the goblet closer to him to face the boy face to face. When the boy moved even closer, Sophocles, embracing him, pulled him to him and kissed him. Everyone laughed and began to express their approval to the poet, for having outwitted the boy; he said: “It is I who practice strategy; Pericles said to the Tragedy of Sophocles that I understand poetry well, but a bad strategist; Well, and this stratagem - didn’t it work out for me? Thus spoke and acted Sophocles, remaining equally amiable both during the feast and during the lessons. In matters of state he was neither sufficiently experienced nor energetic enough; but still Sophocles was the best of all Athenian citizens.

Without a doubt, we can recognize this judgment of an intelligent contemporary about the political talents of Sophocles as completely fair, although the poet's biographer praises his political activities; we must also believe the words of Pericles that Sophocles was a bad strategist. It is highly probable that he held the position of general only once in his life, since one can hardly give credence to Justin's testimony that Sophocles, together with Pericles, devastated the Peloponnese. Plutarch tells that at the military council Nicias asked Sophocles, as the elder, to express his opinion before others; but if this is historically correct, then we must refer this indication to the year of the Samian, and not the Peloponnesian war. Sophocles, according to Plutarch, rejected Nicias's wish, telling him: "Although I am older than the others, you are the most respected."

In the above account of Iona, Sophocles is a cheerful and amiable person in society, and we fully believe his biographer, who says that Sophocles had such a pleasant character that everyone, without exception, loved him. Even in war, he did not lose his gaiety and his poetic mood and did not change his nature, which was too sensitive to bodily beauty, as a result of which his comrade Pericles, with whom he was in close friendship, sometimes made him friendly suggestions. During the Samos war, Sophocles, seeing one day a beautiful boy accidentally passing by, said: “Look, Pericles, what a nice boy!” Pericles remarked to this: "The commander, Sophocles, must have not only clean hands, but also clean looks." “Sophocles was a poet,” says Lessing, “no wonder if he was sometimes too sensitive to beauty; but I will not say that his moral qualities are diminished by this.

Here we must justify Sophocles from the reproach that was sometimes made to him, namely, that he enriched himself during the Samian war. In Aristophanes' comedy The World, someone asks about Sophocles what he is doing; to this they answer that he lives well, only it is a little strange that he has now turned from Sophocles into Simonides and in his old age has become stingy; now, they say, he is ready, like Simonides, for the sake of avarice to deny himself the most necessary things. The comedy of Aristophanes "Peace" was presented in 421 BC, therefore, 20 years after the Samian war; consequently, the words of the poet cannot refer to this war, and the remark of the scholiast, referring to this passage, is, of course, only a conjecture to clarify the mocking remarks of the comedian. However, there is no doubt that Aristophanes reproaches old Sophocles for stinginess; but how true this reproach of the comedian, whose jokes are not always to be taken literally, is true, we do not know. The latest writers agree among themselves that the words of Aristophanes contain the usual exaggeration for comedians; scientists have tried to explain these words in different ways. O. Muller relates Aristophanes' reproach to the fact that Sophocles in old age began to pay more attention to the fee for his works; Welker remarks: “Becoming Simonides may mean putting on the stage a lot of dramas, engaging in poetry until a ripe old age and constantly receiving payment for your works; in the same sense, Euripides in his "Melanippe" reproaches the comedians with greed." Boeck believes that this reproach of greed only, apparently, contradicts the well-known story about how the sons of Sophocles complained about him to the court because he carelessly treats his property; “I even admit the assumption, he says, that Sophocles’ stinginess was closely related to his extravagance: since there is no doubt that the poet, even in his old age, as in the days of his youth, was very fond of beauty, then women probably cost him considerable money, which responded to the income of his sons, in relation to which Sophocles was stingy; offended by this, the sons could bring a complaint against their father in order to receive property in their possession, and thanks to this, Sophocles was known as both a spendthrift and a miser. Boeck relates the tragedy "Oedipus in Colon", which Sophocles, as we will see below, read at the trial with his sons, to the 4th year of the 89 Olympiad (420 BC).

Sophocles and Herodotus

Many assumed that during the Samian expedition, Sophocles first met the historian Herodotus, who around this time lived on the island of Samos. But the stay of Herodotus on this island dates back to an earlier time, and the poet met him, probably even earlier than 440. Sophocles was on friendly terms with Herodotus and often saw him when he was in Athens. Both of them converged with each other in many respects and had the same views on many subjects. Sophocles appears to have incorporated into his dramas several of Herodotus' favorite ideas: compare Sophocles, Oedipus at Colon, v. 337 et seq. and Herodotus, II, 35; Sophocles, Antigone, 905 ff. and Herodotus, III, 119. Plutarch, speaking of works of art created in extreme old age, reports the beginning of an epigram relating to Herodotus and attributed to Sophocles. The meaning of his words is as follows: 55-year-old Sophocles composed an ode in honor of Herodotus. The epigram itself, according to Boeck's guess, was a dedication to the ode that Sophocles presented to the historian as a sign of friendship during a personal meeting. But since 55 years cannot be called a deep old age, this figure given by Plutarch is, in all probability, inaccurate.

After the Samian war, Sophocles lived another 34 years, doing poetry; during this time, despite the fact that various sovereigns, patrons of the arts, often invited him, like Aeschylus and Euripides, to their place, he did not leave his beloved hometown, remembering the saying he said in one of the dramas, we have not reached:

Who crosses the threshold of a tyrant,
That slave of his, even though he was born free.

The last years of Sophocles' life

Marble relief supposedly depicting Sophocles

Of his later political activity we know only from the words of Aristotle, that in 411 B.C. impossible. In general, we can assume that he rarely left the quiet life of a private person and mainly lived for the sake of art, enjoying life, loved and respected by his fellow citizens, not only for his poetic works, but also for his just, peaceful and good-natured character, for his constant courtesy in circulation.

Being the favorite of all people, Sophocles enjoyed, according to the beliefs of the people, a special disposition of the gods and heroes. Dionysus, as we will see below, took care of the burial of the poet, who often glorified Bacchic festivities. The biographer tells the following anecdote about the favor of Sophocles Hercules: Once a golden wreath was stolen from the Acropolis. Then Hercules appeared in a dream to Sophocles and showed him the house and the place in this house where the stolen thing was hidden. Sophocles announced this to the people and received a talent of gold, appointed as a reward for finding a wreath. The same anecdote, with some modifications, is found in Cicero, De divin. I, 25. Further, the ancients told that the god of medicine Asclepius (Aesculapius) honored Sophocles with his visit and was received by him very cordially; therefore, the Athenians, after the death of the poet, established a special cult in honor of him, ranking him among the heroes under the name of Dexion (Hospiter) and annually sacrificed to him. In honor of Asclepius, Sophocles is said to have composed a paean, to which was attributed the power to pacify storms; this paean was sung for many centuries. In this regard, there is news that Sophocles received from the Athenians the post of priest of Galon (or Alcon), a hero of the medical art, who was brought up with Chiron along with Asclepius and was initiated into the secrets of medicine. From all these stories, it seems to be possible to conclude that Sophocles, according to the belief of the Athenians, enjoyed the special favor of Asclepius; one can guess that the reason for such a belief was the fact that during the Athenian plague Sophocles composed a paean in honor of Asclepius with a prayer for an end to the disaster, and that soon after that the plague really stopped. We also mention that in one picture of Philostratus the younger Sophocles is depicted surrounded by bees and standing in the middle between Asclepius and Melpomene; consequently, the artist wished to portray his beloved poet, who lived in union with the muse of tragedy and with the god of medical art.

The legend of the court of Sophocles with his sons

In ancient times, much was told about the trial initiated against the aged Sophocles by his son Iophon. Sophocles had from his lawful wife Nicostrata the son of Iophon and from the hetera Theorida of Sicyon another son - Ariston; this latter was the father of the younger Sophocles, who won praise as a tragic poet. Since the old Sophocles loved his gifted grandson more than his son Jophon, who was weaker in tragic art, Jophon, as they say, out of envy, accused his father of dementia and demanded that he be removed from property management, since Sophocles, as if would have been unable to manage his own affairs. Sophocles, they say, said to the judges: “If I am Sophocles, then I am not weak-minded; if I am weak-minded, then I am not Sophocles, ”and then read his just finished tragedy “Oedipus in Colon” ​​or the first chorus from this exemplary work reported by us above. At the same time, Sophocles is said to have noticed to the judges that he did not tremble at all in order to appear old, as his accuser assures, but trembles involuntarily, since he did not live to 80 years of his own free will. The judges, having listened to the beautiful work of the poet, acquitted him, and reprimanded his son; all those present saw the poet out of the court with applause and other signs of approval, as they had escorted him out of the theatre. Cicero (Cat. Mai. VII, 22) and others, talking about this incident, call the accuser not only Jophon, but in general the sons of Sophocles, who demanded that their old father, careless and prodigal, be removed from the management of property, like a man out of mind.

Whether these stories are based on any historical fact - the latest scholars have expressed various opinions about this. We may join the opinion of those who believe that this whole story is nothing more than a fiction of comic writers. At least with regard to Iophon, we know that he was on the best terms with his father in the last years of his father's life; as a token of love and respect for his father, he erected a monument to him and in the inscription pointed precisely to Oedipus in Colon, as an exemplary work of Sophocles.

Some researchers argue that the very background of this anecdote is incorrect. It erroneously states that the grandson, for whose love Iophon was angry with his father, was not the son of Iophon. But some inscriptions on the monuments indicate that this grandson of Sophocles, Sophocles the Younger, was the son of Jophon. Thus, the motivation of Jophon's displeasure contradicts the fact.

Death of Sophocles

Sophocles died at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 406 BC (Ol. 93:2-3), about 90 years old. About his death we have various fabulous stories. It is said that he choked on a grape, that he died of joy at winning a dramatic contest, or from the tension of his voice while reading Antigone, or after reading this drama. He was buried in the family crypt, which was located on the road to Dhekelia, 11 stages from the Athenian wall, and on his tomb was depicted a siren or, according to other reports, a swallow carved from bronze, as a symbol of eloquence. At the time when Sophocles was buried, Dhekelia was still occupied by the Lacedaemonians, so that there was no access to the poet's family crypt. Then, according to the biographer, Dionysus appeared in a dream to the Lacedaemonian commander (he is incorrectly called Lysander) and ordered him to skip the funeral procession of Sophocles. Since the commander did not pay attention to this phenomenon, Dionysus appeared to him a second time and repeated his demand. The commander inquired through the fugitives who exactly would be buried and, hearing the name of Sophocles, sent a herald with permission to skip the procession. The Athenians, in their popular assembly, decided to make an annual sacrifice to their great fellow citizen.

Shortly after the death of Sophocles, during the Lenaic festivities (in January) 405 BC, the comedy of Aristophanes "The Frogs" was put on the stage, in which Sophocles' high poetic talent, along with Aeschylus, is given full appreciation, and another comedy - The Muses, op. Phrynicha, which also glorifies Sophocles. “It is remarkable,” says Welker, “that at the same time as Aristophanes, another great comic writer honored Sophocles, who died no more than two months before, with a work of art that had never before been used to glorify the dead – comedy.” From this comedy ("The Muses") the following words have been preserved, which depict the meaning and happiness of the recently deceased poet:

"Happy Sophocles! He died after a long life, being a wise man and loved by all. He created many excellent tragedies and ended his life beautifully, not overshadowed by grief.

Subsequently, the Athenians, at the suggestion of the orator Lycurgus, placed a statue of Sophocles in the theater, along with statues of Aeschylus and Euripides, and decided to carefully preserve lists of the tragedies of these three writers.

Many images of Sophocles have survived to our time, about which Welker speaks in detail in the first volume of his Ancient Monuments. Of these, the best is a statue larger than a man, which is in the Lateran Museum in Rome, and is probably a copy of the one that once stood in the Athenian theater. Welker describes this statue, representing the poet in the prime of life, as follows: “This is a noble, powerful figure; the position, the form of the body, and especially the clothes, are beautiful; in posture and drapery, the ease of a Roman commoner of our day is combined with the dignity of a noble Athenian; to this must be added the natural freedom of movement, which distinguishes an educated person and conscious of his mental superiority. A lively facial expression gives this statue a special meaning and character. – The facial expression is clear, but at the same time serious and thoughtful; the poet's perspicacity, expressed in a glance directed somewhat upward, is combined with the full color of physical and mental strength. Talent, intelligence, art, nobility and inner perfection are visible in this statue, but there is not even a remote hint of demonic animation and strength, of the highest originality, of all that sometimes gives a genius an external imprint of something extraordinary.

Sophocles had sons: Jophon, Leosthenes, Ariston, Stephen and Meneclid. Of these, Iophon and Ariston, the son of Theoris, are called tragic poets. Iophon participated in dramatic competitions and won a brilliant victory during the life of his father; Sophocles himself argued with him about primacy. The Attic comedy recognizes the merits of his works, but expresses the suspicion that his father helped him refine them, or, to use a comic expression, that Iophon stole his father's tragedies. The son of Ariston, Sophocles the younger, was a very talented tragedian and won many victories in competitions. In memory of his grandfather, he put on stage, in 401 BC, the tragedy of his "Oedipus in Colon".

Translations of Sophocles into Russian

Sophocles was translated into Russian by I. Martynov, F. Zelinsky, V. Nilender, S. Shervinsky, A. Parin, Vodovozov, Shestakov, D. Merezhkovsky, Zubkov

Literature about Sophocles

The most important list of the tragedies of Sophocles is kept in the Laurentian library in Florence: C. Laurentianus, XXXII, 9, refers to the tenth or eleventh century; all other lists available in various libraries are copies from this list, with the possible exception of another Florentine list of the XIV century. No. 2725, in the same library. Since the time of V. Dindorf, the first list is denoted by the letter L, the second - G. The best scholia are also extracted from the L list.

Mishchenko F. G. Theban trilogy of Sophocles. Kyiv, 1872

Mishchenko FG The relation of Sophocles' tragedies to the contemporary poet's real life in Athens. Part 1. Kyiv, 1874

Alandsky P. Philological study of the works of Sophocles. Kyiv, 1877

Alandsky P. The image of spiritual movements in the tragedies of Sophocles. Kyiv, 1877

Schultz G.F. To the question of the main idea of ​​Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus Rex". Kharkov, 1887

Schultz G. F. Critical notes to the text of the tragedy of Sophocles "Oedipus Rex". Kharkov, 1891

Yarkho V.N. The tragedy of Sophocles "Antigone": Study Guide. M.: Higher. school, 1986

Surikov I. E. The evolution of the religious consciousness of the Athenians in the second half of the 5th century. BC e.: Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes in their relation to traditional religion

) participated in the folk festival as the head of the choir . Twice he was elected to the post of strategist and once acted as a member of the collegium in charge of the union treasury. The Athenians chose Sophocles as a strategist in 440 BC. e. during the Samian War, under the impression of his tragedy Antigone, the setting of which on the stage, therefore, dates back to 441 BC. e.

His main occupation was composing tragedies for the Athenian theatre. The first tetralogy, set by Sophocles in 469 BC. e. , brought him victory over Aeschylus and opened a series of victories won on stage in competitions with other tragedians. The critic Aristophanes Byzantine attributed 123 tragedies to Sophocles (including Antigone).

Sophocles was distinguished by a cheerful, sociable character, did not shy away from the joys of life, as can be seen from the words of a certain Cephalus in Plato's "State" (I, 3). He was closely acquainted with the historian Herodotus. Sophocles died at the age of 90, in 405 BC. e. in the city of Athens. The townspeople built an altar to him and annually honored him as a hero.

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  In accordance with the successes that tragedy owed to Sophocles, he made innovations in the stage production of plays. So, he increased the number of actors to three, and the number of choirs from 12 to 15, at the same time reducing the choral parts of the tragedy, improved the scenery, masks, the sham side of the theater in general, made a change in the staging of tragedies in the form of tetralogy, although it is not known exactly what this change was. Finally, he also introduced painted decorations. All the changes were intended to give more movement to the course of the drama on the stage, to strengthen the illusion of the audience and the impression received from the tragedy. Preserving for the presentation the character of honoring the deity, the priesthood, which was the tragedy originally, by its very origin from the cult of Dionysus, Sophocles humanized him much more than Aeschylus. The humanization of the legendary and mythical world of gods and heroes inevitably followed, as soon as the poet focused his attention on a deeper analysis of the spiritual states of the heroes, who were known to the public until now only from the external vicissitudes of their earthly life. It was possible to depict the spiritual world of the demigods only with the features of mere mortals. The beginning of this treatment of legendary material was laid by the father of tragedy, Aeschylus: it is enough to recall the images of Prometheus or Orestes he created; Sophocles followed in the footsteps of his predecessor.

  Characteristic features of dramaturgy

  Sophocles liked to push together heroes with different life principles (Creon and Antigone, Odysseus and Neoptole, etc.) or to oppose people with the same views, but with different characters, to each other - to emphasize the strength of character of one when it collides with another, weak character (Antigone and Ismene, Electra and Chrysothemis). He loves and knows how to portray the mood swings of the characters - the transition from the highest intensity of passions to a state of decline, when a person comes to a bitter realization of his weakness and helplessness. This fracture can also be observed in Oedipus in the finale of the tragedy "Oedipus Rex", and in Creon, who learned about the death of his wife and son, and in Ajax, who comes to consciousness (in the tragedy "Ajax"). The tragedies of Sophocles are characterized by dialogues rare in skill, dynamic action, naturalness in untying complex dramatic knots.

  Plots of tragedies

  In almost all tragedies that have come down to us, it is not a series of situations or external events that attracts the attention of the audience, but a sequence of mental states experienced by the characters under the influence of relationships that are immediately clearly and finally set in tragedy. The content of "Oedipus" is one moment from the inner life of the hero: the discovery of the crimes he committed before the tragedy.

  Surviving plays

  • " Trakhinyanki"(c. 450-435 BC)
  • "Ajax" ("Eant", "Scourge") (between the mid-450s and mid-440s BC)
  • Antigone (c. 442-441 BC)
  • "Oedipus Rex" ("Oedipus the Tyrant") (c. 429-426 BC)

  Sophocles (c. 496 - 406 BC)

  Ancient Greek playwright One of the three great masters of ancient tragedy, occupying a place between Aeschylus and Euripides in terms of the time of his life and the nature of his work.

  The worldview and skill of Sophocles are marked by a desire to balance the new and the old: glorifying the power of a free person, he warned against violating "divine laws", that is, traditional religious and civil norms of life; complicating psychological characteristics, while maintaining the overall monumentality of images and composition. The tragedies of Sophocles "Oedipus Rex", "Antigone", "Electra" and others are classic examples of the genre.

  Sophocles was elected to important government positions, was close to the circle of Pericles. According to ancient testimonies, he wrote over 120 dramas. The tragedies "Ajax", "Antigone", "Oedipus Rex", "Philoctetes", "Trachinian Women", "Electra", "Oedipus in Colon" have come down to us in their entirety.

  The philosopher's worldview reflects the complexity and inconsistency of Athenian democracy during its peak. On the one hand, democratic ideology, which grew up on the basis of "the joint private property of active citizens of the state," saw its stronghold in the omnipotence of divine providence, in the inviolability of traditional institutions; on the other hand, in the conditions of the most free development of the personality for that time, the tendency to release it from polis ties became more and more persistent.

  The trials that fall to the lot of man could not find a satisfactory explanation in the divine will, and Sophocles, preoccupied with maintaining the unity of the city, did not try to justify the divine control of the world by any ethical considerations.

  At the same time, he was attracted to an active, responsible person, which was reflected in Ajax.

  In Oedipus Rex, the hero's relentless investigation of the secrets of his past makes him responsible for involuntary crimes, although it does not give grounds to interpret the tragedy in terms of guilt and divine retribution.

  Antigone, with her heroic defense of "unwritten" laws from the arbitrariness of an individual, hiding behind the authority of the state, appears as an integral, unshakable person in her decision. The heroes of Sophocles are free from everything secondary and too personal, they have a strong ideal beginning.

  The plots and images of Sophocles were used both in subsequent ancient and in modern European literature from the era of classicism until the 20th century. A deep interest in the work of the playwright was manifested in studies on the theory of tragedy (G.E. Lessing, I.V. Goethe, the Schlegel brothers, F. Schiller, V.G. Belinsky). From the middle of the XIX century. Sophocles' tragedies are staged in theaters all over the world.

  Sophocles) of the most famous writers of the ancient era. He was born around 496 BC. e. in Kolon, a small village a few kilometers north of the Acropolis. He happened to be born into a wealthy family, he received an excellent education. Sophocles was a multi-talented person, studied music under the guidance of the famous musician Lampra, and demonstrated excellent results in athletic competitions. Sources testify that the young Sophocles was extremely handsome, perhaps for this reason he led the youth choir after the victory in the Battle of Salamis (480 BC), performing hymns of thanksgiving to the gods.

  In 468 BC. e. Sophocles made his debut at the literary competitions of poets, and immediately became the winner, having won the prize from the outstanding Aeschylus. Glory came to Sophocles, which did not leave him until the end of his life. It is known that he regularly took part in the competitions of Athenian playwrights, more than two dozen times became the winner, repeatedly - the "silver medalist", and not once his plays were awarded the third, last, place. It is believed that Sophocles wrote over a hundred plays, and writing tragedies was the main occupation of his life.

  Nevertheless, he gained fame among his contemporaries not only as a playwright. Being an active participant in the public life of Athens, he held various positions. It is possible that in 1443-1442. BC e. was a member of the board of treasurers of the Athenian Union. During the Samian War in 44 BC. e. Sophocles was chosen among the ten strategists who led the punitive expedition. Most likely, as a strategist, he visited two more times; was one of the people close to the Athenian strategist Pericles. In a difficult period for Athens (after an unsuccessful expedition to Sicily in 413 BC), Sophocles entered the top ten proubles, who were entrusted with the fate of the policy. In the memoirs of his contemporaries, Sophocles remained a very pious man who founded the sanctuary of Hercules. At the same time, he was sociable, cheerful, although he became famous for composing tragic works.

  Seven tragedies have survived to our time, which experts attribute to the late period of Sophocles' biography; among them are the famous "Oedipus", "Antigone", "Electra", "Dejanira", etc. The ancient Greek playwright is credited with introducing a number of innovations in the staging of tragedies. In particular, he increased the number of actors to three, improved the sham side of the performance. At the same time, the changes affected not only the technical side: the tragedy of Sophocles in terms of content, the message acquired a more “human” face, even in comparison with the work of Aeschylus.

  Died at an advanced age around 406 BC. e. Sophocles was deified after his death, and an altar was erected in Athens as a sign of his memory.

  (about 496-406 BC) ancient Greek playwright

  Along with Aeschylus and Euripides, Sophocles is considered the great playwright of Ancient Greece, a master of classical tragedy. His fame and glory were so great that even after the death of the playwright they called him heros dexion (“right husband”).

  Sophocles was born in the Athenian city of Kolon in the family of a wealthy owner of weapons workshops. The high social position predetermined the fate of the future playwright. He received an excellent general and artistic education and already in his youth he became famous as one of the best Athenian choirists - choir leaders during dramatic performances. Later, Sophocles was entrusted with the most important position in Athens - the keeper of the treasury of the Athenian Maritime Union, and, in addition, he was one of the strategists.

  Thanks to his friendship with Pericles, the ruler of Athens, as well as with the famous historian Herodotus and the sculptor Phidias, Sophocles combined literature with active political activity.

  Like other Greek playwrights, he regularly competed in poetry competitions. Scientists have calculated that in total he performed more than thirty times, and won twenty-four victories and only six times took second place. Sophocles defeated Aeschylus for the first time at the age of 27.

  According to contemporaries, he wrote 123 tragedies, of which only seven have survived to this day. All of them are based on the plots of ancient Greek mythology. Basically, the heroes of Sophocles are strong and uncompromising personalities. Such is Ajax, the hero of the tragedy of the same name, offended by the unfair decision of the leaders. The wife of Hercules Dejanira, suffering from love and jealousy, who inadvertently became the culprit of his death (The Trachinian Women, 409 BC) has a similar character.

  The most significant are the tragedies of Sophocles "Oedipus the King" (429) and "Antigone" (443). Oedipus, expelled from his kingdom, tries to understand the reasons for such a harsh decision of the elders and dies when he learns that he has become the husband of his mother. Such acute dramatic conflicts later became the basis of the aesthetics of the plays of the period of classicism, the basis of plots in the works of P. Corneille and J. Racine.

  Sophocles sought to make his tragedies more dynamic and expressive. To do this, he came up with painted theatrical scenery that helped the audience feel the drama of what was happening. Prior to this, the whole action was explained by the choir, which appeared with the corresponding signs (“forest”, “house”, “temple”).

  In addition, Sophocles for the first time brought to the stage not two, but three characters, which made their dialogue more lively and deep. In his works, actors sometimes even portrayed abstract concepts: for example, in the tragedy Oedipus Rex, a special actor played the role of Doom, the personification of ruthless fate.

  Sophocles also simplified the language of his plays, leaving the slow hexameter only for the chorus. Now the speech of the characters was constantly changing, approaching a natural human conversation. Sophocles believed that the playwright should portray people as they should be, and not as they really are. He outlined his views in a treatise on the theory of drama and choral singing that has not come down to us. Even during the life of the author, his tragedies were recognized as exemplary, and they were studied in schools. Even at the end of the ancient era, already in ancient Rome, Sophocles was considered an inaccessible role model.

  Apparently, therefore, other playwrights often used his tragedies as a source for their works. They were much more dynamic and believable than the plays of his contemporaries. Of course, the authors of different eras shortened their text, but always retained the main thing - its courageous and just heroes.

  In addition to tragedies, Sophocles also wrote satirical dramas. A fragment of one of them called "Pathfinder" is known.