Sophocles (Cyclopedia of World Authors)

Few facts about Sophocles (SAHF-uh-kleez) are known. He was born about 496 b.c.e. at Colonus in Attica, near Athens, and his father, Sophillus, was said by tradition to have been a carpenter, a blacksmith, or a sword-cutler. Perhaps he owned slaves skilled in these trades. At any rate, Sophocles apparently moved in the best society and was not lampooned by the comic writers for low birth, as was his rival Euripides. He married a woman named Nicostrate, with whom he had a son, Iophon. His second wife, a woman of Sicyon, was, according to Athenian law, not legally a wife. Together they...

[The entire page is 2634 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass