Sophocles

Sophocles (c.496–406 B.C.), great Athenian dramatist (also, priest and general), who, together with contemporaries Aeschylus and Euripides, was one of the founders of Greek tragedy. Only 7 of about 123 plays survive, the best known being Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, and Electra. Sophocles, who won many dramatic competitions, introduced scene painting to the stage, expanded the size of the chorus, and added a third actor. He also chose to focus on self-contained tragedy, as opposed to the popular trilogies of his day. His plays dwell on tragic ironies of human existence, and the fate of his characters are determined more by their faults than by the gods.