In 495 B.C. there was a child born about a mile outside of Athens. This child was to be named Sophocles. He was a boy whose father was a wealthy merchant. He now had the opportunity to enjoy all of life's greatest expectations in the Greek empire. Being that he was from a wealthy family, he had the chance to study all of the arts. By the time Sophocles reached his late teens, he was already known for his charm and elegance and was honored by being chosen to lead a challenging group of young men at a celebration of the victory of Salamis. When Sophocles reached the late twenties, he was ready to compete in the City Dionysia, which is a celebration held every year at the theater of Dionysus in which new plays are presented all of the time. This was to show how successful Sophocles was in his acting career.
Cadmus Sowing the Dragon's teeth, by Maxfield Parr...
This image was first published in the 1 st (1876&n...
Oedipus At ColonusDuring his first competition, Sophocles had the honor of competing against the great Aeschylus himself and defeated him taking first place. There would be many more plays to follow this accomplishment and Sophocles would walk home with nothing less than a second place.
Sophocles, noted as being a talented actor, performed in many of his own plays. In one of his plays called, "The Woman Washing Clothes," he performed a juggling act that was talked about all over town for many years because the audience was so fascinated. But before you knew it Sophocles was to take another route and end his acting career to venture elsewhere. For many years Sophocles served as a dictated priest in the service of two heroes named Alcon and Asclepius, who was the god of medicine. Not only did he do this but he also served on the Board of Generals...