Table of Contents
When did Sophocles write Oedipus Rex?
| Oedipus Rex | |
|---|---|
| Date premiered | c. 429 BC |
| Place premiered | Theatre of Dionysus, Athens |
| Original language | Classical Greek |
| Series | Theban Plays |
What age did Sophocles write?
Sophocles wrote over 120 plays, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, Women of Trachis, Oedipus Rex, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus….
| Sophocles | |
|---|---|
| Born | 497/496 BC Colonus, Attica |
| Died | 406/405 BC (aged 90–92) Athens |
| Occupation | Tragedian |
| Genre | Tragedy |
How old was Sophocles when he wrote his last play?
Sophocles had an exceptionally long career. His first competition entry was in 468 BCE and his last (whilst still alive) was in 406 BCE when he was 90. Clearly a great admirer of his fellow playwrights, Sophocles even dressed the actors and chorus of his final play in mourning to mark the death of Euripides in 407 BCE.
Why did Sophocles write Oedipus Rex?
What we do know for certain is that Oedipus Rex was written for performance at the City Dionysia, a festival in Athens which honored the god Dionysus by presentation of several plays. Sophocles’ other plays were performed at the festival of Lenaea that also honored the god Dionysus as well as the City Dionysia.
How old is the story of Oedipus?
Few accurate dates are known for his plays; Oedipus the King was probably written in the mid-420s BCE. This estimate is based on his reference to a plague that beset the city during Oedipus’s time on the throne.
What is strange about the age at which Sophocles died?
Sophocles died aged 90 years old in 406 BCE. Sophocles was the second-born of the three famous Greek tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides), but he outlived both his rivals.
Who was Antigone’s sister?
Ismene
Ismene (iz-ME-nee): Antigone’s sister; she’d like to help her sister, but she thinks it’s too dangerous. Creon (KREE-on): Jocasta’s brother (and thus Antigone and Ismene’s uncle).
What percentage of Sophocles works still exist?
Sophocles is thought to have written over 100 plays, but only seven fully survive today: Ajax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Trackers, a satyr play, exists only as a 400-line fragment.
When did Sophocles write Oedipus at Colonus?
Philoctetes is known to have been written in 409 BC, and Oedipus at Colonus is known to have only been performed in 401 BC, posthumously, at the initiation of Sophocles’ grandson. The convention on writing plays for the Greek festivals was to submit them in tetralogies of three tragedies along with one satyr play.
Sophocles’ life spanned almost the whole of the 5th century. He is said to have written his last play, Oedipus at Colonus, at age 90. Only seven of his plays, of some 125 attributed to him, survive.
What was the original language of Oedipus Rex?
Oedipus Rex Original language Classical Greek Series Theban Plays Genre Tragedy Setting Thebes
Who was the previous king of Thebes before Oedipus Rex?
Prior to the start of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus has become the king of Thebes while unwittingly fulfilling a prophecy that he would kill his father, Laius (the previous king), and marry his mother, Jocasta (whom Oedipus took as his queen after solving the riddle of the Sphinx).