Sophocles Antigone An Ancient Greek Writer And...

Antigone Sophocles is an Ancient Greek writer and philosopher, who wrote one of the greatest stories of all tome Antigone. Sophocles is also said to be one of the greatest minds in achievements and times of Sophocles’. Sophocles was born about 496 BC at Colonus in Attica, near Athens and died 406 BC. He lived in the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens. Sophocles, his father, was a wealthy Athenian citizen and gave him a sound education in music, gymnastics, and dancing. He was well known as having a reputation for leaving and esthetic taste. He was well versed in Homer and the Greek lyric poets, and because of his industriousness he was known as the â€Å"Attic Bee’’. Do to his youthful beauty, he was chosen to lead the chorus in†¦show more content†¦Sophocles wrote more than 120 tragedies, only a mear seven have survived. â€Å"Plutarch tells us that there were three periods in Sophocles’ literary developed: imitation of the grand style of Aesc hylus, use of artificial and incisive style, and use of the best style and that which is most expressive of character. It is only from the third period we have examples of.† The seven tragedies that survive are Ajax 447 BC, Antigone 442/441 BC, Oedipus at Colonus 401 BC, and Tracheniae 437-432 BC, Oedipus Rex as a perfect tragedy. Sophocles made many improvements to plays such as adding scene painting and a third actor. He increased the number of the chorus from twelve to fifteen, and reduced the proportion of the play given to the chorus, thereby accelerating the progress of the action; he also made better tragic masks and made many other technical improvements. A grandmaster in the delineation of characters, he is credited with the invention of the heroic maiden, and the ingenuous young man. Antigone is the young princess who pits herself against her uncle, King Creon. She defies his cruel judgement forbidding the burial of her brother Polyneicess who in attempt to invade Th ebes and seize the thrown from his brother Eteocles, slew himself into mortal combat and in turn was slain. Against the pleas of her sister Ismene and her fiancà © Haemon. Antigone goes to her death holding to her defiance and buries Polyneicess. The theme of Antigone had