Sophocles stands as one of the greatest dramatists of all time, and one of the most influential on artists and thinkers over the centuries. His plays are deeply disturbing and unpredictable, unrelenting and open-ended, refusing to present firm answers to the questions of human existence, or to provide a redemptive justification of the ways of gods to men or women. These three tragedies portray the extremes of human suffering and emotion, turning the heroic myths into supreme works of poetry and dramatic action.Antigone's obsession with the dead, Creon's crushing inflexibility, Deianeira's jealous desperation, the injustice of the gods witnessed by Hyllus, Electra's obsessive vindictiveness, the threatening of insoluble dynastic contamination... Such are the pains and distortions and instabilities of Sophoclean tragedy. And yet they do not deteriorate into cacophony or disgust or incoherence or silence: they face the music, and through that the suffering is itself turned into the coherence of music and poetry. These original and distinctive verse translations convey the vitality of Sophocles' poetry and the vigour of the plays in performance, doing justice to both the sound of the poetry and the theatricality of the tragedies. Each play is accompanied by an introduction and substantial notes on topographical and mythical references and interpretation.

The stirring tale of a legendary royal family's fall and ultimate redemption, the Theban trilogy endures as the crowning achievement of Greek drama. Sophocles' 3-play cycle, chronicling Oedipus's search for the truth and its tragic results, remains essential reading for English and classical studies majors as well as for all students of Western civilization.

Sixty years ago, the University of Chicago Press undertook a momentous project: a new translation of the Greek tragedies that would be the ultimate resource for teachers, students, and readers. They succeeded. Under the expert management of eminent classicists David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, those translations combined accuracy, poetic immediacy, and clarity of presentation to render the surviving masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in an English so lively and compelling that they remain the standard translations. Today, Chicago is taking pains to ensure that our Greek tragedies remain the leading English-language versions throughout the twenty-first century. In this highly anticipated third edition, Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most have carefully updated the translations to bring them even closer to the ancient Greek while retaining the vibrancy for which our English versions are famous. This edition also includes brand-new translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles", "Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' satyr-drama "The Trackers".New introductions for each play offer essential information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond. In addition, each volume includes an introduction to the life and work of its tragedian, as well as notes addressing textual uncertainties and a glossary of names and places mentioned in the plays. In addition to the new content, the volumes have been reorganized both within and between volumes to reflect the most up-to-date scholarship on the order in which the plays were originally written. The result is a set of handsome paperbacks destined to introduce new generations of readers to these foundational works of Western drama, art, and life.

One of the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies and a masterpiece of dramatic construction. Catastrophe ensues when King Oedipus discovers he has inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. Masterly use of dramatic irony greatly intensifies impact of agonizing events. Sophocles' finest play, Oedipus Rex ranks as a towering landmark of Western drama. Explanatory footnotes.

This Norton Critical Edition includes:Emily Wilson’s superb translation of Sophocles’ best-known play, accompanied by her engaging introduction, translator’s note and explanatory footnotes.Comparative ancient sources that provide insight into the many different approaches to the Oedipus myth, inviting readers to see what is distinctive about Sophocles’ approach. These nine sources are followed by the final scene of Rita Dove’s modern verse tragedy, The Darker Face of the Earth, which follows closely the plot of Oedipus Tyrannos.Critical essays by Froma I. Zeitlin, Edith Hall, Eric Dugdale, Kirk Ormand, Joshua D. Sosin, Martha C. Nussbaum, Michael Andrew Kicey and Teresa M. Danze, focusing on the play’s central themes.A chronology of Sophocles’ life and work and suggestions for further reading.About the SeriesRead by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format—annotated text, contexts and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyse and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

A landmark anthology of the masterpieces of Greek drama, featuring all-new, highly accessible translations of some of the world’s most beloved plays, including Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound, Bacchae, Electra, Medea, Antigone, and Oedipus the KingFeaturing translations by Emily Wilson, Frank Nisetich, Sarah Ruden, Rachel Kitzinger, Mary Lefkowitz, and James Romm The great plays of Ancient Greece are among the most enduring and important legacies of the Western world. Not only is the influence of Greek drama palpable in everything from Shakespeare to modern television, the insights contained in Greek tragedy have shaped our perceptions of the nature of human life. Poets, philosophers, and politicians have long borrowed and adapted the ideas and language of Greek drama to help them make sense of their own times.This exciting curated anthology features a cross section of the most popular—and most widely taught—plays in the Greek canon. Fresh translations into contemporary English breathe new life into the texts while capturing, as faithfully as possible, their original meaning. This outstanding collection also offers short biographies of the playwrights, enlightening and clarifying introductions to the plays, and helpful annotations at the bottom of each page. Appendices by prominent classicists on such topics as “Greek Drama and Politics,” “The Theater of Dionysus,” and “Plato and Aristotle on Tragedy” give the reader a rich contextual background. A detailed time line of the dramas, as well as a list of adaptations of Greek drama to literature, stage, and film from the time of Seneca to the present, helps chart the history of Greek tragedy and illustrate its influence on our culture from the Roman Empire to the present day. With a veritable who’s who of today’s most renowned and distinguished classical translators, The Greek Plays is certain to be the definitive text for years to come.Praise for The Greek Plays“Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm deftly have gathered strong new translations from Frank Nisetich, Sarah Ruden, Rachel Kitzinger, Emily Wilson, as well as from Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm themselves. There is a freshness and pungency in these new translations that should last a long time. I admire also the introductions to the plays and the biographies and annotations provided. Closing essays by five distinguished classicists—the brilliant Daniel Mendelsohn and the equally skilled David Rosenbloom, Joshua Billings, Mary-Kay Gamel, and Gregory Hays—all enlightened me. This seems to me a helpful light into our gathering darkness.”—Harold Bloom

Love and loyalty, hatred and revenge, fear, deprivation, and political ambition: these are the motives which thrust the characters portrayed in these three Sophoclean masterpieces on to their collision course with catastrophe.Recognized in his own day as perhaps the greatest of the Greek tragedians, Sophocles' reputation has remained undimmed for two and a half thousand years. His greatest innovation in the tragic medium was his development of a central tragic figure, faced with a test of will and character, risking obloquy and death rather than compromise his or her principles: it is striking that Antigone and Electra both have a woman as their intransigent 'hero'. Antigone dies rather neglect her duty to her family, Oedipus' determination to save his city results in the horrific discovery that he has committed both incest and parricide, and Electra's unremitting anger at her mother and her lover keeps her in servitude and despair.These vivid translations combine elegance and modernity, and are remarkable for their lucidity and accuracy. Their sonorous diction, economy, and sensitivity to the varied metres and modes of the original musical delivery make them equally suitable for reading or theatrical peformance. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

King Oedipus/Oedipus at Colonus/AntigoneThree towering works of Greek tragedy depicting the inexorable downfall of a doomed royal dynastyThe legends surrounding the house of Thebes inspired Sophocles to create this powerful trilogy about humanity's struggle against fate. King Oedipus is the devastating portrayal of a ruler who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realize he has committed and then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. Oedipus at Colonus provides a fitting conclusion to the life of the aged and blinded king, while Antigone depicts the fall of the next generation, through the conflict between a young woman ruled by her conscience and a king too confident of his own authority.Translated with an Introduction by E. F. WATLING

Ancient Athens’ most successful tragedian.Sophocles (497/6–406 BC), with Aeschylus and Euripides, was one of the three great tragic poets of Athens, and is considered one of the world’s greatest poets. The subjects of his plays were drawn from mythology and legend. Each play contains at least one heroic figure, a character whose strength, courage, or intelligence exceeds the human norm—but who also has more than ordinary pride and self-assurance. These qualities combine to lead to a tragic end.Hugh Lloyd-Jones gives us, in two volumes, a new translation of the seven surviving plays. Volume I contains Oedipus Tyrannus (which tells the famous Oedipus story), Ajax (a heroic tragedy of wounded self-esteem), and Electra (the story of siblings who seek revenge on their mother and her lover for killing their father). Volume II contains Oedipus at Colonus (the climax of the fallen hero’s life), Antigone (a conflict between public authority and an individual woman’s conscience), The Women of Trachis (a fatal attempt by Heracles’ wife to regain her husband’s love), and Philoctetes (Odysseus’ intrigue to bring an unwilling hero to the Trojan War).Of his other plays, only fragments remain; but from these much can be learned about Sophocles’ language and dramatic art. The major fragments—ranging in length from two lines to a very substantial portion of the satyr play The Searchers—are collected in Volume III of this edition. In prefatory notes Lloyd-Jones provides frameworks for the fragments of known plays.

Sophocles was the dominant Athenian playwright of the fifth century BCE. His best-known work, the three-play "Oedipus cycle" ("Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Kolonos", and "Antigone"), traces three generations of a family ravaged by the inscrutably vindictive god Apollo, who manipulates his victims into committing unforgivable acts of incest, patricide, and kin murder. In "Elektra and the Women of Trakhis" Sophocles portrays two women who act righteously to save themselves and support those they love, yet do so in ways that betray and diminish their own humanity. In his less familiar but riveting war-zone dramas, "Philoktetes" and "Aias", Sophocles works through the political and moral crises of war-weary, traumatized soldiers-a fact of life not only for the Trojan War-era protagonists of these plays but for war veterans and their families in Sophocles' Athens. All are caught up in situations we recognize - including the feeling of being played by powers beyond our control. The effectiveness and timeliness of Sophocles' dramas depend on translations such as these to resonate, intellectually and emotionally, with a contemporary audience.For a new generation entering the turbulent arena of ancient Greek drama, translators Robert Bagg and James Scully have produced a vivid, dynamic, and eminently readable translation in "The Complete Plays of Sophocles".

Sophocles' immortal Oedipus plays personify both the cosmic and the all-too-human forces that wreak emotional and physical mayhem upon the lives of a stricken royal family. The three plays have continued to strike a chord with audiences throughout every era of history - yet their effectiveness today depends not only upon enduring themes but upon translations that will resonate, intellectually and emotionally, with a contemporary readership. Aristotle praised Oedipus the King as the finest single example of Greek tragedy; now, award-winning translator Robert Bagg presents the entire "Oedipus Cycle" in a vivid, dynamic, and eminently readable new translation that revitalizes the ancient classics for a new generation of readers.

Deianeira is an ordinary woman married to Herakles, the most feared and storied hero of the ancient world - and a canny and violent enforcer with a merciless temperament and legendary strength. To keep his affection and preserve her marriage, she must cope with her anxieties about his deadly labors and escapades, and must force herself to tolerate the conduct of a man whose volatile will is impossible to sway or question. But against the complex character of her husband, ultimately Deianeira's actions will lead each of them to an irredeemable downfall. In "Women of Trakhis", Sophocles challenges the very ideal of Greek manhood by giving equal notice to Herakles' valorous labors and to his savage acts of brutality and deceipt. In this phenomenal translation, Robert Bagg delivers an accurate but idiomatic, highly accessible rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, and sure to open a new generation to the depth and power of Greek drama.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Women of Trakhis is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. A powerful drama centered on a desperate wife’s attempts to hold onto her wandering husband, the great Herakles, Women of Trakhis is the tragic tale of how age-old jealousy takes down one of the ancient world’s most feared and storied heroes. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

Spotlighting an endless cycle of bloodshed that consumes a royal family, "Elektra" masterfully explores the causes of hatred and the consequences of revenge - both for those who bear the brunt of violence and for those consumed by its influence. Orestes has returned to his homeland intent on exacting a bloody vengeance upon its rulers: his mother Klytemnestra and his step-father Aegisthus, who together murdered Orestes' father, Agamemnon. The prince's sister, Elektra, has long awaited his return, fueding constantly with Klytemnestra over her mother's moral justifications for killing Agamemnon - an act that, Klytemnestra insists, was itself a retaliation for an earlier wrong. The more they debate the validity of Agamemnon's murder, however, the more Elektra herself becomes overwhelmed by an obsession with revenge. Finally, as Orestes sets his plan into motion, the cycle of bloodshed will renew itself once more, claiming the lives of some and the very humanity of others before the drama is complete. This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original that is suited for reading, teaching, or performing.Sure to strike a chord with contemporary audiences, this is Sophocles for a new generation.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Elektra is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Elektra masterfully explores the consequences of revenge—both for those who bear the brunt of violence and for those who become obsessed by hatred under its influence—as it focuses on the cycle of bloodshed that consumes a royal family. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

Praised by Aristotle as the pinnacle of Greek drama, "Oedipus the King" is the ancient world's most shocking and memorable play: the story of a city's beloved hero and his royal family brought to hellish ruin by fate, supernatural manipulation, and all-too-human weakness. With a plague ravishing Thebes, it falls upon Oedipus, the king, to discover its cause. Yet in consulting the blind prophet Tiresias, Oedipus uncovers not only the roots of the gods' displeasure but also a dreadful secret about his own past. Prophesied from childhood to destroy his loved ones, Oedipus long ago left his homeland. In fleeing his fate, however, he has unwittingly fulfilled his grim destiny, for, as he is to discover, Thebes was always his true homeland; the stranger he slew on the road his true father; and the queen who bore his sons and daughters, his own mother. Oedipus' shame is irredeemable-and his revelation will have terrible consequences for all involved. Sophocles masterfully invokes the Western culture's most extreme taboos to explore our deepest questions about fate and free will, in a suspenseful story that still haunts audiences after 2,500 years.This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original that is suited for reading, teaching, or performing.

Award–winning poet Robert Bagg presents a dynamic translation of Sophocles''s celebrated play of ancient Athens, Oedipus the King.Praised by Aristotle as the pinnacle of Greek drama, Oedipus the King is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles. The ancient world''s most shocking and memorable tragedy, it is the story of Thebes''s resilient hero and his royal family brought to hellish ruin by fate, manipulation of the Olympian gods, and all-too-human weakness.

The second chapter of Sophocles' spellbinding saga explores a fallen hero's redemption, as the aged king Oedipus surrenders himself to the will of the gods. Oedipus is an old man finally coming to terms with the terrible actions of his earlier life. Blind by his own hand and exiled from Thebes, Oedipus has been driven to Athens, where a prophesy has foretold of his death. As he struggles to accept his fate, he also questions his guilt in his past crimes - transgressions manipulated by the will of the gods. With war now raging over his succession, Oedipus must make his final decision alone - to greet his death in the grove of the Furies, bowing to destiny at last, or to flee from fate once again, rejecting the absolution of the gods.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Oedipus at Kolonos is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Oedipus at Kolonos continues the story of Thebes’s tragic, now-blinded hero in the last days of his life, as he attempts to answer for his shocking crimes of incest and patricide, and seeks forgiveness before his impending death. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

The final chapter of Sophocles' classic Oedipus cycle, "Antigone" epitomizes the clash between law, social obligations, familial duty, and the honor of the gods. Oedipus' sons have slain each other on the battlefield, but Kreon, their uncle and Thebes' new ruler, has decreed that only Eteokles be buried. Polyneikes will be left to rot - the greatest dishonor imaginable for a Greek warrior. When their sister Antigone, however, attempts to see Polyneikes properly honored, she garners a death sentence for breaking Kreon's edict. Neither she nor Kreon's son Haemon can convince Kreon to reconsider, forcing the blind prophet Tiresias to reveal the terrible legacy that Kreon's hubris will bring to Thebes. Yet by then it is too late - Thebes will run with the blood of its ill-fated royal family, their fate for those who would act against the will of the gods. "Antigone" is Sophocles' classic investigation of the fallout that occurs when pride overwhelms social dignity - in Kreon's case - and when passion overwhelms perseverance - in Antigone's case.This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, and sure to open a new generation to the depth and power of Greek drama.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Antigone is one of the seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Powerfully portraying the clash between civic and familial duty—between morality and obedience—the play brings the Oedipus Cycle to a conclusion with the story of the tragic hero''s eldest daughter Antigone, who courts her own death by defying the edict of Thebes''s new ruler, her uncle Kreon, which forbids giving her dishonored brother a proper burial. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

With the Trojan War won, the Greeks' last great hero, Arias, has suddenly become obsolete. The world is changing - as he witnesses when the armor of his fallen cousin Achilles is awarded not to him but to his crafty comrade Odysseus. When Aias swears vengeance, the goddess Athena clouds his mind with madness - and when his senses clear, he discovers that men he believed he fought and murdered were only the helpless animals and defenseless herdsmen seized by his own army as spoils of war. Shamed beyond redemption, Aias takes his own life, an act that leaves his friends and fellows to cope with the realities of his burial, the shock of his downfall, and the questions of whether a warrior can ever return from the wars that define his life. In "Aias", Sophocles challenges his society's ideals of heroism, exposing the unseen costs of war upon those who fight and those who are left behind. In this masterful translation, James Scully brings readers and actors inside the drama, enabling an exploration of these same issues within our modern cultural context - and offering a text that allows the emotions and arguments of Sophocles' era to strike a chord with a contemporary audience.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Aias is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet James Scully. Still powerful and remarkably timely thousands of years after its creation, Aias is the moving story of a soldier returning home victorious from the Trojan War, only to discover he has lost his life’s purpose. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

The soldier Philoktetes - with a festering, god-given wound in his foot - has been abandoned on the desolate island of Lemnos by the Greeks under Odysseus. They couldn't stand the stench, nor his screams of pain. That was ten years ago. Since then, they've learned they can't take Troy without Philoktetes and the bow given to him by Herakles - nor without Neoptolemos, son of the dead hero Achilles. Yet Philoktetes would rather kill Osysseus than return to Troy. It's up to Neoptolemos, persuaded by the crafty Odysseus, to trick Philoktetes into returning. Odysseus, an opportunistic character representing the Greek army, will use any means necessary to carry out his mission. Philoktetes and Neoptolemos, however, are constantly at sea: shifting and re-shifting amidst mixed feelings, deceptions, suspicions, and qualms as they struggle with themselves and their obscurely evolving relationship. Fate, free will, and the sacredness of the social bond are all challenged and re-assessed in this tale torn from the midst of the Trojan War.Robert Bagg's phenomenal translation of Sophocles' classic "Philoktetes" achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, that is sure to strike a chord with contemporary audiences, this is Sophocles for a new generation.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Philoketes is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet James Scully. A powerful tale born out of the blood and chaos of the Trojan War, Philoketes tells the story of a wounded soldier exiled by Odysseus, and the devastating consequences of the abandoned warrior’s dangerously conflicted emotions when his former commander realizes Troy will not fall without Philoktetes and attempts to recruit him once more. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

Award-winning poet and playwright Robert Bagg offers a set of exciting and authentic new translations of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Kolonos, and Antigone—together known as The Oedipus Cycle. One of the unquestionable acmes of world literature, Sophocles’s immortal series of plays centers upon the royal family of Thebes, whose struggles for nobility and greatness lead paradoxically to their own tragic downfalls. Portraying humankind at its worst and most fallible even while exploring the heights of virtue and honor, the plays shine a searing light upon questions of fate and free will, destiny and responsibility, hubris and humility, honor and obligation, and more. Robert Bagg’s timely translations allow the power and depth of Sophocles’s masterpieces to shine through clearly to readers today.

Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, Sophocles' The Three Theban Plays are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by Robert Fagles with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox.Collected here are Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, in a translation by Robert Fagles which retains all of Sophocles' lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters. Oedipus in exile, searching for his identity, desperately trying to avoid his fate, seeking the truth of his origins and achieving immortality; his daughter, Antigone, defending her integrity and ideals to the death - these heroic, tragic figures have captivated theatregoers and readers since the fifth century BC. It is Sophocles' characterisation of Oedipus that would, in the nineteenth century, inspire Sigmund Freud to a revolutionary conception of the human mind, and the tragedies in this volume continue to move and inspire us to this day.Sophocles (496-405 BC) was born at Colonus, just outside Athens. His long life spanned the rise and decline of the Athenian Empire; he was a friend of Pericles, and though not an active politician he held several public offices, both military and civil. The leader of a literary circle and friend of Herodotus, Sophocles wrote over a hundred plays, drawing on a wide and varied range of themes, and winning the City Dionysia eighteen times; though only seven of his tragedies have survived, among them Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Ajax and Oedipus at Colonus.If you enjoyed The Three Theban Plays, you might like Aeschylus' The Oresteia, also available in Penguin Classics.'I know of no better English version'Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Oxford University'The most impressive verse translations of Sophocles that have been made'Stephen Spender

Demonstrating Sophocles' aptitude for humanising figures from Greek myth and transforming simple fables into complex high tragedy, Electra and Other Plays is translated by David Raeburn with an introduction and notes by Pat Easterling.The plays collected in this volume show Sophocles' ability to create complex human characters struggling with profound moral issues. In Women of Trachis the agonizing death of the mighty Heracles is brought about by a tragic mistake made by his jealous wife Deianeira, as she attempts to regain his love. Set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, Ajax depicts a warrior driven into a homicidal rage that leads to his undoing, and Electra shows the grief-stricken children of the murdered Agamemnon and their plot to avenge him, while Philoctetes portrays the cunning Odysseus' attempt to convince a famed archer to rejoin the Greek expedition against Troy, undermined by the honesty of his young comrade Neoptolemus.David Raeburn's translation captures the rhythms of the original Greek, while remaining accessible to modern readers. Pat Easterling's general introduction discusses Athenian dramatic festivals, and the structure and tensions of the plays and their characters. This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, prefaces to each play and notes.Sophocles (496-405 BC) was born at Colonus, just outside Athens. His long life spanned the rise and decline of the Athenian Empire; he was a friend of Pericles, and though not an active politician he held several public offices, both military and civil. The leader of a literary circle and friend of Herodotus, Sophocles wrote over a hundred plays, drawing on a wide and varied range of themes, and winning the City Dionysia eighteen times; though only seven of his tragedies have survived, among them Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Ajax and Oedipus at Colonus.If you enjoyed Electra and Other Plays, you might like Sophocles' The Three Theban Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.

'It's a dreadful thing to yield...but resist now?Lay my pride bare to the blows of ruin?That's dreadful too.'The remarkable story of Greek tragedy's most intrepid heroine.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC). Sophocles's works available in Penguin Classics are The Theban Plays and Electra and Other Plays.

Sophocles stands as one of the greatest dramatists of all time, and one of the most influential on artists and thinkers over the centuries. His plays are deeply disturbing and unpredictable, unrelenting and open-ended, refusing to present firm answers to the questions of human existence, or to provide a redemptive justification of the ways of gods to men or women. These three tragedies portray the extremes of human suffering and emotion, turning the heroic myths into supreme works of poetry and dramatic action.Antigone's obsession with the dead, Creon's crushing inflexibility, Deianeira's jealous desperation, the injustice of the gods witnessed by Hyllus, Electra's obsessive vindictiveness, the threatening of insoluble dynastic contamination... Such are the pains and distortions and instabilities of Sophoclean tragedy. And yet they do not deteriorate into cacophony or disgust or incoherence or silence: they face the music, and through that the suffering is itself turned into the coherence of music and poetry. These original and distinctive verse translations convey the vitality of Sophocles' poetry and the vigour of the plays in performance, doing justice to both the sound of the poetry and the theatricality of the tragedies. Each play is accompanied by an introduction and substantial notes on topographical and mythical references and interpretation.

The stirring tale of a legendary royal family's fall and ultimate redemption, the Theban trilogy endures as the crowning achievement of Greek drama. Sophocles' 3-play cycle, chronicling Oedipus's search for the truth and its tragic results, remains essential reading for English and classical studies majors as well as for all students of Western civilization.

Sixty years ago, the University of Chicago Press undertook a momentous project: a new translation of the Greek tragedies that would be the ultimate resource for teachers, students, and readers. They succeeded. Under the expert management of eminent classicists David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, those translations combined accuracy, poetic immediacy, and clarity of presentation to render the surviving masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides in an English so lively and compelling that they remain the standard translations. Today, Chicago is taking pains to ensure that our Greek tragedies remain the leading English-language versions throughout the twenty-first century. In this highly anticipated third edition, Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most have carefully updated the translations to bring them even closer to the ancient Greek while retaining the vibrancy for which our English versions are famous. This edition also includes brand-new translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles", "Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles' satyr-drama "The Trackers".New introductions for each play offer essential information about its first production, plot, and reception in antiquity and beyond. In addition, each volume includes an introduction to the life and work of its tragedian, as well as notes addressing textual uncertainties and a glossary of names and places mentioned in the plays. In addition to the new content, the volumes have been reorganized both within and between volumes to reflect the most up-to-date scholarship on the order in which the plays were originally written. The result is a set of handsome paperbacks destined to introduce new generations of readers to these foundational works of Western drama, art, and life.

One of the greatest of the classic Greek tragedies and a masterpiece of dramatic construction. Catastrophe ensues when King Oedipus discovers he has inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. Masterly use of dramatic irony greatly intensifies impact of agonizing events. Sophocles' finest play, Oedipus Rex ranks as a towering landmark of Western drama. Explanatory footnotes.

This Norton Critical Edition includes:Emily Wilson’s superb translation of Sophocles’ best-known play, accompanied by her engaging introduction, translator’s note and explanatory footnotes.Comparative ancient sources that provide insight into the many different approaches to the Oedipus myth, inviting readers to see what is distinctive about Sophocles’ approach. These nine sources are followed by the final scene of Rita Dove’s modern verse tragedy, The Darker Face of the Earth, which follows closely the plot of Oedipus Tyrannos.Critical essays by Froma I. Zeitlin, Edith Hall, Eric Dugdale, Kirk Ormand, Joshua D. Sosin, Martha C. Nussbaum, Michael Andrew Kicey and Teresa M. Danze, focusing on the play’s central themes.A chronology of Sophocles’ life and work and suggestions for further reading.About the SeriesRead by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format—annotated text, contexts and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyse and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

A landmark anthology of the masterpieces of Greek drama, featuring all-new, highly accessible translations of some of the world’s most beloved plays, including Agamemnon, Prometheus Bound, Bacchae, Electra, Medea, Antigone, and Oedipus the KingFeaturing translations by Emily Wilson, Frank Nisetich, Sarah Ruden, Rachel Kitzinger, Mary Lefkowitz, and James Romm The great plays of Ancient Greece are among the most enduring and important legacies of the Western world. Not only is the influence of Greek drama palpable in everything from Shakespeare to modern television, the insights contained in Greek tragedy have shaped our perceptions of the nature of human life. Poets, philosophers, and politicians have long borrowed and adapted the ideas and language of Greek drama to help them make sense of their own times.This exciting curated anthology features a cross section of the most popular—and most widely taught—plays in the Greek canon. Fresh translations into contemporary English breathe new life into the texts while capturing, as faithfully as possible, their original meaning. This outstanding collection also offers short biographies of the playwrights, enlightening and clarifying introductions to the plays, and helpful annotations at the bottom of each page. Appendices by prominent classicists on such topics as “Greek Drama and Politics,” “The Theater of Dionysus,” and “Plato and Aristotle on Tragedy” give the reader a rich contextual background. A detailed time line of the dramas, as well as a list of adaptations of Greek drama to literature, stage, and film from the time of Seneca to the present, helps chart the history of Greek tragedy and illustrate its influence on our culture from the Roman Empire to the present day. With a veritable who’s who of today’s most renowned and distinguished classical translators, The Greek Plays is certain to be the definitive text for years to come.Praise for The Greek Plays“Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm deftly have gathered strong new translations from Frank Nisetich, Sarah Ruden, Rachel Kitzinger, Emily Wilson, as well as from Mary Lefkowitz and James Romm themselves. There is a freshness and pungency in these new translations that should last a long time. I admire also the introductions to the plays and the biographies and annotations provided. Closing essays by five distinguished classicists—the brilliant Daniel Mendelsohn and the equally skilled David Rosenbloom, Joshua Billings, Mary-Kay Gamel, and Gregory Hays—all enlightened me. This seems to me a helpful light into our gathering darkness.”—Harold Bloom

Love and loyalty, hatred and revenge, fear, deprivation, and political ambition: these are the motives which thrust the characters portrayed in these three Sophoclean masterpieces on to their collision course with catastrophe.Recognized in his own day as perhaps the greatest of the Greek tragedians, Sophocles' reputation has remained undimmed for two and a half thousand years. His greatest innovation in the tragic medium was his development of a central tragic figure, faced with a test of will and character, risking obloquy and death rather than compromise his or her principles: it is striking that Antigone and Electra both have a woman as their intransigent 'hero'. Antigone dies rather neglect her duty to her family, Oedipus' determination to save his city results in the horrific discovery that he has committed both incest and parricide, and Electra's unremitting anger at her mother and her lover keeps her in servitude and despair.These vivid translations combine elegance and modernity, and are remarkable for their lucidity and accuracy. Their sonorous diction, economy, and sensitivity to the varied metres and modes of the original musical delivery make them equally suitable for reading or theatrical peformance. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

King Oedipus/Oedipus at Colonus/AntigoneThree towering works of Greek tragedy depicting the inexorable downfall of a doomed royal dynastyThe legends surrounding the house of Thebes inspired Sophocles to create this powerful trilogy about humanity's struggle against fate. King Oedipus is the devastating portrayal of a ruler who brings pestilence to Thebes for crimes he does not realize he has committed and then inflicts a brutal punishment upon himself. Oedipus at Colonus provides a fitting conclusion to the life of the aged and blinded king, while Antigone depicts the fall of the next generation, through the conflict between a young woman ruled by her conscience and a king too confident of his own authority.Translated with an Introduction by E. F. WATLING

Ancient Athens’ most successful tragedian.Sophocles (497/6–406 BC), with Aeschylus and Euripides, was one of the three great tragic poets of Athens, and is considered one of the world’s greatest poets. The subjects of his plays were drawn from mythology and legend. Each play contains at least one heroic figure, a character whose strength, courage, or intelligence exceeds the human norm—but who also has more than ordinary pride and self-assurance. These qualities combine to lead to a tragic end.Hugh Lloyd-Jones gives us, in two volumes, a new translation of the seven surviving plays. Volume I contains Oedipus Tyrannus (which tells the famous Oedipus story), Ajax (a heroic tragedy of wounded self-esteem), and Electra (the story of siblings who seek revenge on their mother and her lover for killing their father). Volume II contains Oedipus at Colonus (the climax of the fallen hero’s life), Antigone (a conflict between public authority and an individual woman’s conscience), The Women of Trachis (a fatal attempt by Heracles’ wife to regain her husband’s love), and Philoctetes (Odysseus’ intrigue to bring an unwilling hero to the Trojan War).Of his other plays, only fragments remain; but from these much can be learned about Sophocles’ language and dramatic art. The major fragments—ranging in length from two lines to a very substantial portion of the satyr play The Searchers—are collected in Volume III of this edition. In prefatory notes Lloyd-Jones provides frameworks for the fragments of known plays.

Sophocles was the dominant Athenian playwright of the fifth century BCE. His best-known work, the three-play "Oedipus cycle" ("Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Kolonos", and "Antigone"), traces three generations of a family ravaged by the inscrutably vindictive god Apollo, who manipulates his victims into committing unforgivable acts of incest, patricide, and kin murder. In "Elektra and the Women of Trakhis" Sophocles portrays two women who act righteously to save themselves and support those they love, yet do so in ways that betray and diminish their own humanity. In his less familiar but riveting war-zone dramas, "Philoktetes" and "Aias", Sophocles works through the political and moral crises of war-weary, traumatized soldiers-a fact of life not only for the Trojan War-era protagonists of these plays but for war veterans and their families in Sophocles' Athens. All are caught up in situations we recognize - including the feeling of being played by powers beyond our control. The effectiveness and timeliness of Sophocles' dramas depend on translations such as these to resonate, intellectually and emotionally, with a contemporary audience.For a new generation entering the turbulent arena of ancient Greek drama, translators Robert Bagg and James Scully have produced a vivid, dynamic, and eminently readable translation in "The Complete Plays of Sophocles".

Sophocles' immortal Oedipus plays personify both the cosmic and the all-too-human forces that wreak emotional and physical mayhem upon the lives of a stricken royal family. The three plays have continued to strike a chord with audiences throughout every era of history - yet their effectiveness today depends not only upon enduring themes but upon translations that will resonate, intellectually and emotionally, with a contemporary readership. Aristotle praised Oedipus the King as the finest single example of Greek tragedy; now, award-winning translator Robert Bagg presents the entire "Oedipus Cycle" in a vivid, dynamic, and eminently readable new translation that revitalizes the ancient classics for a new generation of readers.

Deianeira is an ordinary woman married to Herakles, the most feared and storied hero of the ancient world - and a canny and violent enforcer with a merciless temperament and legendary strength. To keep his affection and preserve her marriage, she must cope with her anxieties about his deadly labors and escapades, and must force herself to tolerate the conduct of a man whose volatile will is impossible to sway or question. But against the complex character of her husband, ultimately Deianeira's actions will lead each of them to an irredeemable downfall. In "Women of Trakhis", Sophocles challenges the very ideal of Greek manhood by giving equal notice to Herakles' valorous labors and to his savage acts of brutality and deceipt. In this phenomenal translation, Robert Bagg delivers an accurate but idiomatic, highly accessible rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, and sure to open a new generation to the depth and power of Greek drama.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Women of Trakhis is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. A powerful drama centered on a desperate wife’s attempts to hold onto her wandering husband, the great Herakles, Women of Trakhis is the tragic tale of how age-old jealousy takes down one of the ancient world’s most feared and storied heroes. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

Spotlighting an endless cycle of bloodshed that consumes a royal family, "Elektra" masterfully explores the causes of hatred and the consequences of revenge - both for those who bear the brunt of violence and for those consumed by its influence. Orestes has returned to his homeland intent on exacting a bloody vengeance upon its rulers: his mother Klytemnestra and his step-father Aegisthus, who together murdered Orestes' father, Agamemnon. The prince's sister, Elektra, has long awaited his return, fueding constantly with Klytemnestra over her mother's moral justifications for killing Agamemnon - an act that, Klytemnestra insists, was itself a retaliation for an earlier wrong. The more they debate the validity of Agamemnon's murder, however, the more Elektra herself becomes overwhelmed by an obsession with revenge. Finally, as Orestes sets his plan into motion, the cycle of bloodshed will renew itself once more, claiming the lives of some and the very humanity of others before the drama is complete. This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original that is suited for reading, teaching, or performing.Sure to strike a chord with contemporary audiences, this is Sophocles for a new generation.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Elektra is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Elektra masterfully explores the consequences of revenge—both for those who bear the brunt of violence and for those who become obsessed by hatred under its influence—as it focuses on the cycle of bloodshed that consumes a royal family. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

Praised by Aristotle as the pinnacle of Greek drama, "Oedipus the King" is the ancient world's most shocking and memorable play: the story of a city's beloved hero and his royal family brought to hellish ruin by fate, supernatural manipulation, and all-too-human weakness. With a plague ravishing Thebes, it falls upon Oedipus, the king, to discover its cause. Yet in consulting the blind prophet Tiresias, Oedipus uncovers not only the roots of the gods' displeasure but also a dreadful secret about his own past. Prophesied from childhood to destroy his loved ones, Oedipus long ago left his homeland. In fleeing his fate, however, he has unwittingly fulfilled his grim destiny, for, as he is to discover, Thebes was always his true homeland; the stranger he slew on the road his true father; and the queen who bore his sons and daughters, his own mother. Oedipus' shame is irredeemable-and his revelation will have terrible consequences for all involved. Sophocles masterfully invokes the Western culture's most extreme taboos to explore our deepest questions about fate and free will, in a suspenseful story that still haunts audiences after 2,500 years.This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original that is suited for reading, teaching, or performing.

Award–winning poet Robert Bagg presents a dynamic translation of Sophocles''s celebrated play of ancient Athens, Oedipus the King.Praised by Aristotle as the pinnacle of Greek drama, Oedipus the King is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles. The ancient world''s most shocking and memorable tragedy, it is the story of Thebes''s resilient hero and his royal family brought to hellish ruin by fate, manipulation of the Olympian gods, and all-too-human weakness.

The second chapter of Sophocles' spellbinding saga explores a fallen hero's redemption, as the aged king Oedipus surrenders himself to the will of the gods. Oedipus is an old man finally coming to terms with the terrible actions of his earlier life. Blind by his own hand and exiled from Thebes, Oedipus has been driven to Athens, where a prophesy has foretold of his death. As he struggles to accept his fate, he also questions his guilt in his past crimes - transgressions manipulated by the will of the gods. With war now raging over his succession, Oedipus must make his final decision alone - to greet his death in the grove of the Furies, bowing to destiny at last, or to flee from fate once again, rejecting the absolution of the gods.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Oedipus at Kolonos is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Oedipus at Kolonos continues the story of Thebes’s tragic, now-blinded hero in the last days of his life, as he attempts to answer for his shocking crimes of incest and patricide, and seeks forgiveness before his impending death. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

The final chapter of Sophocles' classic Oedipus cycle, "Antigone" epitomizes the clash between law, social obligations, familial duty, and the honor of the gods. Oedipus' sons have slain each other on the battlefield, but Kreon, their uncle and Thebes' new ruler, has decreed that only Eteokles be buried. Polyneikes will be left to rot - the greatest dishonor imaginable for a Greek warrior. When their sister Antigone, however, attempts to see Polyneikes properly honored, she garners a death sentence for breaking Kreon's edict. Neither she nor Kreon's son Haemon can convince Kreon to reconsider, forcing the blind prophet Tiresias to reveal the terrible legacy that Kreon's hubris will bring to Thebes. Yet by then it is too late - Thebes will run with the blood of its ill-fated royal family, their fate for those who would act against the will of the gods. "Antigone" is Sophocles' classic investigation of the fallout that occurs when pride overwhelms social dignity - in Kreon's case - and when passion overwhelms perseverance - in Antigone's case.This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, and sure to open a new generation to the depth and power of Greek drama.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Antigone is one of the seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet Robert Bagg. Powerfully portraying the clash between civic and familial duty—between morality and obedience—the play brings the Oedipus Cycle to a conclusion with the story of the tragic hero''s eldest daughter Antigone, who courts her own death by defying the edict of Thebes''s new ruler, her uncle Kreon, which forbids giving her dishonored brother a proper burial. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

With the Trojan War won, the Greeks' last great hero, Arias, has suddenly become obsolete. The world is changing - as he witnesses when the armor of his fallen cousin Achilles is awarded not to him but to his crafty comrade Odysseus. When Aias swears vengeance, the goddess Athena clouds his mind with madness - and when his senses clear, he discovers that men he believed he fought and murdered were only the helpless animals and defenseless herdsmen seized by his own army as spoils of war. Shamed beyond redemption, Aias takes his own life, an act that leaves his friends and fellows to cope with the realities of his burial, the shock of his downfall, and the questions of whether a warrior can ever return from the wars that define his life. In "Aias", Sophocles challenges his society's ideals of heroism, exposing the unseen costs of war upon those who fight and those who are left behind. In this masterful translation, James Scully brings readers and actors inside the drama, enabling an exploration of these same issues within our modern cultural context - and offering a text that allows the emotions and arguments of Sophocles' era to strike a chord with a contemporary audience.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Aias is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet James Scully. Still powerful and remarkably timely thousands of years after its creation, Aias is the moving story of a soldier returning home victorious from the Trojan War, only to discover he has lost his life’s purpose. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

The soldier Philoktetes - with a festering, god-given wound in his foot - has been abandoned on the desolate island of Lemnos by the Greeks under Odysseus. They couldn't stand the stench, nor his screams of pain. That was ten years ago. Since then, they've learned they can't take Troy without Philoktetes and the bow given to him by Herakles - nor without Neoptolemos, son of the dead hero Achilles. Yet Philoktetes would rather kill Osysseus than return to Troy. It's up to Neoptolemos, persuaded by the crafty Odysseus, to trick Philoktetes into returning. Odysseus, an opportunistic character representing the Greek army, will use any means necessary to carry out his mission. Philoktetes and Neoptolemos, however, are constantly at sea: shifting and re-shifting amidst mixed feelings, deceptions, suspicions, and qualms as they struggle with themselves and their obscurely evolving relationship. Fate, free will, and the sacredness of the social bond are all challenged and re-assessed in this tale torn from the midst of the Trojan War.Robert Bagg's phenomenal translation of Sophocles' classic "Philoktetes" achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, that is sure to strike a chord with contemporary audiences, this is Sophocles for a new generation.

Among the most celebrated plays of ancient Athens, Philoketes is one of seven surviving dramas by the great Greek playwright, Sophocles, now available from Harper Perennial in a vivid and dynamic new translation by award-winning poet James Scully. A powerful tale born out of the blood and chaos of the Trojan War, Philoketes tells the story of a wounded soldier exiled by Odysseus, and the devastating consequences of the abandoned warrior’s dangerously conflicted emotions when his former commander realizes Troy will not fall without Philoktetes and attempts to recruit him once more. This is Sophocles, vibrant and alive, for a new generation.

Award-winning poet and playwright Robert Bagg offers a set of exciting and authentic new translations of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Kolonos, and Antigone—together known as The Oedipus Cycle. One of the unquestionable acmes of world literature, Sophocles’s immortal series of plays centers upon the royal family of Thebes, whose struggles for nobility and greatness lead paradoxically to their own tragic downfalls. Portraying humankind at its worst and most fallible even while exploring the heights of virtue and honor, the plays shine a searing light upon questions of fate and free will, destiny and responsibility, hubris and humility, honor and obligation, and more. Robert Bagg’s timely translations allow the power and depth of Sophocles’s masterpieces to shine through clearly to readers today.

Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, Sophocles' The Three Theban Plays are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. This Penguin Classics edition is translated by Robert Fagles with introductions and notes by Bernard Knox.Collected here are Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, in a translation by Robert Fagles which retains all of Sophocles' lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters. Oedipus in exile, searching for his identity, desperately trying to avoid his fate, seeking the truth of his origins and achieving immortality; his daughter, Antigone, defending her integrity and ideals to the death - these heroic, tragic figures have captivated theatregoers and readers since the fifth century BC. It is Sophocles' characterisation of Oedipus that would, in the nineteenth century, inspire Sigmund Freud to a revolutionary conception of the human mind, and the tragedies in this volume continue to move and inspire us to this day.Sophocles (496-405 BC) was born at Colonus, just outside Athens. His long life spanned the rise and decline of the Athenian Empire; he was a friend of Pericles, and though not an active politician he held several public offices, both military and civil. The leader of a literary circle and friend of Herodotus, Sophocles wrote over a hundred plays, drawing on a wide and varied range of themes, and winning the City Dionysia eighteen times; though only seven of his tragedies have survived, among them Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Ajax and Oedipus at Colonus.If you enjoyed The Three Theban Plays, you might like Aeschylus' The Oresteia, also available in Penguin Classics.'I know of no better English version'Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, Oxford University'The most impressive verse translations of Sophocles that have been made'Stephen Spender

Demonstrating Sophocles' aptitude for humanising figures from Greek myth and transforming simple fables into complex high tragedy, Electra and Other Plays is translated by David Raeburn with an introduction and notes by Pat Easterling.The plays collected in this volume show Sophocles' ability to create complex human characters struggling with profound moral issues. In Women of Trachis the agonizing death of the mighty Heracles is brought about by a tragic mistake made by his jealous wife Deianeira, as she attempts to regain his love. Set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, Ajax depicts a warrior driven into a homicidal rage that leads to his undoing, and Electra shows the grief-stricken children of the murdered Agamemnon and their plot to avenge him, while Philoctetes portrays the cunning Odysseus' attempt to convince a famed archer to rejoin the Greek expedition against Troy, undermined by the honesty of his young comrade Neoptolemus.David Raeburn's translation captures the rhythms of the original Greek, while remaining accessible to modern readers. Pat Easterling's general introduction discusses Athenian dramatic festivals, and the structure and tensions of the plays and their characters. This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, prefaces to each play and notes.Sophocles (496-405 BC) was born at Colonus, just outside Athens. His long life spanned the rise and decline of the Athenian Empire; he was a friend of Pericles, and though not an active politician he held several public offices, both military and civil. The leader of a literary circle and friend of Herodotus, Sophocles wrote over a hundred plays, drawing on a wide and varied range of themes, and winning the City Dionysia eighteen times; though only seven of his tragedies have survived, among them Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Ajax and Oedipus at Colonus.If you enjoyed Electra and Other Plays, you might like Sophocles' The Three Theban Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.

'It's a dreadful thing to yield...but resist now?Lay my pride bare to the blows of ruin?That's dreadful too.'The remarkable story of Greek tragedy's most intrepid heroine.Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC). Sophocles's works available in Penguin Classics are The Theban Plays and Electra and Other Plays.