Sophocles is thought to have written 123 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. Sophoclean dramas typically focus on a few characters and highlight their determined natures and strong qualities which, eventually, lead them to tragedy.
How many plays did Sophocles write?
What did Sophocles do?
Sophocles was an ancient Greek dramatist who lived from about 496 to about 406 bce. He wrote more than 100 plays and was one of the three famous Greek tragedians (along with Aeschylus and Euripides). He is credited with diverging from the typical format of a tragedy: he increased the number of speaking actors, increased the number of chorus members, and used painted scenery.