Sophocles

What it is

This is a biographical essay about Sophocles, written by the American classicist John Henry Wright and published in 1902 in a collection called Masterpieces of Greek Literature. It is a modern scholarly summary, not a document from ancient Greece.

Why it matters

Essays like this shaped how later generations understood Sophocles's life, career and reputation. Wright draws on ancient sources and earlier scholarship, including a quotation from the English poet Matthew Arnold, to present Sophocles as a model of balance and wisdom. It shows how historians and writers long after Sophocles's death have tried to piece together and interpret his life from scattered ancient evidence.

Look closer

• What kinds of evidence might Wright have used to write about someone who lived over two thousand years earlier?
• Why might a scholar quote a poet like Matthew Arnold when writing about Sophocles?
• What does the essay choose to emphasize about Sophocles's character, and what might it leave out?