Sophocles

Playwright · 480 BC – 406 BC

Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, whose psychologically searching, often unsettling plays such as Medea and The Bacchae made him the most modern-feeling dramatist of the ancient world.

• Medea
• The Bacchae

Why A fellow Athenian tragedian and younger contemporary of Sophocles.

Philosopher · 384 BC – 322 BC

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath whose writings on logic, ethics, biology, politics and metaphysics shaped Western thought for over two millennia.

• Formal logic
• Virtue ethics

Why Aristotle held up Sophocles' Oedipus Rex as the model of perfect tragedy in his Poetics.

Philosopher · 470 BC – 399 BC

Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as a founder of Western philosophy, famous for the Socratic method of questioning and for his trial and execution in Athens.

• Socratic method
• The examined life

Why A contemporary in the golden age of Athens whose era Sophocles' theatre defined.

Writer · 1860 – 1904

Anton Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer — and a practising physician — widely regarded as among the greatest masters of both the short story and modern drama, whose plays like The Cherry Orchard transformed the theatre.

• The Cherry Orchard
• The Seagull

Why Also a playwright & writer · Comparable historical impact

Playwright · 1856 – 1950

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, critic and polemicist, the leading dramatist of his age after Shakespeare, whose witty, idea-driven plays such as Pygmalion won him the Nobel Prize in Literature and, uniquely, an Academy Award.

• Pygmalion
• Saint Joan

Why Also a playwright & writer · Comparable historical impact

Playwright · 1828 – 1906

Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright, often called the "father of modern drama" and second only to Shakespeare in influence on the theatre, whose realistic plays like A Doll's House confronted the moral and social questions of his age.

• A Doll's House
• Hedda Gabler

Why Also a playwright & writer · Comparable historical impact

Playwright · 1622 – 1673

Molière was a French playwright and actor of the 17th century, the supreme master of comedy in the French language, whose satires of hypocrisy and vanity remain among the most performed plays in the world.

• Tartuffe
• The Misanthrope

Why Also a playwright & writer · Comparable historical impact

Writer · 1854 – 1900

Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer and wit, one of the most celebrated playwrights of late-Victorian London, whose sparkling comedies, the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and famous epigrams made him a legend — before a scandalous trial destroyed his career.

• The Importance of Being Earnest
• The Picture of Dorian Gray

Why Also a playwright & writer · Comparable historical impact

Novelist · 1890 – 1976

Agatha Christie was an English writer, the best-selling novelist of all time, whose ingenious detective stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple made her the undisputed "Queen of Crime".

• Hercule Poirot
• Miss Marple

Why Also a writer & playwright · Comparable historical impact

Novelist · 1802 – 1870

Alexandre Dumas was a French writer whose swashbuckling historical novels — The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo — became some of the most popular and widely adapted stories in the world.

• The Three Musketeers
• The Count of Monte Cristo

Why Also a writer & playwright · Comparable historical impact

Novelist · 1547 – 1616

Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish writer whose novel Don Quixote is widely regarded as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works in world literature.

• Don Quixote
• The first modern novel

Why Also a writer & playwright · Comparable historical impact

Poet · 1865 – 1939

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and a driving force of the Irish Literary Revival, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature and helped found Ireland's national theatre.

• The Second Coming
• Irish Literary Revival

Why Also a playwright & writer · Comparable historical impact

Historian · 484 BC – 425 BC

Herodotus was a Greek writer of the 5th century BC, called the "Father of History" for his Histories, the first known work to systematically investigate and narrate past events as a connected inquiry.

• The Histories
• Father of History

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Poet · 630 BC – 570 BC

Sappho was an ancient Greek lyric poet from the island of Lesbos, celebrated in antiquity as one of the greatest of all poets and revered for her intimate, intensely personal verse on love and longing.

• Lyric love poetry
• The 'Tenth Muse'

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Historian · 460 BC – 400 BC

Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general whose History of the Peloponnesian War set the standard for rigorous, evidence-based history and remains a foundational text of political and military analysis.

• History of the Peloponnesian War
• Scientific history

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Poet · b. 800 BC

Homer was the legendary ancient Greek poet to whom the great epics the Iliad and the Odyssey are attributed, foundational works of Western literature.

• The Iliad
• The Odyssey

Why Also a writer · Active in the same era

Writer · 1749 – 1832

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, poet, and statesman, widely regarded as the greatest figure in German literature and one of the towering minds of European culture.

• Faust
• The Sorrows of Young Werther

Why Also a writer & playwright

Writer · 1564 – 1616

William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.

• Hamlet
• Romeo and Juliet

Why Also a writer & playwright

Mathematician · 325 BC – 265 BC

Euclid was an ancient Greek mathematician, the "father of geometry", whose treatise the Elements is the most influential mathematics textbook ever written.

• The Elements
• Euclidean geometry

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Physician · 460 BC – 370 BC

Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician regarded as the father of Western medicine, who established medicine as a rational discipline distinct from superstition and inspired the Hippocratic Oath.

• Father of medicine
• The Hippocratic Oath

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

King · 540 BC – 480 BC

Leonidas I was a king of Sparta who led a small Greek force in a legendary last stand against the vast Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, becoming an enduring symbol of courage and sacrifice.

• Battle of Thermopylae
• The stand of the 300

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Statesman · 495 BC – 429 BC

Pericles was an Athenian statesman who led the city during its golden age, strengthening its democracy, building the Parthenon and championing the arts, in an era so brilliant it is often called the Age of Pericles.

• The Age of Pericles
• Building the Parthenon

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Mathematician · 570 BC – 495 BC

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher who founded the Pythagorean school and is remembered for the Pythagorean theorem and the idea that number underlies the cosmos.

• Pythagorean theorem
• Pythagoreanism

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization

Statesman · 524 BC – 459 BC

Themistocles was an Athenian statesman and general whose foresight built the navy that saved Greece, and whose brilliant strategy at the Battle of Salamis destroyed the Persian fleet and turned back Xerxes's invasion.

• Battle of Salamis
• Building the Athenian navy

Why Active in the same era · From the same civilization