Playwright · 497 BC – 406 BC

Sophocles

Little-Known Facts

  • He is said to have written around 120 plays but only seven complete tragedies survive.
  • Sigmund Freud borrowed the name of his play for the 'Oedipus complex'.

Myths & Misconceptions

Did Sophocles invent the Oedipus story?

The Oedipus myth was older than Sophocles, but his Oedipus Rex gave it the definitive dramatic form that has influenced literature ever since.