Greek Era, Sophocles, and Oedipus
Eric Katsamas
The Greek Era of Theater
The Greek Era of theater brought in many new inventions to the theater world. The Greek were the first to use tragedy.They also used masks that supposedly made the voice louder. The Greeks used smart architecture to make sure that the entire audience could hear everything that happened on the play area
Sophocles
Sophocles is the most successful of the three most known poets. He won an estimated 24 Festival Dionysias to Aeschylus's 13 and Euripides's 4. He wrot about 123 plays but only 7 remain. Some of them are Ajax, the Womaen of Trachis, Antigone, and Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex
The Play is about a man who unknowingly commits patricide and has children with his mother. Oedipus's father was cursed by the gods and his bloodline is also cursed. Oedipus's father finds out that his son will kill him and have children with his wife, its mother. The baby is left out to die but is saved and raised in a neighboring kingdom. When Oedipus grows up he kills a man on a chariot, that man was his father. Oedipus latter travels to Thebes. Blocking the way is a sphinx. The sphinx ask the famous riddle and Oedipus knows the answer. For defeating the sphinx, Oedipus is crowned king and marries the queen, his mother. They have four children together. When everyone finds out who Oedipus really is, the Queen hangs herself and Oedipus stabs his eyes with needles four times.