Sophocles: Greek poet, world classic

This chapter examines Sophocles, one of the three famous tragic poets from classical Greece, from the perspective of world literature. It gives a brief account of the context of his life and writings, before investigating the process whereby Sophocles’ works grew to be appreciated across so many centuries and so many cultures. It begins by looking at the spread of Sophoclean tragedy across the Greek world, something that began in Sophocles’ own day. It then considers the Romans’ engagement with Sophocles, including at the funeral games for Julius Caesar, before analysing the place of Sophocles in the Byzantine empire, as well as noting early Arab contact with his works via an Arabic translation of Aristotle’s Poetics. Finally, the chapter pursues the story past the coming of the printing press down to the modern world, surveying the engagement with Antigone and the fragmentary play The Trackers by translators and producers from a variety of different cultures.