Edith Hall is Chair in Classics at Durham University since 2022. She previously held posts at the Universities of Reading, Oxford, Cambridge, Royal Holloway, and King's College London. She has published more than thirty books, broadcasts regularly on the BBC, and acts as consultant to professional theatres including the National Theatre, the Old Vic, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She leads a campaign to increase access to classical subjects within state education. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Athens and Durham, the Erasmus Medal of the European Academy, and Honorary Citizenship of Palermo.

• List of Illustrations


• Map


• 1: Sophocles' Life


• 2: Sophoclean Tragedy


• 3: The Limits of Freewill: Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone


• 4: Athenian Mythmaking: Ajax and Oedipus at Colonus


• 5: Retribution and Rage: Electra and Philoctetes


• 6: Sex, Settings and Soundscapes: Women of Trachis and Trackers


• 7: Sophocles' Afterlives


• Further Reading

This Very Short Introduction introduces the life, work, and influence of one of the greatest dramatists of all time, Sophocles the Athenian, placing his plays within their historical context, and explaining the conventions of ancient Greek tragic theatre.