The Golden Age of Athens

Sophocles was born in 496, the son of a sword manufacturer or some other kind of prosperous businessman. He is said to have produced 123 plays that caused him to win the Dionysia 18 times. Sophocles died in 405 BCE just before the end of the Peloponnesian War. The writer for today had the unique opportunity over the course of his unusually long 90 years of life to see Athens' first phase of democracy.