Sophocles

Sophocles'   AIAS tells the story of the Trojan war hero better known as Ajax. Second only to Achilees among the Greek warriors, he was said to have committed suicide when the dead Achilles' arms were given to Odysseus instead of to himself. In the Sophoclean version of the Aias myth, the hero transforms his dishonor into a work of tragic art, and...

Centering on the Greek army's attempt to win the trust of their master bowman Philoctetes, without whom they cannot win the Trojan War, Philoctetes is a morally complex and timelessly relevant meditation on ends and means, on patriotism, and on the relationship between public duty and private interest....

Love and loyalty, hatred and revenge, fear, deprivation, and political ambition drive the characters portrayed in these masterpieces towards catastrophe....