Sophocles of Kolōnos (c. 496 - c. 406 BCE) was one of the most famous and celebrated writers of tragedy plays in ancient Greece and his surviving works, written throughout the 5th century BCE, include such classics as Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Women of Trachis., The son of Sophilus, the owner of a successful weapons factory, Sophocles was born c. 496 B.C.E. in Colonus near Athens, Greece. He grew up during the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens. Sophocles won awards while in school for music and wrestling, and because of his constant activity he was known as the "Attic Bee.", The Greek tragedian Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) ranks foremost among Greek classical dramatists and has been called the poet of Greek humanism par excellence. The son of Sophilus, a well-to-do industrialist, Sophocles was born in Colonus near Athens and grew up in the most brilliant intellectual period of Athens., Sophocles (Sophokles) was the second of the three great ancient Greek tragedians (after Aeschylus and before Euripides) whose work has survived. Only seven of his 123 plays have survived in a complete form but, for almost fifty years, he was the most-awarded playwright in the Dionysia dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens., Sophocles lived a life of wealth and renown as the most successful of the three great Greek tragedians, but was cursed by an ambivalence to it. Who Was Sophocles? Sophocles was born in 497 BCE in a small village just outside of Athens named Colonus., Sophocles was one of the three great masters of the genre of Greek tragedy. His life spanned the 5th century bce, and saw him compose approximately 123 dramas, while simultaneously occupying a series of important offices within the democratic state of ancient Athens..