442 Sophocles flourishing in the southern Italian colony of Elea and was best represented by the thought of Parmenides and his pupil Zeno Eleaticism featured the monistic belief that thought, expression, and existence all coalesced into being The Sophists found this to be of little practical value in the Athens of Pericles, where they mostly congregated and where the limits of personal influence were being extended for those not of noble birth Exactly to what extent individual doctrines can be ascribed to individual Sophists is difficult to ascertain because knowledge of those teachings is mediated by the writings of Plato, whose dialogues feature debates between Sophists and more modern thinkers such as Socrates but whose audience would have been expected to know in some detail what individual Sophists taught and does not itemize those beliefs in detail Other sources of early Sophist thought include the “Exhortation to Philosophy” by Iamblichus (third century c.e.) and the “Dissoi Logoi” of Sextus Empiricus (third century c.e.) A particular use of antilogic employed by Sophists was the opposition of custom and nature Possibly employing a line of thought that had been developed earlier, Sophists aimed to contrast the existing laws of society with the higher laws of nature, either because laws were not sufficiently rigorous to deal with the nature of humanity or, more commonly, to free people from unwanted restrictions This form of political discourse represented a feature that could be characterized as an attack on public morals, and so Socratic thinkers claimed it A number of Sophists were brought to trial for impious teaching, not least because their ideas challenged the existing social order Critias, for example, taught that the gods were invented by the powerful elites of society to intimidate and help tyrannize the rest of society Prodicus suggested a sociological approach to the development of the gods of Olympus, while Protagoras, as has been shown, refused to accept that the existence of the gods could ever be known The Sophists were important as part of the development of education, politics, and philosophy They represented an early example of the professional educator and the political tutor, one who tempered in his students the desire to succeed with the importance of virtue See also Platonism Further reading: Dillon, John, and Tania Gergel, eds and trans The Greek Sophists New York: Penguin Classics, 2003; Guthrie, W K C The Sophists: A History of Greek Philosophy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977; Plato Gorgias Translated by Chris Emlyn-Jones and Walter Hamilton New York: Penguin Books, 2004; Plato Protagoras and Meno Translated by Adam Beresford New York: Penguin Classics, 2005 John Walsh Sophocles (496–406 b.c.e.) Greek dramatist Sophocles was one of a trilogy of great Athenian tragic dramatists, along with Aeschylus and Euripides Sophocles was the greatest of these dramatists and was the most decorated of the three at theatrical festivals Sophocles was born into a comparatively wealthy family His father was an armor-maker who lived in Colonus, a small village close to Athens Sophocles received a high level of education and was a golden youth, noted for his athletic abilities and personal beauty At the age of 16 he had the honor of leading the formal celebrations in praise of the naval victory over the Persians at Salamis, which helped end the threat of the invasion of Greece He was also an actor in the earlier part of his life and received some fame and recognition However, he abandoned acting in favor of civic and religious duties, in addition to his writing He served as a strategos on three occasions, when he was elected as one of 10 Athenian officials placed in charge of military affairs He was later elected a proboulos, which was one of 10 officials charged with overseeing the finances of the city He also gave the oration at the funeral of Euripides, in the same year in which he himself later died These achievements indicate that he was not only a popular individual who recognized the duties laid upon the privileged of Athens but also one trusted to enact important roles Sophocles wrote more than 120 plays, although only seven still exist in complete form The most notable of these works is Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) However, Sophocles is perhaps better appreciated as an innovator of the theater rather than for the quality of his individual works At the beginning of his career the Athenian stage was a somewhat inflexible and formalized institution, but as a result of Sophocles’ innovations it became a place where dramatic tension and characterization could be more deftly manipulated Perhaps his most important innovation was to introduce a third actor Previously, only two actors were able to act onstage at one time, although it was possible for those actors to take other roles The third actor allowed a great deal more flexibility in the nature of the action and in the possible interactions between the characters Sophocles was skilled in