There are few dramatists who can hold a candle to the ancient Greek playwright, Sophocles. While figures like William Shakespeare or Samuel Beckett created works that have inspired countless artists Sophocles helped lay the foundations on which theatre itself is built.

The 5th century BC was the beginning of the great Classical age. Marked by great advances in science, philosophy, politics, and art culture this 200 year period is seen by many as the cradle of European culture and civilisation. Sophocles was born in the early years of this time and would become one of its greatest figures.

This greatness was due to his excellence in crafting tragedies.

A theatrical form based on the suffering of the characters, tragedy reflected on the meaning of life. As classicist Oliver Taplin explained: “[tragedy] explored the dark side of human existence, they explored the waste and suffering that there is in human life. They explored them in a way that was not merely hopeless or despairing”.

Sophocles was a master of this form. While only seven of his more than 90 works have survived the passage of time they hold some of theatre’s most tragic figures. The most famous of course are the great king Oedipus and his daughter/sister Antigone, who Taplin describe as “in some ways the archetype of tragedy”.

Abandoned in the mountains by his parents because of an oracle foretelling that he will kill his own father fate contrives to bring Oedipus safely to foster parents in a neighbouring kingdom. Another oracle promises Oedipus that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother. This sends him racing from his foster parents and unwittingly into the path of his true mother and father.

While the story itself is terribly tragic it is in Sophocles’ representation of Oedipus that the drama’s greatness lies.

After solving the riddle of the sphinx, and with his natural father dead, Oedipus was made king of Thebes. It is this role and his own strong will and morality that drives Oedipus to search for the truth of his past. As others beg him to turn from his course Oedipus bullish sense of duty drives him on. Even when the ugly truth finally rears its head he faces it head on and accepts the terrible reality.

Antigone leads a similarly tragic life. The daughter and sister of Oedipus she is forced to wander the world with the weight of her heritage. After her brothers kill each other in battle she breaks the law of Thebes to ensure they both receive a respectable burial. This devotion and dedication sees her face into almost certain death as she is condemned by the king, Creon, to being buried alive.

Like her father Antigone’s story ends in pain and suffering. In an attempt to appease the gods Creon rushes to pardon Antigone. When he arrives though she already lies dead by her own hand. Creon’s son, and Antigone’s lover, kills himself in grief with his mother soon following suit.

Yet there is a strength to Antigone. Despite all of the suffering in her life she insists on standing by her principles. Her insistence on burying her brother brings her knowingly to death.

This inner strength in the face of adversity and suffering is central to Sophocles’ plays. aren’t simple tragedies. As Oliver Taplin explains: “[Sophocles’ characters] don’t try to wheedle their way out, they don’t try to evade, they don’t try to mitigate the terrible things that happened, they face them full on”.

Susan Cahill, host of Talking Books, spoke with Oliver Taplin about the life and legacy of Sophocles and his recent translation of Sophocles: Four Tragedies. What was it like translating these great works? What were the struggles with them? And does Sophocles deserve his name as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, tragedian of all time?

In the second half of the show Susan talks with Neel Mukerjhee about his Man Booker shortlisted novel, The Lives of Others. A fascinating tale of family and values it brings 1960s India and the political and personal struggles in this world to vivid life.

This week's music to read to

The show opens with The Road by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis with Sophie Hutchings' By Night bringing part one to a close. The show ends with It Remains by Sophie Hutchings.