Athenian tragic poet (497/6-406 BC) from the golden century of Greek literature. His first appearance at a drama contest was in 468, with Triptolemus; he eventually won a total of 20 victories, never placing lower than second. He wrote more than 120 plays of which only seven complete tragedies survive (Ajax, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus Rex, Philoctetes and Women of Trachis), while a papyrus containing about 450 lines (nearly one third almost complete) preserves parts of a satyr play called Ichneutae. He is credited with several innovations in dramatic structure, among them using a third actor, reducing the role of the chorus, and abandoning the unity of the Aeschylian trilogy. His style is described as intermediary between the pomposity of Aeschyles and the simplicity of Eurypides.