Sophocles was born at Colonus in Attica, c. 496 B.C., about a mile from the city of Athens.

Sophocles was born into the thriving empire of Ancient Greece. Greek culture has made countless contributions to modern society in the form of art, literature, philosophy, drama, architecture, and physics. Sophocles was born circa 496 B.C., at the beginning of the Classical Period. During this period, Greek creativity reached its peak in the areas of philosophy, art, and literature.

The Persian Wars began in 490 B.C. More wars followed, and Athens was constantly at war. Sophocles fought alongside Pericles as a general in the Peloponnesian Wars. In the second Peloponnesian War with Sparta, Athens lost and its empire was crushed.

Colonus is about a mile north of Athens, Greece. Both cities are off the Cephisus River. Greece is a mountainous country in the Mediterranean, bordered on the west by the Ionian Sea, and on the east by the Aegean Sea.