Philocles Philocles Philocles (), was an Athenian tragic poet during the 5th century BC. Through his mother, Philopatho (), he had three famous uncles: Aeschylus, the famous poet, Cynaegirus, hero of the battle of Marathon, and Ameinias, hero of the battle of Salamis. The Suda claims that Philocles was the father of the tragic playwright Morsimus, who was in turn the father of the tragedian Astydamas According to the Suda, Philocles wrote 100 tragedies. Philocles is best known for winning first prize in the competition against Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex". Philocles also wrote a play on the subject of Tereus, which was
Tragedy time of the empire, the tragedies of two playwrights survive—one is an unknown author, while the other is the Stoic philosopher Seneca. Nine of Seneca's tragedies survive, all of which are "fabula crepidata" (tragedies adapted from Greek originals); his "Phaedra", for example, was based on Euripides' "Hippolytus". Historians do not know who wrote the only extant example of the "fabula praetexta" (tragedies based on Roman subjects), "Octavia", but in former times it was mistakenly attributed to Seneca due to his appearance as a character in the tragedy. Seneca's tragedies rework those of all three of the Athenian tragic playwrights whose