Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments

Sir Richard Jebb's seven-volume edition of the works of Sophocles, published between 1883 and 1896, remains a landmark in Greek scholarship. Jebb (1841-1905) was the most distinguished classicist of his generation, a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and University Orator, subsequently Professor of Greek at Glasgow University and finally Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge, and a Member of Parliament for the University. Each volume of the edition contains an introductory essay, a metrical analysis, an indication of the sources used to establish the text, and the ancient summaries ('arguments') of the play. The text itself is given with a parallel English translation, textual collation and explanatory notes, and an appendix consisting of expanded notes on some of the textual issues. The quality of Jebb's work means that his editions are still widely consulted today.