ABSTRACT
Sophocles defeated Aeschylus at the Great Dionysia of 468 BC on the first occasion that he competed. For twelve years as a young man he was a rival to Aeschylus in the dramatic competitions and presumably was in the audience at the first performance of all Aeschylus' surviving work. He could not but have been influenced by the innovations in stage technique for which Aeschylus was responsible, but that first victory must have given him the confidence to accept that he could be the one to inherit Aeschylus' mantle and lead tragedy in a new direction.
