Golden Age of Greek Literature

(525–456 BC) - Playwright who wrote on mythological and religious themes, staying true to Olympianism. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy

(c. 496 BC-406 BC) Playwright who wrote tragedies and introduced many new techniques such as scenery, a larger chorus of 12, and three rather than two actors.

(c. 480 BC–406 BC) The last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens. Euripides is known primarily for having reshaped the formal structure of traditional Attic tragedy by showing strong female characters and intelligent slaves, and by satirizing many heroes of Greek mythology. His plays seem modern by comparison with those of his contemporaries, focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown to Greek audiences.

Playwright who dominated the comic theatre with social criticism and caricature.

(c. 460 BC – c. 370 BC) Democritus was the most prolific, and ultimately the most influential, of the pre-Socratic philosophers; his atomic theory may be regarded as the culmination of early Greek thought.

Empedocles (Greek: Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, ca. 490–430 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, his philosophy is best known for being the origin of the cosmogenic theory of the four classical elements.

Isocrates (Greek: Ἰσοκράτης; 436–338 BC) an ancient Greek rhetorician.

Protagoras (Greek: Πρωταγόρας) (ca. 490– 420 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue Protagoras, Plato credits him with having invented the role of the professional sophist or teacher of virtue. He is also believed to have created a major controversy during ancient times through his statement that man is the measure of all things.