Sometimes I find myself very aware of how much text from ancient Hellas we have lost. I was leafing through my collection of ancient Hellenic plays and I wondered how many more there must have been. Well, it seems that Sophocles wrote over 120 plays of which only seven survive in full. We also, however, have fragmentary versions of several others: including from his "Hermione," "Troilus," and "Niobe."

We have eighteen of the ninety-five plays Euripides penned, included the only complete surviving satyr play, "Cyclops" (the satyr play was the comedic play which followed the performance of three tragic plays in Hellenic dramatic festivals). And we have only seven of the ninety-two that Aeschylus penned: including the "Oresteia" ("Agamemnon," "The Libation Bearers," and "The Eumenides") which is the only surviving complete trilogy (three plays meant to be performed together).

It's also worth noting that there's little logic behind why these particular plays survive. We also know of several other playwrights writing at the time, but for some reason their work has not survived. I found myself compiling a list of plays that have survived and I have to admit, that's a very sorry list.

Tragedy:

Aeschylus (525 - 456 BC)
The Persian
The Supplicants
Seven Against Thebes
The Oresteia
Agamemnon, The Libartion Bearers, The Eumenides
Prometheus?

Sophocles (496 - 406 BC)
Ajax
Antigone
Oedipus Rex
Electra
Trachiniae
Philctetes
Oedipoes at Colonus

Euripedes (480 - 407 BC)
Alcestis
Medea
Hippolytus
the Children of Heracles
Andromache
Hecuba
Cyclops
Heracles
The Supplicants
Ion
the Trojan Woman
Electra
Iphigenia in Tauris
Helen
The Phoenician Women
Orestes
The Bacchae
Iphigenia at Aulis

Comedy:

The Acharnians
The Knights
The Clouds
The Wasps
Peace
The Birds
Lysistrata
The Thesmophoriazusae
The Frogs
The Ecclesiazusae
Plutus