Some may say that Oedipus and Antigone are more powerful names, than their author himself, this two being, in fact, the most famous of Sophocles' tragedies. He wrote 123 plays, all appreciated and awarded in dramatic competitions. Only seven plays survive. 

Because of the little information, it is hard to make an exact chronology of his works, but taking in consideration some style characteristics, specialist say that the probable chronological order is - Ajax , Antigone, Oedipus the King, Trachiniae, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. 

His first play was put on in 468 - nearly 20 years before the first drama which survives, also the last play Oedipus at Colonus, was put on after his death, in 401 B.C, by his grandson.

There can not be made an exact division of the periods of his dramatic art. Sophocles recognized three epochs in his own style-first, the beginning inspired by Aeschylus, second, with a more harsh expression and third, the interest for describing human character.