Sophocles (497/6-406/5 b.c.e.) was already famous during his lifetime as his tragedies triumphed at the Dionysian Feasts in Athens more frequently than any others. He is represented with a thin cord around his head, which indicates that, as a priest of the local gods of health, Amynus and Halon, in the year 420/19, he took care of health god Asclepius of Epidaurus, probably at the sanctuary of Amynus, until that new god obtained his own sanctuary in Athens. That is why, after his death, Sophocles was worshipped in Athens as Heros Dexion, that is, he who cares for (the god). It has recently been hypothesized that this portrait of Sophocles is the statue that, according to ancient literature, was erected by his son, Iophon, shortly after his death.

The Prado head is one of the Roman versions of his portrait, identifiable from the inscription that survives on an example in the Vatican Museums (inv. MV326.0.0). Is a fine work and a faithful likeness, but it has lost its original surface.

Schröder, Stephan F., Catálogo de la escultura clásica: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1993, p.49-51