Pedro Calderon de la Barca, (born Jan. 17, 1600, Madrid, Spain-died May 25, 1681, Madrid), dramatist and poet who succeeded Lope de Vega as the greatest Spanish playwright of the Golden Age. Among his best-known secular dramas are El medico de su honra (1635; The Surgeon of His Honour), La vida es sueno (1635; Life Is a Dream), El alcalde de Zalamea (c. 1640; The Mayor of Zalamea), and La hija del aire (1653; "The Daughter of the Air"), sometimes considered his masterpiece. He also wrote operas and plays with religious and mythological themes."