Much has been written about the heroic figures of Sophocles' dramas. Here Charles Segal focuses not on individual heroes and heroines, but on the world that inspired and motivated their actions - a universe of family, city, nature, and the supernatural. In a series of interconnected essays, Segal studies five of Sophocles' seven extant plays: "Ajax", "Oedipus" "Tyrannus", "Philocletes", "Antigone", and "Trachinian Women". His analysis sheds light on these plays and on their implications for Greek views on the gods, moral life and sexuality.