The book presents an overview of current research on Sophoclean drama, analysing it in relation to the socio-cultural context of its time, but also from a historical perspective that takes into account its influence and later adaptations. Several chapters deal with the role of figurative language in Sophocles' plays. In "Heroic Phramacology: Sophocles and the Metaphors of Greek Medical Thought", Robin Mitchell-Boyask discusses the use of early Greek medical language in relation to the hero's body, and the connections between this and the political system of the polis, which is seen as being governed by the same Hippocratic principles of balance and imbalance. In "Staging Mothers in Sophocles' Electra and Oedipus the King", Laura McClure analyses various occurrences of the metaphor of the sown field, referring to procreation, within the context of the incestuous relationship between Oedipus and Jocasta. Sarah H. Nooter's "Poetic Speakers in Sophocles" includes a reflection on the stylistic significance of selected instances of metaphor/personification and various types of rhetorical device in Sophocles' works.