Drawing on comprehensive analyses of all of Sophocles' plays, on structuralist anthropology, and on other extensive work on myth and tragedy, Charles Segal examines Sophocles both as a great dramatic poet and as a serious thinker. He shows how Sophoclean tragedy reflects the human condition in its constant and tragic struggle for order and civilized life against the ever-present threat of savagery and chaotic violence, both within society and within the individual.

Tragedy and Civilization begins with a study of these themes and then proceeds to detailed discussions of each of the seven plays. For this edition Segal also provides a new preface discussing recent developments in the study of Sophocles.