索福克勒斯的《俄狄浦斯王》创作于希腊史上的伯利克里时期，取材于《奥德赛》，其内容包含了真实的历史内容，具有历史真实性，同时作者利用这一历史题材，重新进行创作，从而有力地表现了他所处时代的社会风貌。《俄狄浦斯王》是用旧题材表现新主题，创作意向是为他那个时代服务，而不只是重复一个过去的神话或宣扬所谓神秘的命运。
Sophocles' King Oedipus，written in the Pericles era of ancient Greek history and adapted from Homer's Odyssey，had really represented a certain historical truth，which is of importance to understand the society of ancient Greece. Given the importantly historical veracity described by the tragic poet，it is necessary for moderns to re-interpret the social significances of this tragedy through selecting the fragments in the drama and analyzing on the way of transformation of the historical materials by poet in order to reconfigure the social state of ancient Greece.
