Sophoclean scholarship in twentieth century Britain was dominated by Victorian editions of R.C. Jebb until the appearance of this edition by W.E.B. Stanford in 1963, and it remains the standard edition. Much scholarship of Sophocles and Greek drama in general had changed since Jebb's day, especially approaches to metre and style. Stanford's metrical analysis, in just one of his seven appendices, takes on board the pioneering new work of A.M. Dale, and on style he frequently takes issue with Jebb. His introduction looks at the tradition behind the Ajax story, at the hero's character in Sophocles, at the other characters and the structure of the play. His notes are exhaustively comprehensive for the readers he envisaged: mainly teachers and undergraduates.