The Oracle and its many representations play an important role in most, if not all, Greek tragedy. Most often, they are simply diviners, messengers from whom the gods (usually Zeus or Apollo) have commissioned sacred or valuable information to share with the mortal race. However, in the tragedies of Sophocles the role of the Oracle, now used to describe any source of divine information, evolves to take many different forms. As such, his study of Electra (~405) and The Women of Trachis (~425 BC) provides particularly fascinating information, since both plays were written during and after the Peloponnesian War . Comparing the Oracle in the two plays can provide a window into their author's development and changing beliefs over the course of the war. The gods share their secrets with humanity through many means, not limited to the famous Oracle of Delphi or the elusive and esteemed Oracle. in the high mountains of Dodona. In Theban plays, a blind prophet carries the role of divine knowledge. However, in a play as recent as Electra, the Oracle is slightly more elusive, manifesting itself through the actions of ordinary mortals. In Women of Trachis, on the other hand, he is physically represented by the Oracle of Dodona and Nessus the centaur. Curiously, their representations are perfectly inverted, when we look at how they modify the plots. In Electra, the Oracle catalyzes events quite blatantly by informing Orestes that he is going to murder his mother; in Women of Trachis, the two oracles actively deceive Deianira and Heracles. This evolution that Sophocles experienced in his way of dramatizing the divine can become a fascinating tool, with which we can deepen his personal metamorphosis during the Peloponnesian War. In Electra, Orestes lied...... middle of paper .... ..the Oracles in Women of Trachis are almost an entity in their own right, manipulating the characters for a distinct purpose. As a commentary on the gods, evolving throughout the author's life, it is evident that Sophocles viewed the gods as a more concrete force in his youth; Toward the end of his life, he considered them an excuse, a deadly voice in his head. Undoubtedly, the Peloponnesian War had a lot to do with this turnaround. In fact, reading various authors of war and many historical periods, we can detect the same loss of faith in a higher power, with some even calling the gods an excuse for bloodshed. By analyzing Sophocles' message to Athens through the oracle of his tragedies, we see that he too arrived at the same conclusion; that humanity does what it sees fit and creates behind it a divine excuse, credible to the point of self-deception.