Aeschylus is primarily concerned with the nature of justice. In the trilogy The Oresteia, the Akhaians evolve from an older, more primitive autocratic form of justice, to a new concept of civil justice devised by Athena.
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Aeschylus is primarily concerned with the nature of justice. In the trilogy The Oresteia, the Akhaians evolve from an older, more primitive autocratic form of justice, to a new concept of civil justice devised by Athena.
In the trilogy The Oresteia, the Akhaians evolve from an older, more primitive autocratic form of justice, to a new concept of civil justice devised by Athena. He confronts the contrast between the old and new orders, the lives of the members of the House of Atreus, and the serious moral questions that Orestes’ crime presents.
Aeschylus’ story of about justice founded in the Athenian court to try cases of homicide suggests the direction in which his version of the myth is headed.
What is original in this trilogy by Aeschylus is the concept of justice, where Orestes undergoes a trial and acquittal of the crime of matricide by an Athenian court. Aeschylus’ story of about justice founded in the Athenian court to try cases of homicide suggests the direction in which his version of the myth is headed.
Aeschylus is primarily concerned with the nature of justice. In the trilogy The Oresteia, the Akhaians evolve from an older, more primitive autocratic form of justice, to a new concept of civil justice devised by Athena.
Justice: Aeschylus shows us that this simplistic, ancient, black/white personal/instinctual vision of justice destroys social order, including those who commit the retribution (Orestes) and also the polis: the town/community.
The Oresteia tells the story of the house of Atreus. The first play, Agamemnon, portrays the victorious return of that king from the Trojan War and his murder by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. At the play's end Clytemnestra and her lover rule Árgos.
The main idea of The Oresteia is that injustice and such primitive instruments of morality as the blood-feud must be eliminated if human society is ever to attain to a high level of social organization, which can only be done by the introduction of a public morality and civic legal processes.
The Eumenides is all about justice and judgment getting the upper hand over the bloody cycles of revenge that dominated the action of Agamemnon and Libation Bearers (the first two plays in the Oresteia trilogy). Now, the key thing here is that justice and judgment triumph.
In Eumenides, justice is expressed by the non-violent verdict of Athenian jury—a verdict that is decisive and unambiguously fair.
The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation. Oresteia originally included a satyr play, Proteus (Πρωτεύς), following the tragic trilogy, but all except a single line of Proteus has been lost.
The tension between tyranny and democracy, a common theme in Greek drama, is palpable throughout the three plays. By the end of the trilogy, Orestes is seen to be the key, not only to ending the curse of the House of Atreus, but also in laying the foundation for a new step in the progress of humanity.
Upon returning to Greece, Orestes reclaimed the throne of his father, becoming the ruler of Mycenae. He died after being bitten by a snake in Arcadia.
The Oresteia consists of three plays:Agamemnon.The Libation Bearers.The Eumenides.
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In the end, the Furies, now known as the Kindly Spirits, accept Athena's offer and replace their black robes with reddish-purple ones. Although they will still seek vengeance against evil-doers, they will now also aid the good people of Athens.
Some ancient Greeks would have questioned Clytemnestra’s actions, saying, for example, that she should not have killed Cassandra, who was an innocent; and that, as a woman, she should not have taken it upon herself to decide the fate of a great king. But the Greeks would have understood her claim that, in killing Agamemnon, she acts from justice—that it was understandable and right for a parent to act this way in response to the murder of her child.
Agamemnon responded by leading the Greeks against Troy, and he did so in the name of justice and with Zeus’s blessing. The Greek ships and troops—from all over the Greek mainland and islands—met at Aulis, from which they would together launch their attack on Troy. But the north winds pinned them down.
Our first story goes back to Homer—or more accurately, to a story that (if based in fact) took place during the Greek Bronze Age, in the 13th century BC. This is the story of Iphigenia, at the outset of the Trojan War (part of which is described so poignantly by Homer). 1. A Trojan prince named Paris ran off with Helen, the wife of Menelaus, ...