The Epic Tragedy Part III: The Beginning of Athenian Law As Shown In The Oresteia

This will be my final post on Aeschylus’ trilogy the Oresteia. I really enjoyed going through this Greek classic and showing that in these classics we can see Greek culture, lifestyle, and thought. Through the stories, epics, and myths used in all cultures we are able to see how people in that culture truly lived, worshiped their gods, and even their habits and thoughts. We see that just from their artwork and writing how the Egyptians truly lived, and we see the same thing from the Greek classics. We can come to learn everything about their culture, even how they ate and dressed, through these classics and also through the Mythology. This can be seen in many ancient cultures other than Greece, but going through Aeschylus’ work we are able to see this clearly.

Here I will give a synopsis of the last play in the Oresteia tragedy, The Eumenides. Unlike the other two plays where the gods are only mentioned in The Eumenides the gods play significant roles. The play begins with the oracle of Apollo praying, giving us a hint of what is to come, and when she leaves we find Orestes and the furies at the temple. Orestes is not bothered by the furies because they had been put to sleep by the god Apollo, and as we saw in the second play of the Oresteia it was Apollo who had drove Orestes to avenge his father. So Apollo kept his word that he wouldn’t fail Orestes in the fact that he is protecting Orestes from the Furies here. Apollo tells Orestes that he must keep moving until he reaches the citadel of Pallas, which is another name used for Athena, and Apollo sends Hermes with Orestes. Orestes follows Apollo’s orders and leaves following Hermes. After they leave the ghost of Clytaemnestra arrives and tries to wake the Furies, which takes some time, but when the Leader of the Furies finally awakes she awakes the rest. Apollo comes out from his sanctuary and is infuriated at the Furies for desecrating his temple and they leave, not because his threats, but to continue their hunt for Orestes. They find him at the citadel of Pallas hugging the knees of the goddess and praying. The Furies circle around him getting ready for the kill while Orestes prays to Athena for help. Athena shows up to see the Furies poised to kill Orestes who is hugging her knees. The Leader of the Furies tells Athena That Orestes killed his mother and Athena listens to the Fury respectfully but then says “Two sides are here, and only half is heard.”(Aeschylus The Eumenides, p. 250. Lines 440). She then turns to Orestes to hear his side of the story, and when hearing both sides of the story she then decides that the case should be properly judged. She tells both sides to call for their witnesses to come forth, and also to gather their evidence, while she would gather ten citizens of Athens to judge the matter. In the end Orestes is found not guilty and is let free. Athena persuades the Furies to give up their occupation of hunting and killing to work under her as peace-makers. Justice becomes what it was truly meant to be and the Furies become the rightful protectors of justice, which is what they were truly meant to be. So in this three part tragedy the ending turns out for the better. Orestes is let free to go back to Argos and rule, the Furies become the protectors of justice in the way they were meant to be, and “justice” itself evolves from its circular form into what would become one of the most developed judicial systems in the ancient world.

In the next two paragraphs I am going to deal with the idea of “justice” in the last play of Aeschylus’ trilogy, The Eumenides. We saw in my last post that in the first two tragedies “Justice” was circular in the fact that anyone who wanted revenge could call that revenge just, whether their intentions were truly just or not. We saw that Clytaemnestra, who killed Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter, had other intentions than just this for killing her husband. Also the circular form of justice is seen with Clytaemnestra killing Agamemnon because he killed their daughter, and then Orestes killing Clytaemnestra to avenge his father, and the Furies chase Orestes to kill him for killing his own mother. In this last play of the Oresteia an example of how justice and law are viewed differently from the last two plays is shown, and also Aeschylus shows us that this was the start of a judicial system that become one of the most developed in ancient history. The court scene in The Eumenides takes place when the Furies find Orestes hugging the knees of the Athena’s statue in the citadel of Pallas. Athena comes into the citadel to find the Furies circled around Orestes, who is hugging the knees of her statue, and after hearing both sides of the story she tells them that the matter needs to be judged correctly. The Furies then ask Athena if she would judge the issue and she  states: “You would turn over responsibility to me, to reach the final verdict?” (p. 251. Lines 446-47). and the Leader of Furies answers by saying “Certainly. We respect you. You show us respect.” (p. 251. Lines 448-49). This court scene is very similar to our court of law today and I will be comparing the court scene in The Eumenides to our society’s judicial system. Athena informs the Furies that she will obtain ten of the best citizens in Athens to judge over the case: “Too large a matter, some may think, for mortal men to judge. But by all rights not even I should decide a case of murder – murder whets the passions. But since the matter comes to rest on us, I will appoint the judges of manslaughter, swear them in, and found a tribunal here for all time to come. My contestants, summon your trusted witnesses and proofs, your defenders under oath to help your cause. And I will pick the finest men of Athens, return and decide the issue fairly, truly – bound to our oaths, our spirits bent on justice.” (p.252-253. Lines 484-87, 497-505). We see here that Athena sets up the court room scene: both the Furies and Orestes are to bring their witnesses and evidence, Athena is the judge, and the ten men of Athens are the jury.

Athena first separates the Furies and Orestes and she stands in between them and the two urns which are to be used for the ballots for the final vote at the end of the trial. Athena tells all that are present: “And while this court of judgement fills, my city, silence will be best. So that you can learn my everlasting laws.” (p. 256. Lines 576-78). From the sentence above and this sentence “and found a tribunal here for all time to come.” (p. 253. Lines 498-99). Aeschylus is showing that this was the beginning of the new law and justice system in Athens that the Greeks would use for years to come, and that would be carried on into the Roman empire. The trial begins and Athena shows us that Orestes is the defendant, Apollo comes in as his witness (but also plays some major parts as Orestes attorney), she is the judge, and the Leader of the Furies is the prosecutor. “The trial begins! Yours [The Furies] is the first word – the prosecution opens. Start to finish, set the facts before us, make them clear.” (p. 256. Lines 588-90). The Furies start by questioning Orestes and they ask if he killed his mother, the woman that bare him, and their case is that it was unjust for him to kill his mother. Orestes doesn’t deny that he killed his mother, and that Apollo was the one to drive him on in avenging his father, but he brings up a valid point; the fact that he didn’t kill an innocent woman. “She had two counts against her, deadly crimes. She killed her husband – killed my father too.” (p. 258. Lines 606-08). So was it truly unjust for him to kill his mother, who was also a killer, to avenge his father? Orestes asks Apollo if what he did was just or not. Apollo replies by saying: “Just, I say to you and your high court, Athena.” (p. 259. Lines 620-21). He claims that the command to avenge Agamemnon came from Zeus, “This is his justice – omnipotent, I warn you. Bend to the will of Zeus. No oath can match the power of the Father.” (p. 259. Lines 626-28). The Furies issue is the “power” or “rank” of the mother, the fact that she was the one who bore Orestes, but Apollo’s case is the “power” and “position” of the father. So in a sense it is a trial of the matriarch vs. the patriarch, and who holds the highest status. The Leader of the Furies asks: “You’d force this man’s acquittal? Behold, justice [she says this mockingly]! Can a son spill his mother’s blood on the ground, then settle into his father’s halls in Argos?” (p. 260. Lines 660-62). Apollo answers the Fury with a key piece of evidence that turns the scales and aids in favor of Orestes. “The woman you call the mother of the child is not the parent, just a nurse to seed, the new-sown seed that grows and swells inside her. The man is the source of life – the one who mounts.” (p. 260. Lines 666-69). Apollo’s proof for this claim is Athena who was born out of Zeus himself without a mother. “The father can father forth without a mother. Here she [Athena] stands, our living witness. Child sprung full-blown from Olympian Zeus, never bred in darkness of the womb but such a stock no goddess could conceive.” (p. 261. Lines 673-77). Even though women were highly respected in Greek culture they were still seen as lower than the man, and this thought-frame is seen in this myth of Zeus giving birth to Athena; who was fully grown when she was born. But there are different versions of this story and in one of them Zeus wound up eating Athena’s mother while she was pregnant. From inside his belly Athena grew and one day Zeus had a “splitting” headache and told Hephaestus to split open his skull; and out comes Athena fully garbed in her war regalia. In this version of the myth we see that even though Zeus bore Athena into the world, he did not initially give birth to her. This was the turning point in the trial and after Apollo brings this piece of evidence before the court Athena calls for the votes from the “jury.” Orestes is acquitted and Athena offers the Furies a different form of occupation then the one they had, and they become what Athena calls the “guards of Athens,” (p. 273. 960). and instead of hate and fury they bring joy and peace; they become the Eumenides.

Different cultures had some form of law and justice within it, and that law was the basis of these societies and civilizations; whether it was monarchical or democratic like with Athens. Here I will show a good example of a judicial system used in another ancient society; Judaism. In the book of Exodus after the Israelites were let go from Egypt and after the parting of the sea, Moses led them to Mount Sinai and the wilderness. While there his Father-in-law, Jethro, came to meet him and the children of Israel. Jethro observed that people would line up from dawn to dusk to see Moses and have him judge their matters (Exodus 18:13). Jethro asks Moses about this and why he is the only one to judge the people, and Moses’ replies: “When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws (Ex. 18:16, KJV).” Jethro tells Moses that this is not good and he offers him some advice on how to make judging easier for him: “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace (Ex. 18:19-23, NKJV).” Moses takes his father-in-laws advice and sets this up as the way the nation of Israel is to take care of matters. This was the form of law and justice until the time of Saul when the people decided that they wanted to follow other culture’s footsteps and have a king to rule over them. The book of Judges deals with this form of judicial system that Moses set up, and the judges were placed to “rule” over the people of Israel. Here is an example of the judicial system that was put over Israel before the time of kings and the law turned monarchical.