The Cultural Significance of “The Eumenides” to the Athenian People

 

Sommer, Frederick. "The Furies." 1946, Smithsonian American Art Museum

            As Professor Cynthia Beck explains in “Eumenides Lecture Notes,” The Eumenides is the final play in a trilogy titled Oresteia, written by Aeschylus during the time when Athens was developing a form of democratic legal system. This version of The Eumenides can be found published online by the Vancouver Island Library. It is a myth that presents Athena, known as the Greek goddess of wisdom and justice, as establishing the creation of the court and jury system in Athens to determine the guilt or innocence in the actions of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. Orestes is charged by the Furies, goddesses of vengeance, for the murder of his mother, whom he killed in retaliation for the murder of his father. This story mythologizes the creation of civic law within Athens by highlighting the way justice was transformed from personal revenge and divine retribution to a system of democratic law and governance.

            This myth takes the social and political reality in Athens and weaves it together with the supernatural, combining their religious beliefs with their reality and using it to symbolize the city’s true transformation. The furies themselves symbolize the old world, and represent the concepts of personal revenge, while Athena, as the goddess of wisdom and justice, represents the new world and civic order. This can be seen explicitly within the myth as the furies rage when Athena goes to gather the jurors, for they claim, “If this legal action triumphs… then newly set divine decrees will overthrow all order” (629-32). And the trial itself symbolizes the struggle between this old-world version of justice and the new, as the furies attempt to win their version of justice.

            Furthermore, in World History Volume 1 to 1500, we learn that Solon created the jury court system around 594 BCE, but by having the Areopagus, the high court of Athens, as established by Athena, it provides the system with divine status, which allowed for the Athenian peoples to view it as a legitimate system, as she claims the case with Orestes is “too complex… it’s not right even for (her) to think of judging” it ( 600-01). She sets up this system to “last forever,” which helps to cement this concept into the minds of the Athenian people (623). Finally, with the verdict rendered and Orestes set free, the furies are enraged with Athens and the entire process, before the furies are transformed by Athena as well, from vengeful to gracious.

 

Works Cited:

Aeschylus. (n.d.). Eumenides (e-text). https://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/aeschylus/eumenideshtml.html

Beck, C. “Eumenides Lecture Notes.” Mythology ENG2623. ASUBeebe, April, 20,2025.

Kordas, A., Lynch, R. J., Nelson, B., & Tatlock, J. (n.d.). World History Volume 1 to 1500. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-1/pages/1-introduction

Artwork Cited: 

Sommer, Frederick. "The Furies." 1946, Smithsonian American Art Museum. https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/furies-22648

Post Edited: May 5, 2025 - For Clarity and Grammar; Added Image