Are we better than ancient Greeks?

By Chang Se-moon

Let me first introduce the story of the Greeks during the 5th century B.C. I am talking about the thought processes of those who lived about 2,500 years ago.

The drama “Oresteia” is a trilogy of Greek tragedies that was written by Aeschylus in that century. The three parts consist of the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by her son Orestes, and the trial of Orestes by the public.

The story shows how the Greek gods influenced the decision-making process relating to revenge and justice. The third part of the trilogy is one that indicates the level of civilization of those days that may well be better than the one under which we all live.

The drama won the first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 B.C. The drama I saw was one performed at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., April 30.

The first part of the trilogy relates to the homecoming of King Agamemnon of Mycenae from the 10-year Trojan War. Before King Agamemnon went to war, he killed his own daughter, Iphigenia, as a sacrifice to the gods to win the war. Waiting at home was his wife, Queen Clytemnestra, who had been planning to murder the king to avenge the sacrifice of their daughter that the king made before he left.

Queen Clytemnestra declared that there would be celebrations throughout the city as victorious King Agamemnon and his army returned. After publicly announcing how hard it had been to wait for her husband for 10 years, Queen Clytemnestra prepared red carpets for the king to walk on. Onlookers had an ominous feeling, but the king walked on them it into the castle.

Cassandra, who was King Agamemnon's concubine, was introduced. When Cassandra was left alone, she sang crying out prophecies to the God Apollo about the impending death of King Agamemnon and herself. She also went inside the castle. Both were murdered by Queen Clytemnestra.

After the murder, Queen Clytemnestra claimed that she and her lover Aegisthus had all the power, although he was not mentioned in the drama I saw.

The second part of the trilogy begins with return of their son Orestes to the city of Argos. Orestes was ordered by Apollo to kill his mother as revenge for killing his father. When Orestes arrived, he met his sister Electra whom he had not seen for many years. Both made plans to murder their mother.

Queen Clytemnestra desperate pleaded with her son not to kill her, reminding him that she was his mother. After an agonizing encounter between the two, Orestes kills his mother out of revenge.

The third and final part of the trilogy is called The Eumenides, i.e., the “Gracious Ones,” which explains how the Greeks of the 5th century B.C. handled the revenge after revenge. Amazingly, this final part demonstrates the development of a proper judicial system in Athenian society.

In the play, Orestes who murdered his mother was chased by the Furies (or Eumenides), a trio of goddesses known to be the instruments of justice. Although he was able to escape with the help of Apollo, he was finally caught by the Furies with the help of Clytemnestra's ghost, and brought to Athens.

Facing death in another revenge, Orestes pleaded to the Goddess Athena for help and she responded with a trial for him in Athens. The trial was judged by a group of 12 Athenian citizens under the supervision of Athena herself. The Orestes case was the first courtroom trial in history.

It is difficult for me to imagine how the writer of the drama was even able to think of a trial by ordinary citizens no less than 2,500 years ago.

Anyway, the votes at the end of the trial were tied at six guilty and six not guilty. The Goddess Athena cast the deciding vote that saved Orestes from being killed. When the Furies protested the decision, Athena persuaded them to accept it. Further, Athena ruled that all future disputes must be settled in court, not personally.

In conclusion, I feel that revenge is going on all over the world, including the two Koreas. In North Korea, innocent people are imprisoned and murdered for having different views. In South Korea, political opponents are imprisoned, allegedly according to the law, aided by judges and prosecutors who cannot see their own intellectual hypocrisy.

If Athenian citizens could accept, even if it is only in a drama, justice through objective law so many years ago, why can we not accept the same now, more than 2,500 years later?

Chang Se-moon (changsemoon@yahoo.com) is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies.