Justice In The Iliad And Oresteia

Difference The Greek City states or polis had many differences but also many similarities. Although the city states were made up of the same people, Greeks, the beliefs, government, and views of culture and everyday life vary between the different polis. Many times ancient literature opens one’s eyes to the norms of a society and for the Greek city states texts such as The Iliad, Oresteia and other such works. During the time period of the city states there were radical ways of thinking. These ideas were shown in the historical books or texts, written either by philosophers or story tellers. In stories such as the Iliad, the culture is painted in a light of a war, and the Oresteia is in the light of a family conflict. These two stories shine a light on what the Greeks thought about important issues. Many of the stories focus …show more content…
The gods worshiped by the Greeks played a large part in decided what is right and wrong. In the Iliad A Trojan, Paris ran off with the wife of Agamemnon’s brother who was a king. In response Agamemnon got the blessing from Zeus to restore justice his brother by starting a war with Troy. Another example of the sense of justice in the Iliad and Oresteia was when Clytemnestra killed her husband with the claim she was enforcing justice due to Agamemnon for killing their innocent daughter.
“By the justice I exacted for my child, by Ruin, and the Fury in whose honor I sacrificed this man. (Oresteia, 57)
This incident shaped much of the debate in the Oresteia for what was right and wrong in their morals for killing. On one hand, killing another family member is the worst thing you can do, but Clytemnestra was just trying to get justice for her slaughtered daughter, which causes herself to get murdered. Justice in this time period was a lot of pay back for something someone did to someone close to