Divine Justice In Greek Mythology

Comparing Quotes from Greek Mythology The theme of justice is one of the prevailing themes in Greek mythology. It is usually inextricably connected with the theme of revenge or is rooted in it. As a rule, protagonists of Greek myths are noble and virtuous people driven by the search of truth, rightness, and self-exploration. They are bearers of high moral principles. Everything they do is marked by honor and dignity. However, justice as viewed by Greek heroes differs from the generally accepted understanding of justice in the modern society. The main reason for that is an inherent presence of divine intervention into mortals’ lives. In the majority of cases, gods and goddesses have quite a specific, if not distorted, perception of justice. Moreover, divine justice does not seem to follow any uniform rules or be applied to everybody equally. “The Libation Bearers” by Aeschylus and Sophocles’ “Antigone” vividly represent the ambiguous character of divine justice. In the first play, Apollo directs Orestes to kill his own mother to impose justice, while in the latter, gods fail to save their protégée Antigone from Creon’s punishment irrespective of her loyalty to divine law. The entire Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus is filled with the mixture of justice and vengeance. Sometimes, it is difficult to divide them or to identify the cause and the consequence …show more content…
However, in “The Libation Bearers”, justice is performed with the help of violence, while in “Antigone”, violence is the result of justice. When Creon prohibited burying Polyneices because he was believed to be a traitor, Antigone could not put up with this decision made by her royal uncle. According to Antigone, it was unfair to let Polyneices rot, while the other brother, Eteocles had a proper funeral and burial. When Antigone decided to impose justice on her own, she countermanded Creon’s order in favor of divine