The “Oresteia” tells the story of Orestes, whose father, Agamemnon, returned home after the Trojan War and was murdered by his mother and her lover. The Greek playwright Aeschylus also recognizes vengeance as a human institution in “Eumenides,” the final play of his three-part “ Oresteia” – but sees a different way to resolve it.
The poem’s ending implies the only way to stop cyclical violence is for those on one side to simply forget how they’ve been wronged in exchange for the promise of peace and prosperity. No one in this scene questions the ancient custom of vengeance people expect that the murder of a loved one must be paid back with murder. She declares they should forget the slaughter, recognize Odysseus as king, and “let wealth and peace be enough.” Just as the sides are about to clash, Zeus sends the goddess Athena to stop them. Slightly more than half the family members decide not to pursue vengeance, but the rest arm to face Odysseus. Most people who read the “Odyssey” usually remember it as ending with the joyous reunion of Odysseus and Penelope, but the epic’s final book actually ends with bloodshed: Odysseus kills his wife’s suitors.Īfter the slaughter, their survivors gather to debate whether they should kill Odysseus in return.
When his journey finally ends, he finds his wife, Penelope, besieged by suitors hoping to wed her and take over his position as ruler of the city of Ithaca. One of the poems I looked to is Homer’s “Odyssey.” This epic poem, composed before the fifth century B.C., tells the story of a Trojan War veteran, Odysseus, whose return home takes 10 years. How did the conflict-filled Greek society find its way forward? Forgetting and forgiving? In the anxiety of the postelection period, I am turning to these stories in hopes that the ancient Greeks have wisdom to share, as they have on plagues, mourning the dead and “ alternative facts.” Two of the most famous works of Greek literature, “The Odyssey” and the “Oresteia,” are stories of seemingly eternal divisions that end with opposing factions coming together. Greek mythology, my field of academic scholarship, is rife with cycles of vengeance that threaten to obliterate society. The consequences of this past are still present: The COVID-19 pandemic has been far harder on Native populations, Black communities and the poor. Economically and morally, the nation was founded on the sins of slavery and Indigenous genocide. Politically and socially, they are rooted in grudges and ideological vengeance that goes back generations, to the New Deal era, when government vastly expanded its role in people’s lives. This article is republished from The Conversation.Īmerica’s divisions are old.
4, 2021 Joel Christensen is an associate professor of classical studies at Brandeis.
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