Eumenides II
I didn’t realize that the foundation of our 12-member jury system goes back in time to Aeschylus’s trilogy, the Oresteia. I also learned how the Furies came to be called Eumenides.
In this story, Orestes, son of Agamemnon, kills his mother, Clytaemestra and her lover Aegisthus to avenge her murder of his father. He flees Argos to Appolo’s Temple at Delphi seeking Appolo’s protection and is pursued by the avenging Furies. The Furies are savage and brutal primal goddesses who believe in their own form of justice. A man who creates a great sin, such as matricide, must be hounded and brutally punished.
Appolo puts the Furies to sleep, and instructs Orestes to journey to Athens where the goddess of wisdom, Athena (for whom the city of Athens is named), will help him. Soon after, Apollo and the Furies join Orestes at the Acropolis in Athens where they participate in a public trial decided by twelve Athenian jurors.
In the end the jurymen are equally divided in their decision, and Athena casts the deciding vote, acquitting Orestes. Overjoyed, he vows that citizens of Argos shall forever be allies with Athens and returns to his home city in peace, since the Furies cannot torment him anymore.
However, the Furies are furious about Orestes’ acquittal and argue with Athena.
Athena attempts to comfort the Furies and beseeches them not to become angry or bring sickness to Athens. She asks the Furies to join her in becoming protectors of Athens.
The Furies are stunned that Athena would give them this much power, that any household that wishes to be prosperous in Athens must have their permission. They like the idea of this new responsibility and look upon Athena more favorably, for they would be ruling over Athens together with her.
Finally, the Furies excitedly accept Athena’s offer, casting away their dark powers in favor of this new responsibility. Athena urges them to cast a positive spell over the city, filled with goodness instead of death. No longer creatures of darkness, now the Furies shall bring light and love into the hearts of men.
With these combined powers, Athens will become the greatest city because its citizens will be filled with great wisdom, furthered by the fact that Athena has shown the citizens how to conduct a courtroom trial in order to judge accused criminals.
No longer will men randomly pursue one another and take the law into their own hands as the Furies had once wanted to do. The establishment of a court on the Acropolis augments the greatness that the city of Athens shall bring into the world. The Furies become creatures of rational thought rather than being creatures of pure emotion. They vow allegiance to the city of Athens.
After the Furies accept this offer, Athena announces that the Furies will be creatures of darkness no more. Instead, they will be creatures of goodness, called the "Eumenides.”
Now called the Eumenides, "The Benevolent Ones," the Furies promise to protect the goodness of mankind.
Athena has also established a court of justice in Athens to deal with accused criminals, rather than having one man judging them to be guilty or innocent. Now there are to be public trials decided by a large jury of men.
While researching the story of the Eumenides, I also discovered
a great lecture about Law and Order that explores the legal foundations of Greek and Roman cultures and discusses the Greek (Athenian) foundations that culminates in trial by jury.
Richard
