Eumenides Discussion Questions

Some of these questions already have been discussed. I have given my answer to some. I would like you to think about the rest of these as you read through the Eumenides a second or third time. You don't have to turn any of these in but they will be the basis of our discussion next Wednesday.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Trace the lines of revenge that end when Orestes is given mercy.
(a) Tantalus tried to fool Olympians into becoming cannibals by boiling son
Pelops and feeding him to the gods ---house of Atreus cursed
(b) Pelops had two sons: Atreus and Thyestes; 2nd committed adultery with
wife of first; to retaliate Atreus killed Thyestes’s two little children, cut them up, cooked them, and fed them to his brother who unsuspectingly ate them
(c) Atreus had 2 sons: Agamemnon & Menelaus
Thyestes had son, Aegisthus
(d) Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to get favorable winds for
voyage to Troy
(e) Greece merciless in slaughter of Troy—gods seek revenge on
Their leader Agamemnon
(f) Clytemenstra with aid of her illicit lover Aegisthus kills Agamemnon &
Cassandra
(g) Orestes kills his mother Clytemenstra to avenge Agamemnon’s murder
2. What if anything is the difference between the Biblical blood avenger (Numbers 23:10-34) and the Greek idea of blood revenge?
Biblical blood avenger can pursue murderer but there must be a trial and a place
of refuge for those guilty of manslaughter; under blood feud rules cycle of
vengeance never ends—under Biblical rule blood avenger can’t be avenged
3. Leithart says the Eumenides is full of contrasts & conflicts and gives the following list:
Theology: Furies vs. Olympians (Apollo both worked with & against the
Furies: see question #8 Leithart 921f)
Sexual: Female vs. male Furies (lines 50, 51, 55) vs. Apollo but
Athena casts deciding vote: physical descent especially
important to female deities; decision of court based on Apollo’s
view of procreation (lines 665-671)—man is source of seed;
woman just stores it.
Social Unit: House (blood) vs. city (contract) (The court helps this
transition)
Basis of Society: Blood vs. contract: for older gods most sacred connections are
those of physical birth and descent; better to betray neighbor
than brother; for younger Olympians, agreements, contracts,
covenants, and oaths are most sacred—marriage bonds and
bonds between king and his people more important than blood
bonds
Resolve disputes: Feud vs. court (law courts make possible transition from house
to city and from blood to contract)
Speech: Oracles vs. argument (“Older gods speak riddling prophecies
like Apollo’s oracles, but these give way to the persuasive and
public speech of the Athenian democratic assembly, where
opposing arguments can be weighed and tested” Leithart,
p.289)
Geography: Delphi vs. Athens (change of location dramatizes complex
transitions from old to new)
Justice: Revenge “eye for eye” vs. law: Athena says Furies seek
appearance of justice not true justice which requires more than
mechanical “tit for tat”; need to examine circumstances &
motives; disputes resolved by persuasion (lines 893 & 894);
“transition involves creation of new form of politics, the order
of democratic Greece” (Leithart, p.287); Simon Goldhill
(Leithart, p. 288) says the Orestian trilogy “traces a
transformation from dike as revenge to dike as legal justice.”
[dike=Greek word for justice; righteousness]
4. Complexities:
(a) Agamemnon’s choice: attack Troy (city) vs. protect Iphigenia (blood)
(b) Orestes in Libation Bearers: attack house (mother) to preserve house (regain throne)
(c) In Eumenides struggle is explicitly between values of house & values of city; preservation of Orestes’s house accomplished by Athena’s city; house isn’t destroyed but resurrected as part of city
(d) Likewise, theological change doesn’t mean older gods are rejected; instead they are changed—furies become eumenides (lines 833-926, especially, 913-923)
5. What is the significance of Pythia’s initial speech? Try to get answer for class
6. “Politically, blood feud can lead only to anarchy or tyranny.” (Leithart, p. 288): in Agamemnon death of Agamemnon leads to anarchy as chorus breaks from unity to individual members (lines 1374-1391) and then to tyranny as Aegisthus takes control. Olympians favor “Neither anarchy nor tyranny, my people. Worship the mean……” (lines 709-721)
7. What is relationship between Apollo and the Furies? (Leithart 291-293: I don’t really understand. See if any of this makes sense to you
(a) Apollo not hospitable to them: threatens them with arrows (176-179); mocks them as grey, ancient children (73), goddesses born for destruction only, the dark pit who are most at home in the world of death, loathed by men and by Olympians (74-75); belong where heads are severed, eyes gouged out, etc. (183-195)
(b) Furies disgust him (72)
(c) But Furies are in his temple—why? Do they have place in Olympian order? Throughout Orestian trilogy an alliance is assumed: Zeus sends Agamemnon and Menelaus to Troy as “Furies” (Agamemnon, 65-67); Cassandra calls Apollo her destroyer because he sent her to house where Furies have been unleashed (1079-1080)-my note: doesn’t really mention the Furies but seems to be talking about what furies caused as if Apollo did it
(d) Zeus has contempt for furies but they do his work (359-389)—I’m not sure it says this
8. What is significance of Athena winning furies over with persuasion rather than force (833-846)?
9.Do you think the ending is realistic? Why or why not?
10. Acts 19 is only Biblical account of an assembly in ancient Greek. Does it seem like Garden of Eden or is blood struggling within the city?
11. What is the difference between the mercy that Athena offers and the mercy Christ offers? 12. Is the blood for blood demanded by the Furies the same as the blood for blood demanded by the Bible?
13. What is the Areopagus? (1)Oldest and most respected council of ancient Athens; made up of prominent citizens who had held office of archon, the highest office in Athens; held office in Areopagus for life; early in 6th century B.C. a new group took over many of its duties-called the Council of 400; after Age of Pericles Areopagus only tried murder cases & looked after morals of citizens;
(2) Areopagus=Hill of Ares (cf. acropolis=highest city; acropolis of Athens 200’ above rest of city); also called Mars Hill; Ares (Greek)=Mars (Roman)=god of war
14. If there are any obscure words or parts of play you don't understand just list them.
15. Was Orestes correct to kill his mother according to Greek law? according to Biblical law?
Did he really have any guilt to confess? Should there have been a trial?
16. Aristotle says that Aeschylus's great innovation was adding a second actor. Is there any place in the Eumenides where 3 actors (excluding the chorus) are on the stage at the same time.
17. Does the play say outright or indicate that the blood tie of a child to a mother is stronger than the blood tie of a child to a father?