Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Oresteia is one of the most important texts in Greek literature, among other things because it recounts the mythical foundation of the Areopagus court. A reading beyond the historical and sociological level also reveals that democracy and law exist because human beings are capable of swearing, that is, of "keeping our word" and "sentence." Furthermore, this text teaches that the rational (embodied in law) cannot be sustained without integrating the irrational (embodied in regrets, desires for revenge and oracular messages). That is to say, it is not enough to comply with the laws to be right: it is also necessary to hear the voice from the depths, the voice of the Self, of instinct, of the oracle, of God
Author: Javier Martínez Villarroya
Language: English
Topic: Classical Antiquity Studies
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4409352204