Aeschylus’ great tragedy, The Oresteia, is one of the seminal works of ancient Greek drama, and the only complete trilogy, that we know of, to have survived in full. Concerning itself with the issue of justice, the play depicts transformation of justice, from the violent, personal, and self-contradiction of traditional Greece, into a new system for the polisbased on careful deliberation and reason. Additionally, justice is changed for the gods as well. The Furies, ancient goddesses of blood and vengeance, become members of the order of the younger Olympian gods and are transformed into the Eumenides, tasked to uphold the sacred bonds of marriage. These changes are best analyzed through the trial of Orestes. He does not deny his matricide but freely states “but I came back, my years of exile weathered-killed the one who bore me, I won’t deny it, killed her in revenge.” (Eumenides lines 476-478) showing he willfully murdered her and that he should be punished under existing justice. In ancient Greece, only blood was considered
