Seminar 5 Worksheet
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McMaster University *
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1P95
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Philosophy
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Dec 6, 2023
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Seminar 5 Worksheet: Aeschylus’ Eumenides
The goal of the seminar worksheets is to allow students to reflect and expand on concepts about Greco-Roman mythology, while practicing writing skills and the ability to analyze and think critically about a primary source. It is also an opportunity for students to demonstrate their engagement with the course materials and their understanding of the course content for that week. In crafting your responses, you should draw upon lecture materials, seminar material and the primary source readings for the week. You may also draw upon knowledge gained from other courses, your own personal experiences and your own knowledge. Please be sure to cite any direct quotations or paraphrased information from the primary sources, that you use in your responses. Information about citations can be found under the Assignments tab in Contents. During Week 6, we looked Athena and the Eumenides by Aeschylus.
Below are 4 questions which deal with these topics. Please answer three (3)
of the four (4) questions. If you choose to answer all four (4) only the first three (3) will be marked. _____________________________________________________________________________
1.
Discuss Athena’s role as a civilizing force in the world. You may use examples from the lectures and/or the seminar reading. Athena’s role as a civilizing force in the world is wisdom, justice and war (
M. Robinson, Athena/Minerva)
. She is a goddess that lots of mortals use and come to for issues of appeal and rulings against people. She has created, court rulings, chariot driving, shipbuilding and more, all crafted from the wisdom and skills she has (M. Robinson, Athena/Minerva)
. 2.
What is Athena’s role in the conflict presented in the Eumenides? What might it indicate about her character. Athena’s role in Eumenides
is a judge of some sort. Where Apollo refers to himself as Orestes lawyer and will plead in his case, the Chorus protests against Orestes getting off free (
Aeschylus’ Eumenides
). As Athena is the goddess of justice, they decide to use
her to determine if Ortestes should be punished for his crimes, or let off with a warning
because he believes murdering his mother was revenge for his father, as Apollo informed him it was (
Aeschylus’ Eumenides
). This shows that Athena, is summoned
often for the likes of peoples crimes and mishaps and to be the decider in their fate, whether the justice they receive best fits their actions 3.
The theme of justice vs. revenge runs throughout the Eumenides. Discuss the competing and/or opposing ideas of revenge and justice in relation to Aeschylus’ Eumenides. Was justice upheld in the end? What is ‘justice’? (Remember to support/explain your response)
The theme of justice and revenge is very prevalent in this play. On one side, we see the
Chorus adamant on Orestes getting punished for his actions, regardless of his reasonings, whereas Orestes believes that his mother’s death was necessary to honour his father, as Apollo had informed him (
Aeschylus’ Eumenides
). Athena plays the justice side, while Apollo takes the revenge side of the themes, and debate the consequences for Oreste’s actions. In the end, Athena had listened to both sides displaying power of justice over the court. She then deems a court ruling for people to plead their innocence, decreeing it will help people act justly, and fear to keep them from committing evil acts (
Aeschylus’ Eumenides). 4.
Throughout the Eumenides
, we see a tension between the genders, men and women. Discuss this tension and what it might indicate about the role (or the conception of the role) of men and women in ancient Greek society. (Please type your response here)
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