Justice and Social Order in the OresteiaDemocracy, emerging in the city-state of Athens, granted unprecedented power to its citizens. Among these new powers was the ability to legislate. However, the legislation was not without its problems. First citizens must agree on what is right and what is unjust, then enforce the law by bringing the unjust to reconcile their guilt with the public through trial, and finally dispense the appropriate punishment. This evolution has not been without concerns. The Greeks were attempting to establish a system of government that fell somewhere between anarchy and despotism. Through the crimes committed in Aeschylus' tragic trilogy The Oresteia, Aeschylus demonstrates the contrast between anarchy and despotism and judges them both guilty. Indeed, at the end of the work, he shows that the only way man can be absolved of guilt is by joining alliances with the gods in a united effort to promote justice. His premise is supported by sequentially following the criminal legacy of the house of Atreus and showing that the curse of continuing injustice can only be stopped by the cooperative effort of man and God. Aeschylus outlines his contrast between anarchy and despotism through the main characters of the game. The first Atreus, Agamemnon's father, although he never appears in the trilogy, is a central figure and the vehicle through which the curse is introduced. His crime is that of anarchy. Second, Agamemnon returns from Troy with the guilt of despotism. Next, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's queen, represents a mixture of the two evils as she portrays a selfish ruler. Finally Orestes, son of Agamemnon, is presented as a pious man who lets his destiny be determined by the gods in conjunction...... half of the card...... of the trilogy the power that the brandished democracy. He was able to eliminate anarchy and despotism through the middle path. Although this had already been the role of the Erinyes (Eu., ln.526-30), during the work they had proved unsuccessful. Thus at the end of the Eumenides, Aeschylus makes the Furies hand over the government of the city to the citizens, and grant honor to the people (Eu., ln.1016-20). Aeschylus then demonstrated that democracy allowed for a union between man and gods that neither anarchy nor despotism could achieve. Furthermore, only through this union could justice be served and ancient laws and customs overturned. With this new social order, man celebrated unprecedented equality, honor, and prosperity. Works Cited: Aeschylus. Orestia. Trans. Peter Meineck. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998.