The Eumenides Lesson Plan

Why does Athena want all the citizens of Athens to attend the trial? What is significant about this?

Athena wants all the citizens of Athens to attend because she wants the way this court is going to be run to be the way that all courts run from then on. This is significant because this makes the play a mythological story about the development of the Greek justice system, which is basically the same structure as the justice system in most of the Western world (and some parts of the Eastern world as well). This structure of the justice system is a significant departure from the system (or lack thereof) that preceded it.

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