Justice System in Ancient Greece as Portrayed in Homer's Odyssey

The suitors that swarm Odysseys ' house in the hopes that they may acquire her hand in marriage. They are a rowdy, arrogant, and decidedly unpleasant bunch, made only worse by their complete lack of concern for Odysseus and his household. But their incessant pursuit of their prize, though what ultimately condemns them, is, by the context already noted, justified. Though they are the primary antagonists in the story, and they certainly suffer the harshest fate (perhaps except for the sailors), amongst their ranks were some perfect decent, well-natured men. It is simply a natural response (in the context of this culture) for a man, Odysseus in this case, to take revenge upon men, whether they be justified in their actions or not or whether they are well-natured or not, who threaten the stability of his household. This is despite the fact that he himself has been the aggressor at many times. Had he been killed in that pursuit, it would have only been considered natural, and so it is natural that the suitors were killed in theirs. The suitors thought, through a successful marriage to a beautiful woman from a wealthy family, they would be able to further their household in terms of success. A notion that, in the world Homer portrays, is not entirely fanciful.

Homer’s The Odyssey is not just a tale of a man’s struggle on his journey home from the Trojan War, but of his struggle from the consequences of revenge. The Odyssey weaves in different characters’ tales of revenge from the gods and what impact revenge actually had on those characters. Revenge is an important underlying theme in The Odyssey because, in essence, it explains why Odysseus’ journey was so prolonged and treacherous. A few examples of revenge in the poem include Orestes’ revenge on Aegisthus, Zeus’ revenge on Odysseus and his men, and Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus. These different examples of revenge in The Odyssey show the importance of the gods’ revenge in the epic journey of Odysseus.

Hospitality goes two ways; Guest have responsibilities just like the host does. The suitors, who are actually unwelcomed, guest takes Odysseus’s wife hospitality for granted as they waste all the goods and try to get at her constantly. Also when Odysseus returns in the disguise of an old man, the suitors treat him with great inhospitality.

The pursuit of justice is an endeavor that many find to be challenging and a quest itself, as one will come across various trials and complications that may stop them in their pursuit or may mislead them. As humans, we find moral correctness and righteousness a very appealing state to be in, as justice will act as a platform to satisfy the desire for this correctness. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, we meet our miserable anti-hero, Oedipus, in his pursuit for truth and righting the wrong of the plague that is affecting his people of Thebes. As he makes efforts to solve this problem, he comes to find out that he is the source of the issue, thus exposing the tragic flaw of Oedipus and effectively making this play a very effective Greek tragedy. This pursuit of righteousness ends up being the downfall of Oedipus. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, Oedipus pursues justice through his realization of his past, his interactions with various characters in the play, and comes to understand more of justice in his situation through his reactions to adversity in this play, in order to portray a questionably successful pursuit of justice.

In the closing passages of the Odyssey, the suitors and disloyal servants are punished for their crimes against Odysseus, and it does indeed seem that the death penalty doled out by Odysseus is harsh. However, at this particular period of Greek history, it was expected that each man take his own vengeance against his trespassers as there was no judicial system in place to deal with these problems at the time, therefore it seems justified that as their crimes stretched over a period of nearly 20 years and were directly against xenia, the law of Zeus, that Odysseus take his revenge as he wishes.

A. Yes, Eurylochus and the rest of Odysseus’s men tend to typically act in a more selfish manner than gravitate towards the notion of justice.

Vengeance and justice was very important to Greek everyday life. It was believed that people will get revenge for their actions.

Odysseus believed he was in the right when killing the suitors “You dogs! You never imagined I'd return from Troy- so cocksure that you bled my house to death, ravished my serving-women- wooed my wife behind my back while I was still alive!” (Homer 22: 37-40). Odysseus was dead set on killing the suitors since the beginning. He even told them “. . . all your necks are in the noose-your doom is sealed” (22: 43), illustrating how he would kill them as to avenge his wife and his honor. In doing so he was perceived as a hero by the most prevalent male figures in Ithaca, displaying an excellent example of Kleos, “fame through having great honor and virtue. Earned pride.”

In The Odyssey by Homer, many characters feel prejudiced toward others. Many of these characters have opinions solely based on rumor. Such characters are influenced by many factors,, but all of them lead to improper judgement. In the same context, many characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird also possess such prejudiced thoughts. Through her use of the characters within Maycomb, in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird; Harper Lee shows how injustice and prejudice between African American and white people was impossible to beat at this point in history, however some characters attempt to fight it anyways.

            Odysseus was a man of honor, a man who had fought in a war and won.  For such a courageous man to return home to find it full, idly standing by would not be considered virtuous.  In order to prove that his status of King remained a strong title, Odysseus had to purge his home of rogues, and fancy women who had dishonored his lady.  Such was acceptable at his time, and therefore considered common.  Odysseus’s sense of honor was vital in his role as an adventurer and a monarch of Ithaka. 

The Odyssey gives a great outlook on how a person can develop through time as well as how one’s actions can cause the trouble later and lead to unfortunate circumstances. In the book, there are several cases when Hubris, an excessive pride and arrogance as characteristic of a particular, is shown by different figures. Consequently, this is often followed by Nemesis, as justice has to be determined by the gods for the actions taken to maintain a heroic status, most of the time in form of a punishment. In “The Odyssey” by Homer, Hubris is exhibited by the main character and hero, Odysseus, in the Ancient Greek world, who proves it by his self-confidence in his adventures. Homer uses inter alia alliterations, similes, concrete details, and vivid imagery throughout the

Penelope acts as the damsel in distress. She is unable to keep the suitors away from her house because she is a woman, and that makes her vulnerable. She also provides Odysseus with a reason to return home because she is his wife. She has no choice but to pick one of the suitors, and soon. Penelope says she is “wasted with longing for Odysseus, while here they press for marriage”(1004). She still loves her husband, which gives him hope that he will be accepted once he makes his return, and gives him a reason to continue trying. She also cannot turn the suitors away, preventing her from being able to protect herself. This once again proves that, as the damsel in distress, Penelope needs Odysseus for protection.

A set of laws are a necessity for human society – without them, humans can retrogress back into a state of nature. Homer, in his epic, The Odyssey, shows readers the outcome of a society when rules are not obeyed and, instead, ignored. An unbalance occurs and Homer proves to readers that without laws, a terrible dystopia is born. Rules that are followed are essential in a well-built society, and Homer thinks that when no one is present to enforce these rules, and they are instead ignored, the break-down of society occurs, causing chaos and disorder to roam freely.

Law and justice are necessary pillars of every civilization and culture. Laws define the general moral standards of the community and set rules to create a more peaceful and fair society. Law and Justice systems also determine positions of power and even regulate the power that the people in those positions hold. In Ancient Greece, respect and justice were highly valued, and as law systems always do, they were constantly evolving. In Homer’s

The concept of justice is manifested through the three plays of Aeschylus' Oresteia. The old tradition of justice, the private blood feud, caused an ungoverned succession of violent acts that spiralled uncontrollably. Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, is introduced in Agamemnon; he desires vengeance for the plot contrived by Agamemnon's father (Ag: 1605-1611).1 Neither Agamemnon nor Aegisthus took part in this "plot" and yet as the chorus explains (Ag: 755-6)