At vv. 690–692 of the Eumenides, Athena speaks of the reverence and fear that the Areopagus would henceforth inspire in the astoi, but immediately afterwards (v. 693) the goddess clarifies that, for this court to continue effectively to perform its function, the politai must refrain from altering the laws. It is difficult to determine whether Aeschylus is here referring to the desirable immutability of Ephialtes’ laws of 462, or to the potential danger arising from the removal of the Areopagus’ function of nomophylakia. In any case, it is noteworthy that the noun polites is used in connection with an explicitly institutional context and, more specifically, with the exercise of the prerogative of amending the laws. In other words, politai here designates citizens in full possession of their political rights. By contrast, astos has a broader meaning: it denotes all those whom the Areopagus would deter from committing certain offences—that is, anyone who might come before that body. This terminological distinction seems to be further confirmed by the use of the noun astos at v. 487, where the astoi are the citizens from among whom Athena is about to select the members of the Areopagus. Here, too, the term occurs in an institutional context, but it refers to those who will become members of the Areopagus, i.e., citizens not yet exercising that particular institutional prerogative.
Elsewhere in the play, the noun astoi, unlike politai, appears to refer to the citizen body as a whole, without necessarily implying an unequivocal reference solely to that segment of the population (adult males) actively participating in the city’s political and institutional life. Thus, at vv. 697 and 708 the astoi are all the citizens to whom Athena addresses herself, as is suggested by the goddess’s apostrophe to the entire leos of Attica at v. 681; at v. 807 it is made clear that the Eumenides will be honoured by the astoi. Since this concerns religious rites, there is once again no indication that the reference is restricted to the adult male citizens in full possession of their political rights (cf. also vv. 908, 1045)
a. 487-488
Ἀθ. κρίνασα δ’ ἀστῶν τῶν ἐμῶν τὰ βέλτατα
ἥξω διαιρεῖν τοῦτο πρᾶγμ’ ἐτητύμως.
Athena: Having chosen the best among my citizens, I shall return to adjudicate this matter in accordance with truth.
b. 690-693
Ἀθ. ἐν δὲ τῶι σέβας
ἀστῶν φόβος τε ξυγγενὴς τὸ μὴ ἀδικεῖν
σχήσει τό τ’ ἦμαρ καὶ κατ’ εὐφρόνην ὁμῶς,
αὐτῶν πολιτῶν μὴ ’πικαινούντων νόμους.
Athena: In it (scil. the Areopagus), the reverence of the citizens and the kindred fear that restrains from wrongdoing shall prevail both by day and by night—provided that the citizens themselves do not alter the laws.
c. 696-698
Ἀθ. τὸ μήτ’ ἄναρχον μήτε δεσποτούμενον
ἀστοῖς περιστέλλουσι βουλεύω σέβειν
καὶ μὴ τὸ δεινὸν πᾶν πόλεως ἔξω βαλεῖν.
Athena: I counsel the citizens to honour and revere that which is neither without command nor subject to tyranny, and not to cast away from the city all that inspires fear.
d. 707-708
Ἀθ. ταύτην μὲν ἐξέτειν’ ἐμοῖς παραίνεσιν
ἀστοῖσιν ἐς τὸ λοιπόν.
Athena: Such, then, is the exhortation I have addressed to my citizens for the future.
e. 804-807
Ἀθ. ἐγὼ γὰρ ὑμῖν πανδίκως ὑπίσχομαι
ἕδρας τε καὶ κευθμῶνας ἐνδίκου χθονὸς
λιπαροθρόνοισιν ἡμένας ἐπ’ ἐσχάραις
ἕξειν ὑπ’ ἀστῶν τῶνδε τιμαλφουμένας.
Athena: For I pledge you, with full justice, seats and sanctuaries in this righteous land, seated upon gleaming-throned altars, honoured by these citizens.
- G. Camassa, Scrittura e mutamento delle leggi nel mondo antico. Dal vicino Oriente alla Grecia di età arcaica e classica, Roma 2011
- E. Cohen, The Athenian Nation, Princeton 2000
- D. J. Conacher, Aeschylus’ Oresteia. A literary commentary, Toronto 1987
- V. Di Benedetto, L’ideologia del potere e la tragedia greca. Ricerche su Eschilo, Torino 1978
- D. M. MacDowell, The Law in Classical Athens, London 1978
- A. J. Podlecki, Aeschylus. Eumenides, Warminster 1992
- A. Sommerstein, Aeschylus. Eumenides, Cambridge 1989
- R. W. Wallace, The Areopagos Council to 307 BC, Baltimore – London 1989