The worst crime of which the Greeks could conceive was the murder of kin. From the time Tantalus butchered his son Pelops to Orestes' slaying of his mother this family was burdened with blood-guilt. The trouble is that each crime was done self-righteously, without the least remorse. Since blood must atone for blood according to the law of retribution, this dynasty nearly exterminated itself. The curses laid upon it were effective because of the streaks of violence and pride inherent in the family itself. Its members would scruple at nothing to obtain revenge. And yet Orestes managed to turn the tide even though he committed the most heinous sin of all in killing his mother. He did so by taking the full responsibility for his deed and by seeking to expiate it. Mercy was only permissible under these circumstances. The ancestors of Orestes right down to his parents were impervious to guilt, but guilt was absolutely necessary before mercy became effective.
The Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, each dealt with the story of Orestes as a means of exploring the problem of justice. According to the old Greek notion the only way to right a murder was with another murder. Honor demanded it. This concept was common to "shame cultures," in which justice was a matter of clan retaliation. But in civilized communities the notion was no longer adequate, and a "guilt culture" emerged whereby a man must pay for his sins in a court of law and be sentenced or acquitted. One had to take responsibility for one's deeds regardless of the motives that impelled them. In the legends of the House of Atreus we seek Greek civilization moving from a crude idea of justice to one that was impersonal and sublime.
