Isaev, I.A. The issue of Law in the Greek tragedy

Abstract: The article is related to the issue of interaction between the legal ideas and views in the cultural context of the ancient Greek drama. The tragedy moments interacted with the ideas of law and order, which were being formed in the ancient world, and provided them with epic and aesthetic platforms. The heroes and personalia of the tragedy were reflections of typical prose, statuses and acts within these legal views. T he mythological attitude to law brought special features into legal conscience and legal practice. The Greek democracy revived the ancient traditions while correcting them with its legal and political commentary. The right to speak and the right to see became specific legal institution of this political system. Specific features of criminal law – guilt and punishment – were duly included into the dramatic picture of the epoch, and they were reflected in the Greek tragedy. The views and institutions, which sprang from the Greek polices and democracy, later had a considerable influence upon the development of European law and legal ideology. In this aspect the law becomes an important part of culture, and its language correlates to the language of legal customs and documents. The ancient Greek tragedy became a visible drama, reflecting the formation of ideas, norms and views, which formed the “body” of law in the sense, in which it shall be perceived by the theoreticians of natural law in Europe and elsewhere.

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