Moderns tend to view the drama of ancient Athens as a presentation of social or moral problems, as if ancient drama showed the same realism seen on the present-day stage. Because it was a state theater, the Attic stage is also supposed to have offered lessons in the peaceable virtues that the city required. Such views are belied by the plays themselves, in which supremely violent actions occur in a legendary time and place distinct both from reality and from the ethics of ordinary life.

We who live among tired and demystified political institutions are afraid that individuals unrestrained by the influence of the community may resort to crime and violence. Yet in an Attic vengeance play, a treacherous "criminal" triumphs over a victim. How could the city of Athens show its citizens Medea's murder of her children? Orestes' killing of his mother? Anne Burnett reveals a larger reality in these ancient plays, comparing them to later drama and finding in them forgotten and powerful meaning.