From the “Eumenides” to “Ajax”: The Tragedy of International Criminal Law
From the “Eumenides” to “Ajax”: The Tragedy of International Criminal Law

Summary/Abstract: This article examines mainstream and critical approaches to international criminal law, focusing on not only their metaphorical myth-making regarding the legal legitimacy and jurisdictional origins of the ad hoc bodies, but on a peculiar instance of outright reliance on Greek theater to celebrate the influence of the Nuremberg precedent. The article then traces the evolution of The Eumenides over time in Athenian literature, emphasizing the relation between the early optimism born of the jury trial and the darker undertones that emerge as Athens’ imperial adventures take their toll, as seen in Sophocles’ Ajax and then in Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian wars.

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