Pollution
idea · 3 works · 3 mentions · 10 anchored passages
pollution · blood upon his hands · defilement · guilt · impious · plague · pollute · stain · the stain of blood · unclean
spoken of as
2 expressionsBlood-guilt“pollution”1 mention
Orestes (Greek)
Otherwise someone, by taking the pollution last upon his hands, is always going to be liable to have his own blood shed.
Defilement“Pollution”1 mention
The Third Tetralogy (Greek)
and if you yourselves give that attention to the trial which the considerations I have put before you demand, and inflict upon the criminal a punishment proportionate to the injury which he has done, you will cleanse the entire city of its defilement.
in the texts
The Third Tetralogy
The ritual pollution (miasma) believed to attach to homicide and to spread to those who mishandle its prosecution or judgment, requiring purification through a correct and proportionate verdict.
and if you yourselves give that attention to the trial which the considerations I have put before you demand, and inflict upon the criminal a punishment proportionate to the injury which he has done, you will cleanse the entire city of its defilement.
Him upon whom the stain of blood rests you may let time reveal, even as you may leave his punishment to his victim’s kin.
he actually accuses us, who are seeking expiation of the defilement which rests upon him, of acting like unscrupulous scoundrels.
Orestes
The concept of ritual defilement incurred through bloodshed, especially kin-murder, requiring purification or exile.
Otherwise someone, by taking the pollution last upon his hands, is always going to be liable to have his own blood shed.
For referring the sin as I do to Phoebus, I incur no pollution by addressing you;
They forbade any one with blood upon his hands to appear in their sight or cross their path;
Oedipus Tyrannus
The religious impurity caused by murder, incest, and cursed kinship, requiring avoidance, concealment, purification, or exile.
I, noblest of the sons of Thebes—have doomed myself to know them no more by commanding that all should reject the impious one, the one whom the gods have revealed as unholy, a member of Laius’ own race!
But you, if you no longer respect the children of men, revere at least the all-nurturing flame of our lord the Sun, and don’t show so openly such a pollution as this, one which neither earth, nor holy rain, nor the light itself can welcome.
Then would he who judged these things to be sent down by some cruel divinity not be right about Oedipus?