The heritage of Greek tragedies as source of inspiration for restorative justice in theoria and in praxis

Human drama and conflicts have enormously inspired Greek tragedies, which are
characterized by “timelessness” and “universality”, and thus, can “host” individual conflict
cases, individual human pain and suffering. Theoretical and philosophical connections between Greek tragedies and restorative justice processes can be found on rituals used for conflict transformation. Moreover, the ancient Greek concept of “parrhesia”, as it has been studies by Michel Foucault, seems to be important for both the heritage of Greek tragedies and the core restorative value of the truth. In addition, a “modern glance” on Greek tragedies can contribute to the development of restorative justice in practice, in a double way: First, Greek tragedies, combined with current scenic practices, might be a useful tool for the phase of preparation of stakeholders before a restorative encounter. Second, awareness on restorative justice can be promoted by using fictional, imaginary restorative dialogues while maintaining the issue data of a conflict of a tragedy.