Aeschylus transformed and exalted the Orestes legend to dramatize what appear to be hitherto unachieved resolutions of ancient psychological and cultural conflicts. This psychoanalytic study of the Oresteia suggests that:

1In Athens the resolution of the Greek cultural conflict between ancient goddess cults and later god cults led to a religion which by the fifth century included idealized aspects of both cults. This new religion, institutionalized within their society, required Athenians to adhere to a new level of social morality and to strive to attain new cultural ideals.