Orestes In Greek legend Greek legend Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. He killed his mother and her lover Aegisthus Aegisthus Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes and Thyestes' own daughter Pelopia, an incestuous union motivated by his father's rivalry with the house of Atreus for the throne of Mycenae. Orestes is often considered a tragic hero, a character whose errors in judgment lead to his downfall.
Aristotle calls the tragic hero's judgment error hamartia, or a fatal flaw. Hamartia can refer to both a hero's moral deficiencies and an impossible situation forcing the hero to make a difficult choice. Orestes is in exile and does not appear on stage during Agamemnon, but the Chorus hints he will return to avenge his father's death. Aristotle calls the tragic hero's judgment error hamartia , or a fatal flaw. Orestes is then set upon by the Furies, the three spirits of retributive justice, who relentlessly pursue him as he seeks to purge his guilt at Delphi and in Athens.
Orestes must leave in order to maintain faithfulness to the outlines of the original Greek myth. More importantly, Orestes cannot stay to rule following the logic of the play. Jupiter offers him the chance to replace Aegistheus, but Orestes has rejected all moral and political authority. Agamemnon compensated himself for this loss by taking Briseis from Achilles, an act that offended Achilles who refused to take further part in the Trojan War.
After the attack on Rhesus and his Thracian armies, Chryses came to the Greeks to thank them for returning his daughter, Astynome. When Agamemnon returned to Mycenae at the end of the war, he was murdered by his wife and her lover. Aegisthus seized the throne. Then with the help of Electra and Pylades, Orestes killed Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, despite her pleas that a son should not kill his own mother. When Orestes came of age, he goes to the oracle of Delphi where he receives a prophecy from the god Apollo telling him to kill his mother in revenge for his father.
His lines come at the moment Orestes begins to falter and second-guess his decision to kill his mother. It is Pylades who convinces Orestes to follow through with his plan for revenge and carry out the murder. Clytemnestra , in Greek legend, a daughter of Leda and Tyndareus and wife of Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. She took Aegisthus as her lover while Agamemnon was away at war. Upon his return, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon.
This is the mythical origin of the Athenian custom that a tied vote is always decided in favor of the defendant. But the Erinyes do not accept the verdict; they still want to punish Orestes for the murder of his mother. Skip to content The Oresteia is a cycle of three plays, written by the playwright Aeschylus, about Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. The Libation Bearers The next play in the cycle is called The Libation Bearers and it takes place seven or eight years after the death of Agamemnon.
Orestes and Pylades kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus on a cinerary funerary urn in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Antonino Salinas in Palermo, Italy The Eumenides The final play in the trilogy is The Eumenides , a play that also serves as a foundation myth for the Athenian court system. Apollo purifying Orestes while the Erinyes sleep nearby with the ghost of Clytemnestra trying to awaken them, found on a krater in the Louvre Once in Athens, Orestes appeals to Athena for help and Athena organizes a trial for Orestes.
Previous: The Odyssey — An Introduction. Next: Origins. Upon his return, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon. The fleet assembled at the port of Aulis in Boeotia but was prevented from sailing by calms or contrary winds that were sent by the goddess Artemis because Agamemnon had in some way offended her. To appease the wrath of Artemis, Agamemnon was forced to sacrifice his own daughter Iphigeneia. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was cursed for her ability to predict the future.
No one listened to her. One of the consequences was the ruinous fall of Troy to the Greeks. She herself was captured, and then killed. She retaliates by preventing the Greek troops from reaching Troy unless Agamemnon kills his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, at Aulis as a human sacrifice.
In some versions, Iphigenia dies at Aulis, but in others, Artemis rescues her. The Iphigenia myth originates from two plays written by Euripides, one where she dies and one where she is a refugee. Young Iphigenia faces death on her wedding day. She is sacrificed by her own father Agamemnon in order to win the Battle of Troy. There are different versions of the story. According to one side of the story, before Agamemnon could sacrifice her, Artemis saved her and replaced her with a deer on the altar.
In the other version, Agamemnon actually went through with the sacrifice. The different versions aid in the different depictions of Iphigenia. A hero from Greek mythology, there are no historical records of a Mycenaean king of that name, but the city was a prosperous one in the Bronze Age, and there perhaps was a real, albeit much shorter, Greek-led attack on Troy. Both these propositions are supported by archaeological evidence.
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