The ''Oresteia'' () is a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

of Greek tragedies written by

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (, ; , ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta. In Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan p ...

, the murder of Clytemnestra by

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; ) was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. He was also known by the patronymic Agamemnonides (), meaning "son of Agamemnon." He is the subject of several ...

, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the

House of Atreus In Greek mythology, Atreus (, ) was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. His descendants became known collectively as the Atreidae ( ''Atreidai''). Atreus and his t ...

and the pacification of the

Furies The Erinyes ( ; , ), also known as the Eumenides (, the "Gracious ones"), are chthonic goddesses of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the ''Iliad'' invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take v ...

(also called Erinyes or Eumenides). The ''Oresteia'' trilogy consists of three plays: ''Agamemnon'', ''The Libation Bearers'', and ''The Eumenides''. It shows how the

Greek gods In ancient Greece, deities were regarded as immortal, anthropomorphic, and powerful. They were conceived of as individual persons, rather than abstract concepts or notions, and were described as being similar to humans in appearance, albeit larg ...

interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes. The only extant example of an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

theatre trilogy, the ''Oresteia'' won first prize at the

Dionysia The Dionysia (; Greek: Διονύσια) was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were processions and sacrifices in honor of Dionysus, the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies an ...

festival in 458 BC. The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between

revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

and

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

, as well as the transition from personal

vendetta Vendetta may refer to: * Feud or vendetta, a long-running argument or fight Film * ''Vendetta'' (1919 film), a film featuring Harry Liedtke * ''Vendetta'' (1950 film), an American drama produced by Howard Hughes * ''Vendetta'' (1986 film), an ...

to organized

litigation A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...

. ''Oresteia'' originally included a

satyr play The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is st ...

, ''

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus ( ; ) is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" (''hálios gérôn''). Some who ascribe a specific domain to Prote ...

'' (), following the tragic trilogy, but all except a single line of ''Proteus'' has been lost.

''Agamemnon''

''Agamemnon'' (, ''Agamémnōn'') is the first of the three plays within the ''Oresteia'' trilogy. It details the homecoming of

, King of

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; ; or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines, Greece, Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos; and sou ...

, from the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

. After ten years of warfare, and Troy fallen, all of Greece could lay claim to the victory. Waiting at home for Agamemnon is his wife, Queen

, who has been plotting his murder. She desires his death to avenge the sacrifice of her daughter

Iphigenia In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (; , ) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting and killing one of Artem ...

, to exterminate the only thing hindering her from taking the crown, and to finally be able to publicly embrace her good-time lover

Aegisthus Aegisthus (; ; also transliterated as Aigisthos, ) was a figure in Greek mythology. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is Homer's ''Odyssey'', believed to have been first written down by Homer at the end of the 8th century BC ...

. The play opens with a watchman looking down and over the sea, reporting that he has been lying restless "like a dog" for a year, waiting to see some sort of signal confirming a Greek victory in

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. He laments the fortunes of the house, but promises to keep silent: "A huge ox has stepped onto my tongue." The watchman sees a light far off in the distance—a bonfire signaling Troy's fall—and is overjoyed at the victory and hopes for the hasty return of his king, as the house has "wallowed" in his absence. Clytemnestra is introduced to the audience, and she declares that there will be celebrations and sacrifices throughout the city as Agamemnon and his army return. Upon the return of Agamemnon, his wife laments in full view of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

how horrible the wait for her husband and King has been. After her soliloquy, Clytemnestra pleads with and persuades Agamemnon to walk on the robes laid out for him. This is a very ominous moment in the play, as loyalties and motives are questioned. The King's new concubine,

Cassandra Cassandra or Kassandra (; , , sometimes referred to as Alexandra; ) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecy, prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is e ...

, is now introduced, and this immediately spawns hatred from the queen, Clytemnestra. Cassandra is ordered out of her chariot and to the altar, where, once she is alone, she begins predicting the death of Agamemnon and her own shared fate. Inside the house, a cry is heard: Agamemnon has been stabbed in the bathtub. The chorus separates from one another and rambles to themselves, proving their cowardice, when another final cry is heard. When the doors are finally opened, Clytemnestra is seen standing over the dead bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra. Clytemnestra describes the murder in detail to the chorus, showing no sign of remorse or regret. Suddenly, the exiled lover of Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, bursts into the palace to take his place next to her. Aegisthus proudly states that he devised the plan to murder Agamemnon and claim revenge for his father (the father of Aegisthus, Thyestes, was tricked into eating two of his sons by his brother Atreus, the father of Agamemnon). Clytemnestra claims that she and Aegisthus now have all the power, and they re-enter the palace with the doors closing behind them. Like most Greek tragedies, ''Agamemnon'' is a morally complex play. Agamemnon may be an admired veteran of the Trojan War but it is made clear that many do not approve of the way he sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia. Many citizens resent Agamemnon because they lost their sons and husbands in the war he initiated. Similarly, Clytemnestra is both her husband's murderer and her daughter's avenger; Aeschylus continues to explore the fundamental moral quandary of vengeance and "justified" bloodshed in ''The Libation Bearers'' and ''The Eumenides''.

''The Libation Bearers''

In ''The Libation Bearers'' (, ''Choēphóroi'')—the second play of Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'' trilogy—many years after the murder of

, his son

returns to

with his cousin Pylades to exact vengeance on

, as an order from

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

, for killing Agamemnon. Upon arriving, Orestes reunites with his sister

Electra Electra, also spelt Elektra (; ; ), is one of the most popular Greek mythology, mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, ''Electra (Sophocles play), Electra'' by Sophocles and ''Ele ...

at Agamemnon's grave, while she was there bringing

libation A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an Sacrifice, offering to a deity or spirit, or in Veneration of the dead, memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of Ancient history, antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures t ...

s to Agamemnon in an attempt to stop Clytemnestra's bad dreams. Shortly after the reunion, both Orestes and Electra, influenced by the Chorus, come up with a plan to kill both Clytemnestra and

. Orestes then goes to the palace door, where he is greeted by Clytemnestra. He pretends he is a stranger and tells Clytemnestra that he (Orestes) is dead, causing her to send for Aegisthus. Unrecognized, Orestes is then able to enter the palace, where he then kills Aegisthus, who was without a guard due to the intervention of the chorus in relaying Clytemnestra's message. Clytemnestra then enters the room. Orestes hesitates to kill her, but Pylades reminds him of Apollo's orders, and he eventually follows through. Consequently, after committing the

matricide Matricide (or maternal homicide) is the act of killing one's own mother. Known or suspected matricides * Amastris, queen of Heraclea, was drowned by her two sons in 284 BC. * Cleopatra III of Egypt was assassinated in 101 BC by order of ...

, Orestes is now the target of the

' merciless wrath and has no choice but to flee from the palace.

Chorus

The

Chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

in ''The Libation Bearers'' is distinctly different from the one in ''Agamemnon.'' From ''Agamemnon'' to ''The Libation Bearers'', the Chorus switches from a collection of old, Argive men, to foreign slave women.Monohan, Marie Adornetto. ''Women and Justice in Aeschylus' “Oresteia.”'' 1987. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.^p. 46-48 Furthermore, the Chorus in ''Agamemnon'' possessed a fearful voice, characterized by their critical commentary on the events and characters of the play. Despite this, they play a passive role and do not influence the plot.^p. 47-48 In contrast, ''The Libation Bearers'' Chorus desire vengeance, and influence both

's and

' actions, shepherding Orestes towards revenge.^p. 48-52 The Genealogy of Orestes

''The Eumenides''

The final play of the ''Oresteia'', called ''The Eumenides'' (, ''Eumenídes''), illustrates how the sequence of events in the trilogy ends up in the development of social order or a proper judicial system in Athenian society. In this play,

is hunted and tormented by the

, a trio of goddesses known to be the instruments of justice, who are also referred to as the "Gracious Ones" (''Eumenides''). They relentlessly pursue Orestes for the killing of his mother. Through the intervention of

, Orestes is able to escape them for a brief moment while they are asleep and escape to Athens under the protection of

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

. Seeing the Furies asleep,

's ghost comes to wake them up to obtain justice on her son Orestes for killing her. After waking up, the Furies hunt Orestes again and when they find him, Orestes pleads to the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

for help. She responds by setting up a trial for him in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

on the

Areopagus The Areopagus () is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares" (). The name ''Areopagus'' also r ...

. This trial is made up of a group of twelve Athenian citizens and is supervised by Athena. Here Orestes is used as a trial dummy by Athena to set-up the first courtroom trial. He is also the object of the Furies, Apollo, and Athena. After the trial comes to an end, the votes are tied. Athena casts the deciding vote and determines that Orestes will not be killed. This does not sit well with the Furies but Athena eventually persuades them to accept the decision; instead of violently retaliating against wrongdoers, become a constructive force of vigilance in Athens. She then changes their names from the Furies to "the Eumenides" which means "the Gracious Ones". Athena then ultimately rules that all trials must henceforth be settled in court rather than being carried out personally.

''Proteus''

''Proteus'' (, ''Prōteus''), the satyr play which originally followed the first three plays of ''The Oresteia'', is lost except for a two-line fragment preserved by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

. It is widely believed to have been based on the story told in Book IV of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', where Menelaus, Agamemnon's brother, tries to return home from Troy and finds himself on an island off Egypt, "whither he seems to have been carried by the storm described in ''Agam.674''". The title character, "the deathless Egyptian

", the

Old Man of the Sea In Greek mythology, the Old Man of the Sea (; ) was a figure who could be identified as any of several water-gods, generally Nereus or Proteus, but also Triton, Pontus, Phorcys or Glaucus. He is the father of Thetis (the mother of Achilles). ...

, is described in Homer as having been visited by Menelaus, who sought to learn his future. Proteus tells Menelaus of the death of Agamemnon at the hands of Aegisthus and the fates of

Ajax the Lesser Ajax ( ''Aias'' "of the earth") was a Greek mythology, Greek mythological Greek hero cult, hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "Ajax the Less", the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax the Great, son ...

and

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

at sea. Proteus is compelled to tell Menelaus how to reach home from the island of Pharos: The only extant fragment that has been definitively attributed to ''Proteus'' was translated by

Herbert Weir Smyth Herbert Weir Smyth (August 8, 1857 – July 16, 1937) was an American classical scholar. His comprehensive grammar of Ancient Greek has become a standard reference on the subject in English, comparable to that of William Watson Goodwin, whom h ...

: In 2002,

Theatre Kingston Theatre Kingston is a theatre company located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1990 as Theatre Beyond by Paul Gelineau, the company became The People's Theatre Kingston in 1992 and had two more Artistic Directors under that name—Kathryn ...

mounted a production of ''The Oresteia'' and included a new reconstruction of ''Proteus'' based on the episode in ''The Odyssey'' and loosely arranged according to the structure of extant satyr plays.

Themes

Justice through retaliation

Retaliation is seen in the ''Oresteia'' to cascade. In ''Agamemnon'', it is mentioned that

had to sacrifice his innocent daughter

to shift the wind for his voyage to Troy. This caused

to plot revenge on

. She found a new lover

and when

returned to

from the

, Clytemnestra killed him by stabbing him in the bathtub and went on to inherit his throne. The death of Agamemnon thus sparks anger in

and

; they plot matricide (the death of their mother Clytemnestra) in the next play, ''Libation Bearers''. Through much pressure from Electra and his cousin

Pylades In Greek mythology, Pylades (; Ancient Greek: Πυλάδης) was a Phocis (ancient region), Phocian prince as the son of King Strophius and Anaxibia who is the daughter of Atreus and sister of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He is mostly known for his ...

, Orestes kills Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. Consequently,

is hunted down by the Furies in the third play ''The Eumenides''. Even after he escapes, Clytemnestra's spirit comes back to rally them again so that they can kill Orestes and obtain vengeance for her. However, this cycle of retaliation comes to a stop near the end of ''The Eumenides'' when

decides to introduce a new legal system for dealing out justice.

Justice through the law

Justice through the law is achieved in ''The Eumenides''. After

begged

for deliverance from the Furies, she granted him his request in the form of a trial. Rather than forgiving Orestes directly, Athena put him to trial to find a just answer to the question of his innocence. This is the first example of proper litigation in the trilogy and illuminates the change from emotional retaliation to civilized decisions regarding alleged crimes. Instead of allowing the Furies to torture

, she decided that she would have both the Furies and Orestes plead their case before she decided on the verdict. In addition,

set up how the verdict would be decided. By creating this blueprint, the future of revenge-killings and the merciless hunting of the Furies would be eliminated from Greece. The trial sets the foundation for future litigation. Aeschylus, through his jury trial, was able to create and maintain a social commentary about the limitations of revenge crimes and reiterate the importance of trials. ''The Oresteia'', as a whole, stands as a representation of the evolution of justice in Ancient Greece.

Revenge

Revenge is a principal motivator for most characters in ''Oresteia''. The theme starts in ''Agamemnon'' with Clytemnestra, who murders her husband, Agamemnon, in order to obtain vengeance for his sacrificing of their daughter, Iphigenia. The death of Cassandra, the princess of Troy, taken captive by Agamemnon in order to fill a place as a concubine, can also be seen as an act of revenge for taking another woman as well as the life of Iphigenia. Later on, in ''The Libation Bearers'', Orestes and Electra (siblings and remaining children of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra) succeed in killing their mother to avenge their father's death. In ''The Eumenides'', the Furies—goddesses of vengeance—seek to take revenge on Orestes for the murder of his mother. It is also discovered that the god Apollo played a part in the act of vengeance toward Clytemnestra through Orestes. The cycle of revenge is seen to be broken when Orestes is not killed by the Furies, but is instead given his freedom and deemed innocent by the goddess Athena.

Mother-right and father-right

To the anthropologist

Johann Jakob Bachofen Johann Jakob Bachofen (22 December 1815 – 25 November 1887) was a Swiss antiquarian, jurist, philologist, anthropologist, and professor of Roman law at the University of Basel from 1841 to 1844. Bachofen is most often connected with his th ...

(''Das Mutterrecht'', 1861), the ''Oresteia'' shows Ancient Greece's transition from "hetaerism" (

polyamory Polyamory () is the practice of, or the desire for, romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time, with the informed consent of all partners involved. Some people who identify as polyamorous believe in consensual non-mon ...

) to

monogamy Monogamy ( ) is a social relation, relationship of Dyad (sociology), two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate Significant other, partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or #Serial monogamy ...

; and from "mother-right" (

matriarchal Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of power and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, ...

lineage) to "father-right" (

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

lineage). According to Bachofen, religious laws changed in this period: the Apollo and Athena of ''The Eumenides'' present the patriarchal view. The Furies contrast what they call "gods of new descent" with the view that matricide is more serious than the killing of men. With Athena acquitting Orestes, and the Furies working for the new gods, ''The Eumenides'' shows the newfound dominance of father-right over mother-right. Bachofen's interpretation was influential among

Marxists Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, and ...

and

feminists Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. Feminist

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

wrote in ''

The Second Sex ''The Second Sex'' () is a 1949 book by the French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, in which the author discusses the treatment of women in the present society as well as throughout all of history. Beauvoir researched and wrote th ...

'' (1949) that the tribunal saw Orestes as son of Agamemnon before being son of Clytemnestra. In ''

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State ''The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State: in the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan'' () is an 1884 anthropological treatise by Friedrich Engels. It is partially based on notes by Karl Marx to Lewis H. Morgan's book ''Anc ...

'' (1884), Marxist

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Instead, Engels considers economic factors—the creation of

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...

—and the "natural sexual behaviour" of men and women. For the feminist

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended the University of Oxford and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-clas ...

, the latter factor is mistaken, and ''The Eumenides'' is important in documenting the state's arguments for repression of women.

Matricide and femininity

Electra's role in the murder of her mother has been hotly contested by scholars throughout time. Many view Electra's by-proxy killing of her mother as a representation of daughter-inflicted matricide. Psychoanalyst

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

attributes her behavior to what he coined as the "

Electra complex In neo-Freudian psychology, the Electra complex, as proposed by Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung in his ''Theory of Psychoanalysis'', is a girl's psychosexual development, psychosexual competition with her mother for possession of he ...

" the jealousy of the daughter towards the mother for her sexual engagement with the father.

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

disagreed with this claim, noting that the "

Oedipus complex In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire ...

" cannot be applied directly to the female sex, since sons do not undergo the same penis-envy as daughters.Kilmartin, C. T., & Dervin, D. (1997). Inaccurate representation of the electra complex in psychology textbooks. ''Teaching of Psychology'', ''24''(4), 269–270. https://doi-org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/10.1207/s15328023top2404_11 Many contemporary scholars have theorized what this matricide means in the context of womanhood: Dana Tor invokes Lacan to argue that Electra's scheming represents a "ravage" between mother and daughter; Doris Bernstein sees the murder as a step on the path towards Electra's individuation; and

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (; ; Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Kl ...

views it as emblematic of the dual power of the psyche to split of the mother into a good object and a bad one.Tor, Dana, 2022, "The Oresteia and the Act of Revenge: of Desire and Jouissance," PsyArt 27, pp. 58-73. Serena Heller recalls Ronald Britton's idea of the Athene-Antigone Complex to explain Electra's hatred of her mother deriving from an intense idolization of her father and, thus, a compulsion to exonerate herself from the restraints of feminity and the female body.Heller, Serena. "Matriarchy, Matricide and Mourning." ''British Journal of Psychotherapy'', vol. 39, no. 1, Feb. 2023, pp. 50–68. ''EBSCOhost'', https://doi-org.turing.library.northwestern.edu/10.1111/bjp.12790. Once the girl recognizes her gendered difference in the world, she must undergo re-cognition, deciding whether to mourn the maleness that she does not possess, or engage in a choice which frees them from their gendered bind. Athene, Antigone, and Electra all have a desire for "female castration" that dictates their choices in their patriarchal societies.Britton, R. (1989) The missing link: Parental sexuality in the Oedipus complex. In: Steiner, J. (ed.), The Oedipus Complex Today (Chapter 2, pp. 83–101). London: Karnac. Amber Jacobs also claims that the matricide in the Oresteia ultimately embodies a societal repulsion towards the female gender, as Athena's motherless status allows Zeus to argue that the father is more important than the mother and absolve Orestes of his crimes.Jacobs, A. (2010) On Matricide: Myth, Psychoanalysis, and the Law of the Mother, 2007. New York: Columbia University Press Tor ultimately claims that the convergence of both Orestes' and Electra's motivations for revenge are two-fold: both a repayment for the debt of desire and a symbol of feminine

jouissance ''Jouissance'' () is a French language term implying "enjoyment"; the term jouissance connotes ''jouir'' 'to come' as in sexual parlance and has the meaning "orgasm" in french. In continental philosophy and psychoanalysis, ''jouissance'' is the ...

. They must repay their Freudian or Jungian debts from the guilt of want. Their jouissance in her death arises from a pre-genital dichotomy of love and hatred from the son and the daughter towards the mother. Professor of philosophical and historical anthropology Elizabeth von Samsonow notes the intense debate over Electra's relevance in the murder of Clymenestra—

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

, for example, viewed her as a key component of the killing while

sees her as incidental—but refutes the tendency to shoehorn her motivations into Freud's model. She asks for scholars to reconsider Electra as undergoing vagina-envy, resulting from the woman's powerful and sexually-active position in pre-Hellenic society. By liberating Electra from the male-centric complexes and histories that restrict her motivations, study of mother-daughter relations can evolve into an "outline of a future world."Daley L. Anti-Electra: The Radical Totem of the Girl. Elizabeth von Samsonow. Translated by Anita Fricek and Stephen Zepke, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2019 (ISBN 978-15179-0713-6). ''Hypatia''. 2023;38(2):e11. doi:10.1017/hyp.2022.20 In another of her works, Jacobs, too, writes on the untheorized state of matricide in literature and asks for an expansion of symbolism beyond the classic Oedipean model.Jacobs, A. (2004). Towards a structural theory of matricide: psychoanalysis, the ''Oresteia'' and the maternal prohibition. ''Women: A Cultural Review'', ''15''(1), 19–34.

Relation to the curse of the House of Atreus

The House of

Atreus In Greek mythology, Atreus (, ) was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus), Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. His descendants became known collectively as the Atreidae ...

began with

Tantalus Tantalus ( ), also called Atys, was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus: for either revealing many secrets of the gods, for stealing ambrosia from them, or for trying to trick them into eating his son, he ...

, son of Zeus, who murdered his son,

Pelops In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus. He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the ...

, and attempted to feed him to the gods. The gods, however, were not tricked and banished Tantalus to the Underworld and brought his son back to life. Later in life Pelops and his family line were cursed by

Myrtilus In Greek mythology, Myrtilus (Ancient Greek: Μυρτίλος) was a divine hero and son of Hermes. His mother is said variously to be the Amazon Myrto; Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 1.752 Phaethusa, daughter of Danaus; or a nymph or mortal ...

, a son of Hermes, catalyzing the curse of the House of Atreus. Pelops had two children, Atreus and

Thyestes In Greek mythology, Thyestes (pronounced , , ) was a king of Olympia. Thyestes and his brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus, in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge ...

, who are said to have killed their half-brother Chrysippus, and were therefore banished. Thyestes and

Aerope In Greek mythology, Aerope (Ancient Greek: Ἀερόπη) was a Crete, Cretan princess as the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete. She was the sister of Clymene (mythology), Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. After an oracle said he would be kil ...

, Atreus' wife, were found out to be having an affair, and in an act of vengeance, Atreus murdered his brother's sons, cooked them, and then fed them to Thyestes. Thyestes had a son with his daughter and named him Aegisthus, who went on to kill Atreus. Atreus' children were

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central ...

, and

Anaxibia Anaxibia (; Ancient Greek: ) is the name of six characters in Greek mythology. *Anaxibia, one of the Danaïdes, married to Archelaus, son of Aegyptus. *Anaxibia, a naiad of the Ganges river. She fled from the advances of Helios, but she dis ...

. Leading up to here, we can see that the curse of the House of Atreus was one forged from murder, incest and deceit, and continued in this way for generations through the family line. To put it simply, the curse demands blood for blood, a never ending cycle of murder within the family. Those who join the family seem to play a part in the curse as well, as seen in Clytemnestra when she murders her husband Agamemnon, in revenge for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia. Orestes, goaded by his sister Electra, murders Clytemnestra in order to exact revenge for her killing his father.Fagles (1977), p. 188 Orestes is said to be the end of the curse of the House of Atreus. The curse holds a major part in the ''Oresteia'' and is mentioned in it multiple times, showing that many of the characters are very aware of the curse's existence. Aeschylus was able to use the curse in his play as an ideal formulation of tragedy in his writing.

Contemporary background

Some scholars believe that the trilogy is influenced by contemporary political developments in Athens. A few years previously, legislation sponsored by the democratic reformer

Ephialtes Ephialtes (, ''Ephialtēs'') was an ancient Athenian politician and an early leader of the democratic movement there. In the late 460s BC, he oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional bastion of conservatism, and w ...

had stripped the court of the

, hitherto one of the most powerful vehicles of upper-class political power, of all of its functions except some minor religious duties and the authority to try homicide cases; By having his story being resolved by a judgement of the Areopagus, Aeschylus may be expressing his approval of this reform. It may also be significant that Aeschylus makes Agamemnon lord of Argos, where Homer puts his house, instead of his nearby capitol, Mycenae, since about this time Athens had entered into an alliance with Argos.

Adaptations

Key British productions

In 1981, Sir Peter Hall directed

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse ...

's adaptation of the trilogy in masks in London's

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

, with music by

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include '' T ...

and stage design by

Jocelyn Herbert Jocelyn Herbert RDI (22 February 1917 – 6 May 2003) was a British stage designer. Early life Born in London the second of the four children of playwright, novelist, humorist and parliamentarian A. P. Herbert (1890–1971), through her fat ...

. In 1999,

Katie Mitchell Katrina Jane Mitchell (born 23 September 1964) is an English theatre director. Life and career Mitchell was born in Reading, Berkshire, raised in Hermitage, Berkshire, and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham, she went up to Mag ...

followed him at the same venue (though in the Cottesloe Theatre, where Hall had directed in the Olivier Theatre) with a production which used

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

' translation. In 2015,

Robert Icke Robert Icke (; born 29 November 1986) is an English playwright and theatre director. He has been referred to as the "great hope of British theatre." He is best known for his play ''The Doctor'', and his modern adaptations of classic texts, i ...

's production of his own adaptation was a sold out hit at the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre is a 325-seat producing house located on Almeida Street off Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre opened in 1980, and produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West E ...

and was transferred that same year to the West End's

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. The Grade II listed building was built in 1930 with interiors in the Art Deco style as the Whitehall Theatre; it regularly staged ...

. Two other productions happened in the UK that year, in Manchester and at

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse first built in 1599 for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays. Like the original, it is located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Southwark, Lon ...

. The following year, in 2016, playwright

Zinnie Harris Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakesp ...

premiered her adaptation, ''

This Restless House This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun Places * This (Egypt), or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt * This, Ardennes, a commune in France * This, a country mentioned in the ''Periplus of the Erythraea ...

'', at the Citizen's Theatre to five-star critical acclaim.

Chronology of adaptations

* 1894: Spanish composer Manuel Manrique de Lara adapted the trilogy into his own trilogy of

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

s, which premiered in 1894. * 1895: Composer

Sergei Taneyev Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (, ; – ) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of musical composition, composition, music theorist and author. Life Taneyev was born in Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire, to a cultur ...

adapted the trilogy into his own operatic trilogy of the same name, which was premiered in 1895. * 1965-66: Composer

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; , ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and enginee ...

adapted vocal work for chorus and 12 instruments. * 1967: Composer Felix Werder adapted ''

'' as an opera.*

Thérèse Radic Thérèse Radic (born 1935) is an Australian musicologist and playwright. Early life and education Maureen Therese O'Halloran was born in Footscray, Victoria in 1935 and grew up in Melbourne. She graduated from the University of Melbourne wit ...

. "Agamemnon", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 15, 2015)
(subscription access)
* 1969: The

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

The Forgotten Pistolero ''The Forgotten Pistolero'' ( Italian: ''Il pistolero dell'Ave Maria'', lit. "The Gunman of Hail Mary") is a 1969 Italian Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Ferdinando Baldi. The film is a western adaptation of the Greek myth of O ...

'', is based on the myth and set in Mexico following the

Second Mexican Empire The Second Mexican Empire (; ), officially known as the Mexican Empire (), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists with the support of the Second French Empire. This period is often referred to as the Second ...

Ferdinando Baldi Ferdinando Baldi (19 May 1927 – 12 November 2007) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Throughout his career he used a number of pseudonyms, including Ted Kaplan, Ferdy Baldwin and Sam Livingstone. Biography Baldi was born in ...

, who directed the film, was also a professor of classical literature who specialized in Greek tragedy. * 1974:

Rush Rehm Rush Rehm is professor of drama and classics at Stanford University in California, in the United States. He also works professionally as an actor and director. He has published many works on classical theatre. Rehm is the artistic director of St ...

'
translation of the trilogy
was staged at

The Pram Factory __NOTOC__ The Pram Factory was an Australian alternative theatre venue in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton from around 1970 until 1981. It was home to the Australian Performing Group and Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre group. B ...

in Melbourne. * 2007:

Yaël Farber Yaël Farber is a South African director and playwright. Early life Farber was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1971. Books ''Molora'' was published by Oberon Books in 2008 . Genre drama. Farber wrote the book as an Ancient Greek typ ...

's ''MoLoRa'', a post-apartheid South African adaptation of the ''Oresteia'' set during the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

hearings. The play was awarded three

Naledi Theatre Awards The Naledi Theatre Awards are annual South African national theatre awards held in Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highve ...

. * 2008: Theatre professor Ethan Sinnott directed an

ASL American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employ ...

adaptation of ''Agamemnon''. * 2008: Dominic Allen and James Wilkes, ''The Oresteia'', for Belt Up Theatre Company. * 2009: Canadian author

Anne Carson Anne Patricia Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor. Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across ...

's ''An Oresteia'', an adaptation featuring episodes from the Oresteia from three different playwrights: Aeschylus' ''Agamemnon'', Sophocles' ''Electra'', and Euripides' ''Orestes''. * 2014: French rapper D' de Kabal made his own adaptation of the ''Oresteia'' in his

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

play ''Agamemnon'' with the collective R.I.P.O.S.T.E. and the music and theatre artists Arnaud Churin and Emanuela Pace. * 2016: The trilogy ''This Restless House'' by British playwright and director

revisits the ''Oresteia'', putting women in the center. Part one is ''Agamemnon's Return'', a play of its own premiered in Scotland, followed by ''The Bough Breaks'' and ''Electra And Her Shadow''. * 2019: American playwright Ellen McLaughlin and director Michael Khan's ''The Oresteia'', premiered on April 30, 2019 at the

Shakespeare Theatre Company The Shakespeare Theatre Company is a Regional theater in the United States, regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. The theatre company focuses primarily on plays from the William Shakespeare, Shakespeare canon, but its seasons inc ...

, Washington, DC. The adaptation was shown as a digital production by

Theatre for a New Audience The Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) is a non-profit theater in New York City focused on producing William Shakespeare, Shakespeare and other classic dramas. Its off-Broadway productions have toured in the U.S. and internationally. History Thea ...

in New York City during the COVID-19 Pandemic and was directed by Andrew Watkins.

Translations

* Robert Potter, 1777 - verse:

full text In text retrieval, full-text search refers to techniques for searching a single computer-stored document or a collection in a full-text database. Full-text search is distinguished from searches based on metadata or on parts of the original texts r ...

Thomas Medwin Thomas Medwin (20 March 1788 –2 August 1869) was an early 19th-century English writer, poet and translator. He is known chiefly for his biography of his cousin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and for published recollections of his friend, Lord Byron. ...

and

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

, 1832–1834 – verse (Pagan Press reprint 2011) * Anna Swanwick, 1886 – verse
full text
*

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

, 1889 – verse
Agamemnon
* John Dunning Cooper, ca.1890 - verse: The Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides Rendered into English verse *

Arthur S. Way Arthur Sanders Way (13 February 1847 – 25 September 1930), was a classical scholar, translator and headmaster of Wesley College, Melbourne, Australia. Arthur Way, son of the Rev. William Way and his wife Matilda, ''née'' Francis, was b ...

, 1906 – verse *

John Stuart Blackie John Stuart Blackie FRSE (28 July 1809 – 2 March 1895) was a Scottish scholar, Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh, Professor of Humanity at the University of Aberdeen, and a man of letters. Biography He was born in Glasgow ...

, 1906 – verse *

Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead (1849 – 24 October 1912) was an English classicist and teacher. Biography He was the son of John Philip Anderson Morshead, educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford; and later returned to teach cla ...

, 1909 – verse
full text
*

, ''Aeschylus'', Loeb Classical Library, 2 vols. Greek text with facing translations, 1922 – pros
AgamemnonLibation BearersEumenides
*

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...

, 1925 – vers
AgamemnonLibation Bearers
*

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet, playwright and producer for the BBC. Known for its exploration of introspection, empiricism, and belonging, his poetic work is now ranked among the twentieth ...

, 1936 – verse

Edith Hamilton Edith Hamilton (August 12, 1867 – May 31, 1963) was an American educator and internationally known author who was one of the most renowned classicists of her era in the United States. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she also studied in Germany ...

, 1937, ''Three Greek Plays: Prometheus Bound, Agamemnon, The Trojan Women'' *

Richmond Lattimore Richmond Alexander Lattimore (May 6, 1906 – February 26, 1984) was an American poet and classicist known for his translations of the Greek classics, especially his versions of the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''. Biography Richmond Alexander Lattimo ...

, 1953 – "verse" *

F. L. Lucas Frank Laurence Lucas (28 December 1894 – 1 June 1967) was an English Classics, classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and intelligence officer at Bletchley Pa ...

, 1954 – verse ''Agamemnon'' * Robert A. Johnston, 1955 – verse, an "acting version" * Philip Vellacott, 1956 – verse *

Paul Roche Donald Robert Paul Roche (26 September 1916 – 30 October 2007) was a British poet, novelist, and professor of English, a critically acclaimed translator of Greek and Latin classics, notably the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristop ...

, 1963 – verse * Peter Arnott, 1964 – verse *

George Thomson George Thomson may refer to: Government and politics * George Thomson (MP for Southwark) (c. 1607–1691), English merchant and Parliamentarian soldier, official and politician * George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth (1921–2008), Scottish p ...

, 1965 – verse * John Lewin, 1966 (University of Minnesota Press) * Howard Rubenstein, 1965 – verse

Hugh Lloyd-Jones Sir Peter Hugh Jefferd Lloyd-Jones (21 September 1922 – 5 October 2009)

, 1970 – verse *

, 1978 – verse, for the stage *

Robert Fagles Robert Fagles (; September 11, 1933 – March 26, 2008) was an American translator, poet, and academic. He was best known for his many translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the epic poems o ...

, 1975 – verse *

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...

, 1977 – verse *

, 1981 – verse *

David Grene David Grene (13 April 1913 – 10 September 2002) was an Irish American professor of classics at the University of Chicago from 1937 until his death. He was a co-founder of the Committee on Social Thought and is best known for his translations o ...

and

Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include '' The Hindus: An Alternative History''; ...

, 1989 – verse * Peter Meineck, 1998 – verse *

, 1999 – verse * Ian C. Johnston, 2002 – verse
full text
* George Theodoridis
''Agamemnon''''Choephori''''Eumenides''
2005–2007 – prose *

Alan Sommerstein Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, ''Aeschylus'', Loeb Classical Library, 3 vols. Greek text with facing translations, 2008 *Peter Arcese, 2010 –

, in syllabic verse * Sarah Ruden, 2016 – verse * David Mulroy, 2018 – verse *

Oliver Taplin Oliver Taplin, FBA (born 2 August 1943) is a retired British academic and classicist. He was a fellow of Magdalen College and Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Oxford. He holds a DPhil from Oxford University. ...

, 2018 – verse * Jeffrey Scott Bernstein and Tom Phillips (illustrator), 2020 – verse

References

Bibliography

* * Goward, Barbara (2005). ''Aeschylus: Agamemnon''. Duckworth Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy. London: Duckworth. . * * MacLeod, C. W. (1982). "Politics and the ''Oresteia''. ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', vol. 102. . . pp. 124–144. *

External links

* * * * ** ** ** * *
See the triumphant ending of ''The Oresteia''
MacMillan Films staging 2014. 5 minutes.
BBC audio file
''The Oresteia'' discussion on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme ''

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

''. 45 minutes.
''La Tragedie d'Oreste et Electre''
Album by British band Cranes which is a musical adaptation of