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 ...

by Clytemnestra, 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 and the pacification of the Furies (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 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 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 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 Clytemnestra, who has been plotting his murder. She desires his death to avenge the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia, to exterminate the only thing hindering her from taking the crown, and to finally be able to publicly embrace her good-time lover Aegisthus. 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 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 Argos with his cousin Pylades to exact vengeance on Clytemnestra, 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 Aegisthus. 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, Orestes is now the target of the Furies' merciless wrath and has no choice but to flee from the palace.

Chorus

The Chorus 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 Furies, 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. Seeing the Furies asleep, Clytemnestra'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, 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 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 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 Iphigenia to shift the wind for his voyage to Troy. This caused Clytemnestra to plot revenge on

. She found a new lover Aegisthus and when

returned to Argos 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 (''Das Mutterrecht'', 1861), the ''Oresteia'' shows Ancient Greece's transition from "hetaerism" ( polyamory) 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 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 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 wrote in '' The Second Sex'' (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'' (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" 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. 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, son of Zeus, who murdered his son, Pelops, 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, a son of Hermes, catalyzing the curse of the House of Atreus. Pelops had two children, Atreus and Thyestes, who are said to have killed their half-brother Chrysippus, and were therefore banished. Thyestes and Aerope, 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 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'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. In 1999, Katie Mitchell 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' translation. In 2015, Robert Icke'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. Two other productions happened in the UK that year, in Manchester and at Shakespeare's Globe. The following year, in 2016, playwright Zinnie Harris premiered her adaptation, '' This Restless House'', 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 poems, 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 adapted vocal work for chorus and 12 instruments. * 1967: Composer Felix Werder adapted ''

'' as an opera.* Thérèse Radic. "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'', is based on the myth and set in Mexico following the Second Mexican Empire. Ferdinando Baldi, who directed the film, was also a professor of classical literature who specialized in Greek tragedy. * 1974: Rush Rehm'
translation of the trilogy
was staged at The Pram Factory in Melbourne. * 2007: Yaël Farber'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. * 2008: Theatre professor Ethan Sinnott directed an ASL adaptation of ''Agamemnon''. * 2008: Dominic Allen and James Wilkes, ''The Oresteia'', for Belt Up Theatre Company. * 2009: Canadian author Anne Carson'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 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 Zinnie Harris 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, Washington, DC. The adaptation was shown as a digital production by Theatre for a New Audience in New York City during the COVID-19 Pandemic and was directed by Andrew Watkins.

Translations

* Robert Potter, 1777 - verse: full text * Thomas Medwin 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, 1906 – verse * John Stuart Blackie, 1906 – verse * Edmund Doidge Anderson Morshead, 1909 – verse
full text
*

, ''Aeschylus'', Loeb Classical Library, 2 vols. Greek text with facing translations, 1922 – pros
AgamemnonLibation BearersEumenides
* Gilbert Murray, 1925 – vers
AgamemnonLibation Bearers
* Louis MacNeice, 1936 – verse

* Edith Hamilton, 1937, ''Three Greek Plays: Prometheus Bound, Agamemnon, The Trojan Women'' * Richmond Lattimore, 1953 – "verse" * F. L. Lucas, 1954 – verse ''Agamemnon'' * Robert A. Johnston, 1955 – verse, an "acting version" * Philip Vellacott, 1956 – verse * Paul Roche, 1963 – verse * Peter Arnott, 1964 – verse * George Thomson, 1965 – verse * John Lewin, 1966 (University of Minnesota Press) * Howard Rubenstein, 1965 – verse

* Hugh Lloyd-Jones, 1970 – verse * Rush Rehm, 1978 – verse, for the stage * Robert Fagles, 1975 – verse * Robert Lowell, 1977 – verse * Tony Harrison, 1981 – verse * David Grene and Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, 1989 – verse * Peter Meineck, 1998 – verse * Ted Hughes, 1999 – verse * Ian C. Johnston, 2002 – verse
full text
* George Theodoridis
''Agamemnon''''Choephori''''Eumenides''
2005–2007 – prose * Alan Sommerstein, ''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, 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''. 45 minutes.
''La Tragedie d'Oreste et Electre''
Album by British band Cranes which is a musical adaptation of

's '' The Flies''.
''Oresteia''
(2011): an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

work inspired by Aeschylus' trilogy, written and directed by Jonathan Vandenberg. {{Authority control Plays set in Athens Libation Literary trilogies Mythology of Argolis Plays by Aeschylus Plays set in ancient Greece Trojan War literature Agamemnon Plays based on classical mythology Political philosophy in ancient Greece Cassandra Clytemnestra Atreidai