In
Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of
Clytemnestra and
Agamemnon, and the brother of
Electra
Electra (; grc, Ήλέκτρα) is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, '' Electra'' by Sophocles and '' Electra'' by Euripides. She is also the centra ...
. He is the subject of several
Ancient Greek plays
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...
and of various
myth
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
s connected with his madness and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older ones.
Etymology
The Greek name Ὀρέστης, having become "Orestēs" in Latin and its descendants, is derived from Greek ὄρος (óros, “mountain”) and ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to stand”), and so can be thought to have the meaning "stands on a mountain".
Greek literature
Homer
In the
Homeric telling of the story, Orestes is a member of the doomed house of
Atreus
In Greek mythology, Atreus ( , ; from ἀ-, "no" and τρέω, "tremble", "fearless", gr, Ἀτρεύς ) was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, hi ...
, which is descended from
Tantalus and
Niobe. He is absent from
Mycenae when his father,
Agamemnon, returns from the
Trojan War with the Trojan princess
Cassandra as his concubine, and thus not present for Agamemnon's murder by
Aegisthus, the lover of his wife,
Clytemnestra. Seven years later, Orestes returns from
Athens and avenges his father's death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra.
In the ''
Odyssey'', Orestes is held up as a favorable example to
Telemachus, whose mother
Penelope is plagued by
suitors
Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marriage. A courtship may be an informal and private m ...
.
Pindar
According to
Pindar, the young Orestes was saved by his nurse
Arsinoe (
Laodamia) or his sister Electra, who conveyed him out of the country when Clytemnestra wished to kill him.
In the familiar theme of the hero's early eclipse and exile, he escaped to
Phanote
Phanote or Phanota ( grc, Φανότη), or Phanoteia (), was a strongly fortified ancient Greek town of Chaonia located in the region of Epirus. The town's location was of military/strategic importance as it stood in the midst of a valley surr ...
on
Mount Parnassus, where King
Strophius took charge of him.
In his twentieth year, he was urged by Electra to return home and avenge his father's death. He returned home, along with his first cousin
Pylades
In Greek mythology, Pylades (; Ancient Greek: Πυλάδης) was a 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 relationship with his cous ...
, son of
Anaxibia (sister to Agamemnon) and Strophius.
Greek drama
The story of Orestes was the subject of the ''
Oresteia'' of
Aeschylus (''Agamemnon'', ''Choephori'', ''Eumenides''), of the ''
Electra
Electra (; grc, Ήλέκτρα) is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, '' Electra'' by Sophocles and '' Electra'' by Euripides. She is also the centra ...
'' of
Sophocles, and of the ''
Electra
Electra (; grc, Ήλέκτρα) is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, '' Electra'' by Sophocles and '' Electra'' by Euripides. She is also the centra ...
'', ''
Iphigeneia in Tauris
''Iphigenia in Tauris'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις, ''Iphigeneia en Taurois'') is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written between 414 BC and 412 BC. It has much in common with another of Euripides's plays, ''Helen'', as w ...
'', ''
Iphigenia at Aulis'' and ''
Orestes'', all of
Euripides.
Aeschylus
In Aeschylus's ''
Eumenides'', Orestes goes mad after killing his mother and is pursued by the
Erinyes (Furies), whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. He takes refuge in the temple at
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
; but, even though
Apollo had ordered him to kill his mother, the god is powerless to protect Orestes from the consequences. At last
Athena receives him on the
Acropolis of Athens and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve judges, including herself. The Erinyes demand their victim; Orestes asserts that he was acting on the orders of Apollo. Upon closing of the trial, Athena votes on the verdict last, announcing that she is for acquittal; the votes are counted and the result is a tie, resulting in an acquittal in accordance with the rules previously stipulated by Athena. For bearing his responsibility in the murder, the Erinyes are converted into the Eumenides, who now offer him wisdom and council. They are then propitiated by the establishment of a new ritual, in which they are worshipped as "Semnai Theai", "Venerable Goddesses", and Orestes dedicates an altar to ''Athena Areia''.
Euripides
As Aeschylus tells it, Orestes' punishment for matricide ended after a trial, but according to Euripides, in order to escape the persecutions of the Erinyes, Orestes was ordered by Apollo to go to
Tauris, carry off the statue of
Artemis that had fallen from the heavens, and bring it to Athens. Oreste traveled to Tauris with
Pylades
In Greek mythology, Pylades (; Ancient Greek: Πυλάδης) was a 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 relationship with his cous ...
, where the pair were at once imprisoned by the people, among whom the custom was to sacrifice all Greek strangers in honor of Artemis. The priestess of Artemis, whose duty it was to perform the sacrifice, was Orestes' sister
Iphigenia. She offered to release him if he would carry home a letter from her to Greece; he refused to go, but he implored Pylades to deliver the letter while he stays to be slain. After a conflict of mutual affection, Pylades at last yielded, but the brother and sister finally recognized each other due to the letter, and all three escaped together, carrying with them the image of Artemis.
Other literature and media
After his return to Greece, Orestes took possession of his father's kingdom of Mycenae (killing his half-brother
Alete
In Greek mythology, Aletes ( grc, Ἀλήτης) was the son of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, the king and queen of Mycenae. He had two sisters: Erigone and Helen.Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 122
Mythology
When Aletes and his siblings were young, their ...
, who was the son of Clytemestra and Aegisthus), to which were added
Argos and
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
. Orestes was said to have died of a
snakebite in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
. His body was conveyed to Sparta for burial (where he was the object of a
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
) or, according to a Roman legend, to Aricia, when it was removed to Rome (
Servius Servius is the name of:
* Servius (praenomen), the personal name
* Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian
* Servius Tullius, the Roman king
* Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist
See ...
on
Aeneid, ii. 116).
Before the
Trojan War, Orestes was to marry his first cousin
Hermione, daughter of
Menelaus and
Helen
Helen may refer to:
People
* Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world
* Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress
* Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Helen, ...
. Things soon changed after Orestes committed
matricide: Menelaus then gave his daughter to
Neoptolemus, son of
Achilles and
Deidamia. According to Euripides' play Andromache, Orestes slew Neoptolemus just outside a temple and took off with Hermione. He seized Argos and
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
after their thrones had become vacant, becoming ruler of all the
Peloponnesus. His son by Hermione,
Tisamenus, became ruler after him but was eventually killed by the
Heracleidae.
There is extant a
Latin epic poem, consisting of about 1000
hexameters, called ''Orestes Tragoedia'', which has been ascribed to
Dracontius of Carthage.
Orestes appears also to be a dramatic prototype for all persons whose crime is mitigated by extenuating circumstances. These legends belong to an age when higher ideas of law and of social duty were being established; the implacable blood-feud of primitive society gives place to a fair trial, and in Athens, when the votes of the judges are evenly divided, mercy prevails.
In one version of the story of
Telephus, the infant Orestes was kidnapped by King Telephus, who used him as leverage in his demand that
Achilles heal him.
According to some sources, Orestes fathered
Penthilus
Penthilus (; Ancient Greek: Πένθιλος) is the illegitimate or legitimate son of half-siblings Orestes and Erigone in Greek mythology.
Family
Penthilus' grandmother was Clytemnestra. His maternal and paternal grandfathers were Aigisth ...
by his half-sister,
Erigone.
For modern treatments see
the Oresteia in the arts and popular culture
Reflections of the ''Oresteia'' in the arts and popular culture show the influence of the classic trilogy of tragedies by Aeschylus.
Opera, ballet and incidental music
*Several composers have written musical treatments of all or part of Aeschylus ...
.
Reported remains
In ''
The History'' by
Herodotus, the
Oracle of Delphi foretold that the
Spartans could not defeat the
Tegeans until they moved the bones of Orestes to Sparta.
Lichas discovered the body, which measured 7
cubits long
(311.5 cm if 1 cubit is 44.5 cm). Thus Orestes would have been a
Giant. These remains could have belonged to a huge animal from the
Pleistocene epoch.
[ Huge bones found in caves in nearby areas of Greece have been attributed to horses ('']Equus abeli
Equus may refer to:
* Equus (genus), ''Equus'' (genus), a genus of animals including horses, donkeys and zebras
* Equus (play), ''Equus'' (play), a play by Peter Shaffer
* Equus (film), ''Equus'' (film), a film adaptation of the Peter Shaffer play ...
''), mammoths, elephants, deers, bovids and cetacea
Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...
ns.[
]
Orestes and Pylades
The relationship between Orestes and Pylades
In Greek mythology, Pylades (; Ancient Greek: Πυλάδης) was a 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 relationship with his cous ...
has been presented by some authors of the Roman era (not by classic Greek tragedians) as romantic or homoerotic. A dialogue entitled '' Erotes'' ("Affairs of the Heart") and attributed to Lucian
Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer
Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...
compares the merits and advantages of heterosexuality and homoeroticism, and Orestes and Pylades are presented as the principal representatives of homoerotic friendship:
Taking the love god as the mediator of their emotions for each other, they sailed together as it were on the same vessel of life...nor did they restrict their affectionate friendship to the limits of Hellas....as soon as they set foot on the land of the Tauride, the Fury of matricides was there to welcome the strangers, and, when the natives stood around them, the one was struck to the ground by his usual madness and lay there, but Pylades "did wipe away the foam and tend his frame and shelter him with a fine well-woven robe," thus showing the feelings not merely of a lover, but also of a father. But when it had been decided that, while one remained to be killed, the other should depart for Mycenae to bear a letter, each wished to remain for the sake of the other, considering that he himself lived in the survival of his friend. But Orestes refused to take the letter, claiming Pylades was the fitter person to do so, and thus showed himself almost to be the lover rather than the beloved.
:''L'Orestie d'Eschyle
is a French-language opera by Darius Milhaud based on ''The Oresteia'' triptych by Aeschylus in a French translation by his collaborator Paul Claudel.
Milhaud set a scene of the first play, ''Agamemnon'', for soprano and chorus in 1913. The seco ...
'' (47)
In 1734, George Frederic Handel's opera '' Oreste'' (based on Giangualberto Barlocci's Roman libretto of 1723), was premiered in London's Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
.
''L'Orestie d'Eschyle
is a French-language opera by Darius Milhaud based on ''The Oresteia'' triptych by Aeschylus in a French translation by his collaborator Paul Claudel.
Milhaud set a scene of the first play, ''Agamemnon'', for soprano and chorus in 1913. The seco ...
'' (1913–1923) is a French-language opera in three parts by Darius Milhaud based on '' The Oresteia'' triptych by Aeschylus in a French translation by his collaborator Paul Claudel.
Sanctuary of Maniae
Pausanias writes that at the road from Megalopolis to Messene there was a sanctuary of goddesses Maniae (meaning madness). Citizens said that it was there that madness overtook Orestes.Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.34.1
/ref>
References
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
Kings of Argos
Kings of Mycenae
Kings in Greek mythology
Greek mythological heroes
Characters in Greek mythology
Ancient Greeks accused of sacrilege
LGBT themes in Greek mythology
Matricides
Children of Agamemnon