Written: unknown
Translator: Robert Fagles
Publisher: Penguin Books (1979 Reprint)
Bought from: Book Depository
Introduction
Aeschylus is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays are extant. In terms of career, his started earlier than both Sophocles and Euripides. He is sometimes known as the Father of Greek Tragedy. Aeschylus wrote more than 70 plays. He is said to have won 14-15 dramatic competitions in Athens. In comparison, Sophocles won between 20-25 competitions (sometimes beating Aeschylus to second place) while Euripides may have won only 4 or 5.
Only seven of Aeschylus’ plays have survived intact. The Oresteia is made up of three plays - Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides - that form a proper trilogy (unlike the three plays that make up Sophocles’ The Theban Plays). This is the only known surviving trilogy of Greek tragedy plays.
It is believe The Oresteia was first performed at the Dionysia, a major festival in Athens, in 458 BC, where it won first prize. The trilogy is considered Aeschylus’ finest work and one of the greatest works of world literature.
The Oresteia deals with the final days of the House of Atreus. The mythology surrounding this cursed family is an old one and would have been familiar to Aeschylus’ audience. Some familiarity with the mythology is useful to read The Oresteia meaningfully. There is no definitive version of the mythology.
The following is a synthesized version of the story.
The founder of the House of Atreus is Tantalus. He was a favourite of the Olympian gods and was even invited to dine at Zeus’ table on Mount Olympus. One day, he inexplicably cooked his own son Pelops and offered him to the gods. The gods realized what he was doing and threw Tantalus into Tartarus, an abyss in the underworld for eternal punishment and suffering. There, Tantalus spends eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any. This is the origin of the word “tantalize”.
The gods brought Pelops back to life. But cannibalism, human sacrifice and infanticide were considered by the ancient Greeks as among the darkest crimes imaginable, rivaled only by incest. So, Tantalus’ descendants, the House of Atreus were doomed from that moment on.
Pelops wished to marry Hippodamia, daughter of king Oenomaus. Oenomaus set up a chariot race against himself for his daughter’ suitors. If the suitor lost, he was killed. Thirteen had died in such a race before Pelops made his attempt. Pelops bribed the king's charioteer (Myrtilus) to disable the king’s chariot. In the race, the wheels of Oenomaus’ chariot came off. The king was killed but Myrtilus survived. Pelops then carried off Hippodamia as his bride. He killed his co-conspirator Myrtilus because (in one version) Myrtilus had claimed Hippodamia for himself. Before he died, Myrtilus (in some versions Oenomaus) cursed Pelops and his family. This is the origin of the famous curse on the House of Atreus.
Pelops had a number of children with Hippodamia, including Atreus and Thyestes. Atreus married Aerope and they had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus. Thyestes had two sons and a daughter Pelopia.
The founder of the House of Atreus is Tantalus. He was a favourite of the Olympian gods and was even invited to dine at Zeus’ table on Mount Olympus. One day, he inexplicably cooked his own son Pelops and offered him to the gods. The gods realized what he was doing and threw Tantalus into Tartarus, an abyss in the underworld for eternal punishment and suffering. There, Tantalus spends eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any. This is the origin of the word “tantalize”.
The gods brought Pelops back to life. But cannibalism, human sacrifice and infanticide were considered by the ancient Greeks as among the darkest crimes imaginable, rivaled only by incest. So, Tantalus’ descendants, the House of Atreus were doomed from that moment on.
Pelops wished to marry Hippodamia, daughter of king Oenomaus. Oenomaus set up a chariot race against himself for his daughter’ suitors. If the suitor lost, he was killed. Thirteen had died in such a race before Pelops made his attempt. Pelops bribed the king's charioteer (Myrtilus) to disable the king’s chariot. In the race, the wheels of Oenomaus’ chariot came off. The king was killed but Myrtilus survived. Pelops then carried off Hippodamia as his bride. He killed his co-conspirator Myrtilus because (in one version) Myrtilus had claimed Hippodamia for himself. Before he died, Myrtilus (in some versions Oenomaus) cursed Pelops and his family. This is the origin of the famous curse on the House of Atreus.
Pelops had a number of children with Hippodamia, including Atreus and Thyestes. Atreus married Aerope and they had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus. Thyestes had two sons and a daughter Pelopia.
Pelops had a bastard son, Chrysippus. (Digression: when Chrysippus was still a boy, he was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by his own tutor, Laius (later King of Thebes). This was a crime that the gods punished with another multi-generational curse – Laius you see is the grandfather of Oedipus.)
Hippodamia incited Atreus and Thyestes to murder their stepbrother Chrysippus to cement their claim on Pelop’s throne. Pelops banished Hippodamia, Atreus, and Thyestes to Mycenae, where Hippodamia is said to have hanged herself. The people of Mycenae had been told by an oracle that they should choose their king from Pelop’s descendants. Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to Aerope to hide from the goddess. She gave it to Thyestes, by then her lover, who convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne. Atreus retook the throne after consulting Hermes. Thyestes agreed to give the kingdom back when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus retook the throne and banished Thyestes.
Thyestes petitioned to be allowed to return and Atreus agreed. At a huge banquet to welcome Thyestes back, Atreus served Thyestes the cooked flesh of Thyestes’ own sons. Thyestes ate the food and was then informed of what he had done. This horrific event is the origin of the term “Thyestean Banquet” meaning a banquet at which human flesh is eaten. Overcome with horror, Thyestes cursed the family of Atreus and left with his one remaining child, his daughter Pelopia.
Thyestes followed an oracle’s prophecy after the Thyestean Feast and fathered a son with his own daughter Pelopia so that the son, Aegisthus, could avenge the notorious banquet. When Aegisthus was born, he was abandoned by Pelopia who was ashamed of her incestuous act. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to Atreus, who raised him as his own son. Atreus sent Aegistheus to kill Thyestes. Thyestes discovered the identity of his son in the nick of time and revealed the truth to him, that he was both father and grandfather to the boy. Aegisthus then killed Atreus and restored his father to the throne, although not before Atreus had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Agamemnon and Menelaus, took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta. There they married Tyndareus’ daughters Clytaemnestra and Helen, respectively. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigeneia, Electra and Chrysothemis. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had three children, Iphigeneia, Orestes, and Electra.
Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta while Agamemnon, with his brother’s assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes to recover his father’s kingdom. He extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece.
Helen was so famous for her beauty that a number of men wished to marry her. The suitors all agreed that they would act to support the man she eventually married in the event of any need for mutual assistance. When Helen ran off to Troy with Paris, Agamemnon and Menelaus organized and led the Greek forces against the Trojans. The army assembled at Aulis, but the fleet could not sail because of contrary winds sent by Artemis. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia in order to placate Artemis.
With Agamemnon and Menelaus off in Troy, Aegisthus returned to Argos, where he became the lover of Clytaemnestra. They sent Orestes into exile, to live with an ally in Phocis, and humiliated Electra, Agamemnon’s surviving daughter (either treating her as a servant (as suggested in The Libation Bearers) or marrying her off to a common farmer (as suggested in Euripides’ Electra).
The Oresteia picks up the action at this point.
What is it about?
Clytaemnestra kills Agamemnon when he returns from the Trojan War. Orestes returns from exile and, in collaboration with his sister Electra, avenges his father by killing Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus. The Furies arrive to torment him. Orestes flees and ultimately seeks refuge in the temple of Athena in Athens. There he is tried and acquitted. This ends the curse on the House of Atreus.
Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers are set in Argos. In most sources, eg Homer, Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae. In The Oresteia, however, Agamemnon’s court is said to be in Argos. These are two different cities. Fagles speculates as follows: About four years before the production of The Oresteia in 458 BC, Argos had destroyed Mycenae and made an alliance with Athens against Sparta. Possibly Aeschylus transferred Agamemnon’s capital from Mycenae to Argos to please Athens’ new allies (A introductory note; E n. 289).
The Eumenides is set in the temple of Apollo in Delphi and Athens. The trial scene is set in the Areopagus, the court on the Crag of Ares opposite the entrance to the Acropolis.
Themes
Underlying The Oresteia is the curse on the House of Atreus. The curse is an example of the idea in ancient Greece that for every action there is a reaction, for every crime there is a punishment in accordance with ancient laws: “The one who acts must suffer” (LB 320). Sometimes, the sinner is not only the one who suffers. His descendants will also pay for his sin: “A curse burns bright on crime / full-blown, the father’s crime will blossom / burst into the son’s.” (A 378-380).
This mirrors the Bible “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6) and William Shakespeare - “the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children” (The Merchant of Venice 3.5.1-2).
The Oresteia has been described as an allegory of society’s (and in particular, the Athenians’) evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, from tribal rituals to civilized institutions, from ‘an-eye-for-an-eye’ to court adjudicated-justice systems. The narrative is driven by the principle of lex talionis, the law of retaliation. If a person was injured, then the injured person (or his relative) would take vengeful retribution on the person who caused the injury, leading inevitably to an unending cycle of blood. In The Libation Bearers, Orestes describes what would happen if he does not avenge his father:
“I can still hear the god –
a high voice ringing with winters of disaster,
piercing the heart within me, warm and strong,
unless I hunt my father’s murderers, cut them down
in their own style – they destroyed my birthright.
‘Gore them like a bull!’ he called, ‘or pay their debt
with your own life, one long career of grief.’
He revealed so much about us,
told how the dead take root beneath the soil,
they grow with hate and plague the lives of men.
He told of the leprous boils that ride the flesh,
their wild teeth gnawing the mother tissue, aye,
and a white scurf spreads like cancer over these,
and worse, he told how assaults of Furies spring
to life on the father’s blood … You can see them –
their eyes burning, grim brows working over you in the dark –
the dark sword of the dead! – your murdered kinsmen
pleading for revenge. And the madness haunts
the midnight watch, the empty terror shakes you,
harries, drives you on – an exile from your city –
a brazen whip will mutilate your back.”
(LB 275-295)
Underlying The Oresteia is the curse on the House of Atreus. The curse is an example of the idea in ancient Greece that for every action there is a reaction, for every crime there is a punishment in accordance with ancient laws: “The one who acts must suffer” (LB 320). Sometimes, the sinner is not only the one who suffers. His descendants will also pay for his sin: “A curse burns bright on crime / full-blown, the father’s crime will blossom / burst into the son’s.” (A 378-380).
This mirrors the Bible “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6) and William Shakespeare - “the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children” (The Merchant of Venice 3.5.1-2).
The Oresteia has been described as an allegory of society’s (and in particular, the Athenians’) evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, from tribal rituals to civilized institutions, from ‘an-eye-for-an-eye’ to court adjudicated-justice systems. The narrative is driven by the principle of lex talionis, the law of retaliation. If a person was injured, then the injured person (or his relative) would take vengeful retribution on the person who caused the injury, leading inevitably to an unending cycle of blood. In The Libation Bearers, Orestes describes what would happen if he does not avenge his father:
“I can still hear the god –
a high voice ringing with winters of disaster,
piercing the heart within me, warm and strong,
unless I hunt my father’s murderers, cut them down
in their own style – they destroyed my birthright.
‘Gore them like a bull!’ he called, ‘or pay their debt
with your own life, one long career of grief.’
He revealed so much about us,
told how the dead take root beneath the soil,
they grow with hate and plague the lives of men.
He told of the leprous boils that ride the flesh,
their wild teeth gnawing the mother tissue, aye,
and a white scurf spreads like cancer over these,
and worse, he told how assaults of Furies spring
to life on the father’s blood … You can see them –
their eyes burning, grim brows working over you in the dark –
the dark sword of the dead! – your murdered kinsmen
pleading for revenge. And the madness haunts
the midnight watch, the empty terror shakes you,
harries, drives you on – an exile from your city –
a brazen whip will mutilate your back.”
(LB 275-295)
In The Eumenides, the Furies corner Orestes and prepare to exact their revenge. Athena intervenes and convenes a tribunal consisting of 10 Athenians and herself to try Orestes. Orestes admits killing his mother with a knife. When asked for his motive, he replies Apollo commanded him (E 690). He also claim the defence of lex talionis, ie his action is justifiable because his mother had killed her husband and his father (E 608).
Apollo defends Orestes by claiming that his command to Orestes comes directly from Zeus (E 622-625). Then drawing a difference between Orestes’ matricide and Clytaemnestra’s mariticide, Apollo says:
“The woman you call the mother of the child
is not the parent, just a nurse to the seed,
the new born seed that grows and swells inside her.
The man is the source of life – the one who mounts.”
(E 666-679)
In the end, Athena casts the decisive vote and acquits Orestes because she “cannot set more store by the woman’s death / she killed her husband, guardian of the house” (E 754-755). With this decision, the Athenians turn their backs on the primitive personal vengeance and embrace the civilized legal system with trial by jury.
What about the book?
This book, part of the Penguin Classics series, is a verse translation by Robert Fagles. Like his translation of Homer’s epic poems, Fagles’ translation of The Oresteia is very easy to read. However, the introductory essay by Fagles and W. B. Standford is very dense and difficult to digest. There are useful notes at the end of the book.
Finally …
Recommended.
Et cetera
Tantalus had 2 other children. Of Broteas we know little other than that he was very ugly. The second, Niobe, is a poster girl for hubris. She had fourteen children and one fine day she decided to declare that she was a more blessed mother than Leto, who had only two. Unfortunately for Niobe, Leto’s two children were Artemis and Apollo, and they punished her by exterminating every one of her children. The story is told in Ovid’s Metamophorses (VI.146-317).
The Furies (or Erinyes) are not the same as Gorgons or Harpies. Interestingly, all three appear in Dante’s Inferno. Three Erinyes appear in Canto IX and threaten Dante with the head of Medusa, a Gorgon. The Harpies appear in Canto XIII.
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