What does Oresteia mean in English?
Oresteia in American English
(ˌɔreˈstiə, ˌour-) noun. a trilogy of tragic dramas (458 b c.) by Aeschylus, consisting of the Agamemnon, the Choëphori, and the Eumenides.
What is the point of the Oresteia?
The main idea of The Oresteia is that injustice and such primitive instruments of morality as the blood-feud must be eliminated if human society is ever to attain to a high level of social organization, which can only be done by the introduction of a public morality and civic legal processes.
What was the Oresteia about and what does it teach?
The only extant example of an ancient 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 and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation.
What are the three plays that make up the Oresteia?
The Oresteia consists of three plays: Agamemnon. The Libation Bearers. The Eumenides.
Who is the hero of the Oresteia?
Agamemnon. The titular character of the first play of the trilogy, Agamemnon is a great Greek hero, one of the key figures in their decisive victory in the Trojan War. To please the goddess Artemis and have the winds shift in his favor before the battle, he sacrificed the life of his daughter Iphigenia.
What happens at the end of the Oresteia?
The Furies are his accusers, Apollo his advocate. The jury is evenly divided in its vote, and Athena casts the tie-breaking vote for Orestes’ acquittal.
Who was Orestes love?
Orestes In Greek legend, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and brother of Electra. He killed his mother and her lover Aegisthus to avenge their murder of his father.
Who is the villain in Oresteia?
Clytemnestra. The wife of the Greek hero Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is the main villainess in both Agamemnon and Libation Bearers.
Why did Athena help Orestes?
Athena sympathizes with Orestes because she feels far greater loyalty towards her father than she does for any wife of his. After all of the votes have been counted and the final decision is announced, Orestes is filled with joy.
What was Orestes punishment?
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.
Who killed Pyrrhus?
| Neoptolemus | |
|---|---|
| Prince of Scyros | |
| Neoptolemus killing Priam | |
| Other names | Pyrrhus, Achillides, Pelides, Aeacides |
| Abode | Skyros |
What is the key argument that the Furies use to accuse Orestes of murder?
The Furies argue that they only chase Orestes for matricidal blood, while Orestes sees his murder as merely a reaction to right his mother’s wrongs.
What happens to the Furies at the end of the Oresteia trilogy?
In the end, the Furies, now known as the Kindly Spirits, accept Athena’s offer and replace their black robes with reddish-purple ones. Although they will still seek vengeance against evil-doers, they will now also aid the good people of Athens.
Why Orestes killed his mother?
Who killed Agamemnon?
Clytemnestra, in Greek legend, a daughter of Leda and Tyndareus and wife of Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. She took Aegisthus as her lover while Agamemnon was away at war. Upon his return, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon.
Who killed Paris of Troy?
archer Philoctetes
Paris himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes.
Why did Athena pardon Orestes?
Athena announces that she has founded the Court of the Areopagus to be a permanent institution, its function to protect the city of Athens by prosecuting crimes. Athena further declares that should the jury be tied, Orestes will be acquitted since she will cast her vote in his favor.
Why did Athena side with Orestes?
Who does Orestes eventually marry?
Orestes inherited his father’s kingdom, adding to it Argos and Lacedaemon. He married Hermione, daughter of Helen and Menelaus, and eventually died of snakebite.
Who killed Helen of Troy?
queen Polyxo
According to a variant of the story, Helen, in widowhood, was driven out by her stepsons and fled to Rhodes, where she was hanged by the Rhodian queen Polyxo in revenge for the death of her husband, Tlepolemus, in the Trojan War.
Did Achilles have a male lover?
Did Achilles have a male lover? As a boy, Achilles develops a close relationship with another boy named Patroclus, who joins Achilles’ household as an exile, having accidentally killed another child.
Did Helen of Troy really exist?
Helen of Troy is a mythical figure from Greek mythology and literature, notably Homer’s Iliad. She was not a real person.
What happened to Orestes?
Upon returning to Greece, Orestes reclaimed the throne of his father, becoming the ruler of Mycenae. He died after being bitten by a snake in Arcadia.
Are Orestes and Pylades lovers?
Relationship Between Orestes and Pylades
Several Greek writers presented their relationship as a romantic or even homoerotic one. This is most exemplified in versions of the story where Orestes and Pylades seek the statue of Artemis.
Did Helen of Troy have a child with Paris?
Family. Helen and Paris had three sons, Bunomus, Aganus (“gentle”), Idaeus and a daughter also called Helen.