The Genealogy of Orestes According to Aeschylus

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THE GENEALOGY OF ORESTES ACCORDING TO AESCHYLUS TANTALUS | PELOPS | | | THYESTES ATREUS | | _______________________ | | AEGISTHUS MENELAUS AGAMEMNON Clytemnestra) (=Helen) =Clytemnestra | | | | IPHIGENIA ELECTRA ORESTES Tantalus committed one of humanity’s original sins. He served to the gods a meal of his own son’s flesh, Pelops. The gods punished Tantalus for his crime and restored Pelops’ body and revivified him. Pelops was a deceiver who cheated to win a chariot race, the reward was marriage to Hippodamia. Atreus and Thyestes, in some tellings, were twins. The gods’ gift of a golden ram signified Atreus as the chosen one in his generation. Thyestes seduced Atreus’ wife, Aerope, and got the ram, the symbol of kingdom. Atreus regained kingdom with help of Zeus and Eris, banishing Thyestes. Atreus later feigned reconciliation by inviting Thyestes to a dinner. Atreus’ hideous secret was that the meal was the flesh of Thyestes’ own sons. Thyestes, bereft of all his sons, incestuously conceived with his daughter a new son Aegisthus. Aegisthus, in some tellings, assassinated Atreus; in others he overthrew Agamemnon. Agamemnon leads the Argives and all Greek forces against Trojan Priam to avenge Helen’s abduction. Having angered Artemis, Agamemnon is commanded to appease the goddess by sacrifice of Iphigenia. Iphigenia’s murder is one of Clytemnestra’s chief concerns, Aegisthus being the other, when Agamenon returns. The surviving offspring of Agamemnon, Electra and Orestes, avenge their father’s murder. Orestes plight: damned if he does not avenge father, damned if he commits matricide. Electra experiences one of the greatest psychological crises in all literature. Only gods can resolve Orestes’ plight. The Erinyes have always avenged blood-guilt. Apollo tells Orestes he must commit matricide, promising resolution. Athena actually delivers the resolution of Orestes’ crippling guilt. The Erinyes relent under judicial negotiation orchestrated by Athena. The story of the Tantalids is ALL ABOUT revenge. Orestes experiences the end of revenge. Aeschylus’ Oresteia is ALL ABOUT Athena’s resolution of cyclical revenge, humanity’s most knotty problem. How do you resolve the most entrenched cycle of revenge? Athena and Athenian Justice. .

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0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE Late Sophocles Late Sophocles The Hero’s Evolution in Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus Thomas Van Nortwick University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Copyright © Thomas Van Nortwick 2015 All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and ex- cept by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by the University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2018 2017 2016 2015 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Van Nortwick, Thomas, 1946– . Late Sophocles : the hero’s evolution in Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus / Thomas Van Nortwick. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 472- 11956- 1 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 12108- 3 (ebook) 1. Sophocles— Criticism and interpretation. 2. Sophocles. Electra. 3. Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus. 4. Sophocles. Philoctetes. I. Title. PA4417.V36 2015 882'.01— dc23 2014049364 For Nathan Greenberg colleague, mentor, and friend Preface Oh children, follow me. I am your new leader, as once you were for me. (Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1542– 431) Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus ends with his most famous character walking serenely through the central doors of the stage building (skēnē) in the Theater of Dionysus and into the grove of the Eumenides.
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