The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides by Aeschylus

Description

The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides (Penguin Classics) is a Greek trilogy which was written by the ancient tragedian Aeschylus. The book is the narration of events in the Kingdom of Argos and involves murder, vengeance and the emergence of a new system of justice from the ancient barbaric practice which believes in blood for blood. The book is named after the central character orestes, who avenges his father’s death and seeks justice, which marks the entry of a new law system.

Agamemnon, the King of Argos, returns to his city from Trojan War after ten years and is welcomed by his wife, Clytemnestra, who is having an illicit relationship with Aegisthus. Clytemnestra slaughters Agamemnon with the aid of Aegisthus. She is looking to inherit Argos and avenge her daughter Iphigenia’s death, who was sacrificed by her father to appease wind goddess during the Trojan War. The Libation Bearers is the second play, in which Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, avenges his father’s death by killing his mother and Aegisthus and is then reunited with his sister Electra. The Eumenides is the last part of the trilogy, in which Orestes presents himself before Athena, the goddess of Reason and Protection and eleven other judges who must decide whether the act of killing his mother was justified. This leads to the emergence of a democratic system from the ashes of chaos, vengeance and destruction.