Aeschylus, Agamemnon

• First play of the Oresteia, produced in 458 BC

• Set at Mycenae, Clytemnestra awaits the return of Agamemnon from Troy

• When he arrives, she lays out a purple carpet for him to walk from his chariot to the palace.

Fatalism?

• The Chorus:

• “Zeus, who sets mortals on the path to understanding, Zeus, who has established as a fixed law that “wisdom comes by suffering.”

• “Harsh, it seems to me, is the grace of gods enthroned upon their awful seats.” (Agamemnon 179 – 80)

Hubris

• [375] The penalty for reckless crime is ruin when men breathe a spirit of pride above just measure, because their mansions teem with more abundance than is good for them. But let there be such wealth as brings no distress, enough to satisfy [380] a sensible man. For riches do not protect the man who in wantonness has kicked the mighty altar of Justice into obscurity.

Nemesis

• As soon as Agamemnon enters the palace, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus kill him

• Punishment for the murder of Iphigenia

• Punishment for the crime of Atreus

• But is it just? Does murder requite murder?

Piere-Narcisse Guerin 1817

The Death of Agamemnon

Inherited Sin?

• “…an old Hubris tends to bring forth [765] in evil men, sooner or later, at the fated hour of birth, a young Hubris and that irresistible, unconquerable, unholy spirit, Recklessness, [770] and for the household black Curses, which resemble their parents.” Agamemnon

Aeschylus, Libation Bearers

• Second play in the Oresteia

• Orestes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

• Raised at Athens (or other places)

• Returns 8 years later

• Charged by Apollo to avenge his father

• Kills Aegisthus and his own mother

• Driven mad by the Furies

Charles Auguste van den Berghe

Aeschylus, Eumenides

• Orestes seeks refuge at Delphi• Apollo purifies him but cannot stop the Furies

• Apollo advises Orestes to find justice with Athena

• Orestes is pursued to Athens• Seeks sanctuary on the Hill of Ares, the Areopagus

Eumenides

• The Trial:• Athena acts as judge

• Appoints a jury of elders

• The Furies prosecute… Apollo defends

• Orestes acquitted

• Athena:• Orders the Furies to become the Eumenides

• The Areopagus to be a court of justice

Blood Feud

• Family members obligated to avenge the death of kin.

• Vendetta

• Retribution came either by death or compensation• Blood money

• Weregild

• No system of state prosecution or state sanctioned punishment

Heraclidae

• 80 years after Troy (ca. 1104 BC)

• Sons of Heracles seek sanctuary at Marathon

• Pursued by officers of Eurystheus

• Demophon, son of Theseus, protects the Heraclidae

• Eurystheus captured and executed

Heraclidae

• Peloponnesian War• Sparta invaded Athens in 431 BC

• Spartan Royal House

• Descendants of the Heraclidae

• The Bones of Eurystheus• The spirit of Eurystheus to protect Athens from the Heraclidae

Arsitodemus = Argeia

Polynices

4 generations

Heracles

4 generations

• Aristodemus was one of the Heraclidae who fought Eurystheus at Marathon

• The two royal families of Sparta are descendants of the two houses of Eurysthenesand Procles

Arsitodemus = Argeia

Eurysthenes Procles