View source for Orestes

{{Short description|Figure in Greek mythology}}
{{other uses}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| image = Orestes Pursued by the Furies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1862) - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption = ''Orestes Pursued by the Furies'' (1862) by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]]
| deity_of = King of [[Sparta]]
| predecessor = [[Menelaus]]
| father = [[Agamemnon]]
| mother = [[Clytemnestra]]
| successor = [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]]
| spouse = [[Hermione (mythology)|Hermione]], [[Erigone (daughter of Aegisthus)|Erigone]]
| siblings = [[Electra]], [[Iphigenia]], [[Chrysothemis]]
| children = [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]], [[Penthilus (son of Orestes)|Penthilus]]
}}[[File:Orestes Delphi BM GR1917.12-10.1.jpg|thumb|Orestes at [[Delphi]] flanked by [[Athena]] and [[Pylades]] among the Erinyes and [[priest]]esses of the [[oracle]], perhaps including [[Pythia]] behind the tripod – Paestan [[Red-figure pottery|red-figured]] bell-krater, c. 330 BC]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Orestes''' or '''Orestis''' ({{IPAc-en|ɒ|ˈ|r|ɛ|s|t|iː|z}}; {{langx|grc|Ὀρέστης}} {{IPA|grc|oréstɛːs|}}) was the son of [[Agamemnon]] and [[Clytemnestra]], and the brother of [[Electra]] and [[Iphigenia]]. He was also known by the [[patronymic]] '''Agamemnonides''' ({{lang|grc|Ἀγαμεμνονίδης}}), meaning "son of Agamemnon."<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D8%3Aentry%3Dagamemnonides-harpers Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Agamemnonĭdes]</ref> He is the subject of several [[Ancient Greek theatre|Ancient Greek plays]] and of various [[myth]]s connected with his madness, revenge, and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older works.<ref>Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths'' 112.1 ff.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miola |first=Robert S. |title=Representing Orestes' Revenge |url=https://academic.oup.com/crj/article/9/1/144/2752623 |access-date=2024-06-04 |journal=Classical Receptions Journal|date=2017 |volume=9 |pages=144–165 |doi=10.1093/crj/clw013 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In particular Orestes plays a main role in [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Oresteia]].''
==Etymology==
The Greek name Ὀρέστης, having become "Orestēs" in Latin and its descendants, is derived from Greek ὄρος (óros, "mountain") and ἵστημι (hístēmi, "to stand"), and so can be thought to have the meaning "stands on a mountain".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Orestes - Baby Name Meaning, Origin and Popularity |url=https://www.thebump.com/b/orestes-baby-name |access-date=2024-04-25 |website=www.thebump.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Greek literature==

===Homer===
In the [[Homer]]ic telling of the story,<ref>Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'', I, 35ff.</ref> Orestes is a member of the [[Atreus#The House of Atreus|doomed house of Atreus]], which is descended from [[Tantalus]] and [[Niobe]]. He is absent from [[Mycenae]] when his father, [[Agamemnon]], returns from the [[Trojan War]] with the Trojan princess [[Cassandra]] as his concubine, and thus not present for Agamemnon's murder by [[Aegisthus]], the lover of his wife, [[Clytemnestra]]. Seven years later, Orestes returns from [[Athens]] and avenges his father's death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra.<ref>Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'', III, 300-310.</ref>

In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', Orestes is held up as a favorable example to [[Telemachus]], whose mother [[Penelope]] is plagued by [[Suitors of Penelope|suitors]].<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' III, 313-316.</ref>

=== Pindar ===
In [[Pindar]]'s version, the young Orestes was saved by his nurse [[Arsinoe (Greek mythology)|Arsinoe]] ([[Laodamia]]) or his sister Electra, who conveyed him out of the country when Clytemnestra wished to kill him.
In the familiar theme of the hero's early eclipse and exile, he escaped to [[Raveni|Phanote]] on [[Mount Parnassus]], where King [[Strophius]] took charge of him.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Orestes|volume=20|pages=253–254}}</ref>

In his twentieth year, he was urged by Electra to return home and avenge his father's death. He returned home, along with his first cousin [[Pylades]], son of [[Anaxibia]] (sister to Agamemnon) and Strophius.

== Greek drama ==
The story of Orestes was the subject of the ''[[Oresteia]]'' of [[Aeschylus]] (''Agamemnon'', ''Choephori'', ''Eumenides''), of the ''[[Electra (Sophocles)|Electra]]'' of [[Sophocles]], and of the ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]'', ''[[Iphigeneia in Tauris]]'', ''[[Iphigenia at Aulis]]'' and ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'', all of [[Euripides]].<ref name="EB1911" /> He also appears in Euripides' [[Andromache (play)|''Andromache'']].
=== Aeschylus ===
In Aeschylus's ''[[Oresteia#The Eumenides|Eumenides]]'', Orestes goes mad after killing his mother and is pursued by the [[Erinyes|Erinyes (Furies)]], whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. He takes refuge in the temple at [[Delphi]]; but, even though [[Apollo]] had ordered him to kill his mother, the god is powerless to protect Orestes from the consequences. At last [[Athena]] receives him on the [[Acropolis of Athens]] and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve judges, including herself. The Erinyes demand their victim; Orestes asserts that it was indeed he who killed his mother,<ref name="EB1911" /> though he was acting on the orders of Apollo. At the close of the trial, Athena votes on the verdict last, announcing that she is for acquittal; the votes are counted and the result is a tie, forcing an acquittal in accordance with the rules previously stipulated by Athena. The Erinyes, who insisted on Orestes' responsibility in the murder, are converted into the Eumenides, who now offer him wisdom and counsel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aeschylus |title=The Oresteia |date=1984 |others=Robert Fagles, William Bedell Stanford |isbn=0-14-044333-9 |location=New York |oclc=9895300}}</ref> They are then propitiated by the establishment of a new ritual, in which they are worshipped as "Semnai Theai", "Venerable Goddesses", and Orestes dedicates an altar to ''Athena Areia''.{{clear left}}

=== Euripides ===
{{Main|Iphigenia in Tauris}}

{{Main|Orestes (play)}}

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 [[History of Crimea#Tauri and Scythians|Tauris]], carry off the statue of [[Artemis]] that had fallen from the heavens, and bring it to Athens. Orestes traveled to Tauris with [[Pylades]], where the pair were at once imprisoned by the people, among whom the custom was to sacrifice all Greek strangers in honor of Artemis. The priestess of Artemis, whose duty it was to perform the sacrifice, was Orestes' sister [[Iphigenia]]. She offered to release him if he would carry home a letter from her to Greece; he refused to go, but he implored Pylades to deliver the letter while he stayed to be slain. After a conflict of mutual affection, Pylades at last yielded, but the brother and sister finally recognized each other due to the letter, and all three escaped together, carrying with them the image of Artemis.<ref name="EB1911" />

[[File:Orestes Elektra Pylades Louvre K428.jpg|thumb|Orestes, Elektra, and Pylades at the tomb of Agamemnon - Campanian [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] [[hydria]], c. 330 BC]]

== Other literature and media ==
{{Main|The Oresteia in the arts and popular culture}}
After his return to Greece, Orestes took possession of his father's kingdom of Mycenae (killing his half-brother [[Aletes of Mycenae|Aletes]], who was the son of Clytemestra and Aegisthus), to which were added [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Laconia]]. Orestes was said to have died of a [[serpent (symbolism)|snakebite]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]. His body was conveyed to Sparta for burial (where he was the object of a [[cult]]) or, according to a Roman legend, to Aricia, when it was removed to Rome ([[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on [[Aeneid]], ii. 116).<ref name="EB1911"/>

Before the [[Trojan War]], Orestes was to marry his first cousin [[Hermione (mythology)|Hermione]], daughter of [[Menelaus]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]]. Things soon changed after Orestes committed [[matricide]]: Menelaus then gave his daughter to [[Neoptolemus]], son of [[Achilles]] and [[Deidamia (daughter of Lycomedes)|Deidamia]]. According to Euripides' play Andromache, Orestes slew Neoptolemus just outside a temple and took off with Hermione. He seized Argos and [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] after their thrones had become vacant, becoming ruler of all the [[Peloponnesus]]. His son by Hermione, [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]], became ruler after him but was eventually killed by the [[Heracleidae]].[[File:Orestes and Iphigenia mosaic - Palazzo dei Conservatori - Musei Capitolini - Rome 2016.jpg|thumb|Orestes and [[Iphigeneia]] on an antique mosaic, [[Musei Capitolini]]|left|213x213px]]There is extant a [[Latin]] [[Epic poetry|epic poem]], consisting of about 1000 [[hexameter]]s, called ''Orestes Tragoedia'', which has been ascribed to [[Dracontius]] of Carthage.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Orestes appears also to be a dramatic prototype for all persons whose crime is mitigated by extenuating circumstances. These legends belong to an age when higher ideas of law and of social duty were being established; the implacable blood-feud of [[Urgesellschaft|primitive society]] gives place to a fair trial, and in Athens, when the votes of the judges are evenly divided, mercy prevails.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In one version of the story of [[Telephus]], the infant Orestes was kidnapped by King Telephus, who used him as leverage in his demand that [[Achilles]] heal him.

According to some sources, Orestes fathered [[Penthilus]] by his half-sister, [[Erigone (daughter of Aegisthus)|Erigone]].

For modern treatments see [[the Oresteia in the arts and popular culture]].

== Reported remains ==
[[File:Murder Aegisthus Louvre K320.jpg|thumb|Murder of Aegisthus by Orestes and Pylades - red-figure Apulian [[oinochoe]] (wine jug), c. 430-300 BC]]
=== Brought to Sparta ===
{{further|List of tallest people#Disputed and unverified claims}}
In ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The History]]'' by [[Herodotus]], the [[Oracle of Delphi]] foretold that the [[Sparta]]ns could not defeat the [[Tegea]]ns until they moved the bones of Orestes to Sparta.<ref name=Fragkaki2016>{{cite web|author=Mary Fragkaki|url=https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/106-2017-05-02-19.%20Mary%20FRAGKAKI.pdf|title=The "repatriation" of Orestes and Theseus|date=2016|work=Antesteria|pages=285–302|issn=2254-1683|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127115004/https://www.ucm.es/data/cont/docs/106-2017-05-02-19.%20Mary%20FRAGKAKI.pdf|archive-date=27 January 2022}}</ref> [[Lichas (Spartan)|Lichas]] discovered the body, which measured 7 [[cubits]] long<ref name=Huxley1976>{{cite web|author=George Huxley|url= https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/7181/4957|title=Bones for Orestes|date=1979|publisher=Duke University Libraries|issn=2159-3159|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802151239/https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/viewFile/7181/4957|archive-date=2 August 2020}}</ref> (311.5&nbsp;cm if 1 cubit is 44.5&nbsp;cm<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter W. Flint, Emanuel Tov, James C. WonderKam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ku15DwAAQBAJ&dq=og+size+bible&pg=PA71|title=Studies in the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, and the Septuagint: Presented to Eugene Ulrich|date=2006|page=71|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|isbn=9004137386}}</ref>). Thus Orestes would have been a [[giant (mythology)|Giant]]. These remains could have belonged to a huge animal from the [[Pleistocene]] epoch.<ref name=Fragkaki2016/> Huge bones found in caves in nearby areas of Greece have been attributed to [[horse]]s (''[[Equus abeli]]''), [[mammoth]]s, [[elephant]]s, [[deer]]s, [[Bovidae|bovids]] and [[cetacea]]ns.<ref name=Huxley1976/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Marina Milićević Bradać, Ivor Karavanić|date=December 2015|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297055855|title=Phlegon of Tralles and fossils from Dalmatia|journal=Vjesnik Za Arheologiju I Povijest Dalmatinsku|volume=108|issue=1|pages=109–118|issn=1845-7789}}</ref>

=== The ashes of Orestes as ''Pignora Imperii'' ===
[[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], an early 4th century grammarian, regards the ashes of Orestes (''Cineres Orestis'') as one of the seven ''[[pignora imperii]]'' of the Roman empire in his ''In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii'' ('Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid'). Alongside the ashes, Servius lists the other six pignora: the stone of the Mother of the Gods, the terracotta chariot of the Veientines, the [[ancile]], the [[Priam|sceptre of Priam]], the veil of Iliona, and the [[Palladium (classical antiquity)|palladium]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maurus Honoratus |first=Servius |title=In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii |pages=ad Aen. 7, 188}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Balbuza |first=Katarzyna |title=Rerum gestarum monumentis et memoriae: Cultural Readings in Livy |year=2018 |editor-last=Gillmeister |editor-first=Andrzej |pages=127–136 |chapter=Livy and the pignora imperii. The Historian from Patavium as a Eulogist of the Idea of the Eternity of Rome}}</ref>

The ashes were kept at the [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] on the [[Capitolium]].

==Orestes and Pylades==
[[File:Pompeia. Orestes and Pylades.jpeg|thumb|An antique fresco in [[Pompeii]] depicting a scene from 'Iphigenia in Tauris' showing Orestes, [[Pylades]] and [[Thoas (king of the Taurians)|King Thoas]]]]
[[File:Orestes and Pylades.JPG|thumb|Orestes and Pylades, attributed to [[Pasiteles]] school]]
[[File:Benjamin West - Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia]]'', by [[Benjamin West]], 1766]]

The relationship between Orestes and [[Pylades]] has been presented by some authors of the Roman era (not by classic Greek tragedians) as romantic or [[homoeroticism|homoerotic]]. A dialogue entitled ''[[Amores (Lucian)|Erotes]]'' ("Affairs of the Heart") and attributed to [[Lucian]] compares the merits and advantages of heterosexuality and homoeroticism, and Orestes and Pylades are presented as the principal representatives of homoerotic friendship:

<blockquote>Taking the love god as the mediator of their emotions for each other, they sailed together as it were on the same vessel of life...nor did they restrict their affectionate friendship to the limits of Hellas....as soon as they set foot on the land of the Tauride, the Fury of matricides was there to welcome the strangers, and, when the natives stood around them, the one was struck to the ground by his usual madness and lay there, but Pylades "did wipe away the foam and tend his frame and shelter him with a fine well-woven robe," thus showing the feelings not merely of a lover, but also of a father. But when it had been decided that, while one remained to be killed, the other should depart for Mycenae to bear a letter, each wished to remain for the sake of the other, considering that he himself lived in the survival of his friend. But Orestes refused to take the letter, claiming Pylades was the fitter person to do so, and thus showed himself almost to be the lover rather than the beloved.
:''[[L'Orestie d'Eschyle]]'' (47)</blockquote>
In 1734, [[George Frederic Handel]]'s opera ''[[Oreste]]'' (based on Giangualberto Barlocci's Roman libretto of 1723), was premiered in London's [[Covent Garden]].

''[[L'Orestie d'Eschyle]]'' (1913–1923) is a French-language opera in three parts by [[Darius Milhaud]] based on ''[[The Oresteia]]'' triptych by [[Aeschylus]] in a French translation by his collaborator [[Paul Claudel]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-08-27|title=Milhaud: L'Orestie d'Eschyle review – an operatic curiosity worth investigating|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/27/milhaud-orestie-eschyle-review-opera-kenneth-kiesler|access-date=2021-10-19|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

== Sanctuary of Maniae ==
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] writes that at the road from [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]] to [[Messene]] there was a sanctuary of goddesses [[Maniae]] (meaning madness). Citizens said that it was there that madness overtook Orestes.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:8.34.1 Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.34.1]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Bielfeldt, Ruth (2005). ''Orestes auf römischen Sarkophagen.'' Berlin: Reimer, {{ISBN|3-496-02767-3}}.
* Knoepfler, Denis (1993). ''Les imagiers de l'Orestie.'' Kilchberg/Zürich: Akanthus, {{ISBN|3-905083-07-8}}.
* Poppenberg, Gerhard (2013). ''Die Antinomie des Gesetzes. Der Orest-Mythos in der Antike und der Moderne.'' Berlin: Matthes & Seitz, {{ISBN|978-3-88221-087-3}}.

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline}}

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{{s-ttl|title=[[King of Argos]]|years}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Menelaus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Kings of Sparta#Mythical Kings|Mythical Kings of Sparta]]|years=c. 1200 BC}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]]}}
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{{Kings of Sparta}}
{{Iphigenia}}
{{Electra}}
{{Andromaque}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Orestes| ]]
[[Category:Kings of Argos]]
[[Category:Kings of Mycenae]]
[[Category:Mythological kings of Sparta]]
[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Ancient Greeks accused of sacrilege]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Matricides]]
[[Category:Children of Agamemnon]]
[[Category:Children of Clytemnestra]]
[[Category:Mythological fratricides]]