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One of the founding documents of Western culture and the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy, the Oresteia of Aeschylus is one of the great tragedies of all time. The three plays of the Oresteia portray the bloody events that follow the victorious return of King Agamemnon from the Trojan War, at the start of which he had sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to secure divine favor. After Iphi-geneia's mother, Clytemnestra, kills her husband in revenge, she in turn is murdered by their son Orestes with his sister Electra's encouragement. Orestes is pursued by the Furies and put on trial, his fate decided by the goddess Athena. Far more than the story of murder and ven-geance in the royal house of Atreus, the Oresteia serves as a dramatic parable of the evolution of justice and civilization that is still powerful after 2,500 years. The trilogy is presented here in George Thomson's classic translation, renowned for its fidelity to the rhythms and richness of the original Greek.… (more)
I enjoyed reading these plays, and imagining how they would be staged. The theme of revenge vs. justice is still a timely one today, and I thought the layers of old gods vs. new gods, and to a lesser extent, gender politics, added psychological depth to the story.
I can imagine the characters as actual people, with their messy motivations and emotions. Clytemnestra, left alone for over a decade as her husband is off at Troy, her oldest daughter killed by this same man. I honestly can't really blame her for wanting to kill Agamemnon herself, especially since he tricked both of them by saying he had found a husband for Iphigenia in order to get his daughter to come to where he was. To then turn a celebration into a murder is really evil. But "an eye for an eye" really does just cause an endless trail of tragedy.
It's fascinating to see the Furies turned into some kind of auxiliary for the Fates. I wonder why Aeschylus did that, or if that was already an accepted mythology that he capitalized on. It contains aspects of karma for me, the idea that these beings who demand payment for crimes should morph into beings who deal out destiny. So interesting. ( )
I read Robert Fagles translation; it is accessible while retaining the powerful and subtle language and imagery of Aeschylus’ work. This (Penguin Classics) edition includes a well-written and very useful introductory essay, The Serpent and the Eagle – A Reading of 'The Oresteia', written in collaboration with W. B. Stanford (as are the notes). The introduction, about 75 pages long, gives a wealth of background information to complement the reading experience of the dramatic trilogy itself – this particular reading employs a Hegelian approach, though not too obtrusively. – "The Oresteia is our rite of passage from savagery to civilization," as Fagles/Stanford aptly puts it in the introduction. It is also one of the most fascinating works of drama I have ever read; impressive both in its breadth of scope and depth of detail. I wouldn't hesitate to call it a work of genius, and to my mind, here Aeschylus in many ways dwarfs even a younger giant such as Shakespeare. The fact that this is the only trilogy that has survived since antiquity, makes me mournful for all that has been lost – including the satyr play that originally accompanied the performances of this trilogy, Proteus. From the introductory essay: "For all its optimism [in the final part of the Oresteia], the Proteus may have reminded the Athenians that their lives were based on conflict, indeed that Athena had prevailed over Poseidon for possession of their city. So in the trilogy we reach an accommodation with the earth, but the sea, like Poseidon in the Odyssey, may remain to be placated." It's an intriguing thought - and for sure, I can easily see the use of a bit of comedy, as well as the presence of the more uncultivated and rustic satyrs, after the intense and bloody rite of passage - from a self-perpetuating cycle of vengeance to the rule of law - from chaos to order - of the Oresteia.
I found this cycle of plays to be quite profound for what it has to say about breaking a cycle of violence and revenge. The exploration of what justice is can also be seen as the plays progress. I think this is a classic that I will be revisiting again. ( )
For class we were supposed to only read part 1, "Agamemnon", which leaves off at a weird cliffhanger, so I read the rest and the story made more sense. These plays, unlike other Greek trilogies, don't work as standalone pieces at all; reading all of them in quick succession at least resolved the story but it was so so boring. From my non-academic perspective the main reason to read Greek tragedy is because they're metal as hell (Medea!) and while the Oresteia had moments of being metal while the family's caught in a Godfather-like cycle of retribution, the resolution is just... a courtroom scene. I understand what the story is saying with this, but it was very anticlimactic after all that! On top of everything this was very misogynist (especially when compared to later plays like Medea) and I'm honestly getting sick of reading men writing about men. I guess Meineck's translation was pretty good, it was pretty easy to read, but for whatever reason the footnotes at the bottom of each page didn't correspond with any in-text superscript or asterisk or other markers! This was a very stupid publishing decision! ( )
Now is the strong prayer folded in thine arms, The serpent with the eagle in the boughs.
HART DAVIES, The Dance.
Penguin Classics edition (1977).
Dedication
FOR MY MOTHER AND FATHER
Be like me! - amid the incessant flux of appearences, eternally creating, eternally driving into life, in this rushing, whirling flux eternally seizing satisfaction - I am the Great Mother!
NIETZSCHE, The birth of tragedy
Agememnon (Penguin Classics edition, 1977).
FOR MY WIFE
... in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly - And prais'd be rashness for it; let us know, Our indiscretion sometime serves us well When our deep plots do pall; and that should learn us There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will -
SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet
The libation bearers (Penguin Classics edition, 1977).
FOR MY DAUGHTERS
What climbs the stair? Nothing that common women ponder on If you are worth my hope! Neither Content Nor satisfied Conscience, but that great family Some ancient famous authors misrepresent, The Proud Furies each with her torch on high.
W. B. YEATS, 'To Dorothy Wellesley'
The Eumenides (Penguin Classics edition, 1977).
First words
My thanks to Aeschylus for his companionship, his rigours and his kindness. I found him a burly, eloquent ghost, with more human decency and strength than I could hope to equal.
Foreword (Robert Fagles, 1976).
Aeschylus was forty-five in 480 B.C. when the Persians sacked Athens and destroyed the shrines of the gods on the Acropolis.
Introduction ('A reading of 'The Oresteia', Robert Fagles & W. B. Stanford, 1977).
I ask the gods some respite from the weariness / of this watchtime measured by years I lie awake / elbowed upon the Atreidaes' roof dogwise to mark / the grand processionals of all the stars of night / burdened with winter and again with heat for men, / dynasties in their shining blazoned on the air, / these stars, upon their wane and when the rest arise.
Agememnon (Lattimore translation, 1953).
WATCHMAN: Dear gods, set me free from all the pain, from the watch I keep, one whole year awake ... propped on my arms, crouched on the roofs of Atreus like a dog.
Agememnon (Fagles translation, 1977).
Watchman: Dear gods, set me free from all the pain, the long watch I keep, one whole year awake.. propped on my arms, crouched on the roofs of Atreus like a dog.
ORESTES: Hermes, lord of the dead, look down and guard the fathers' power. Be my saviour, I beg you, be my comrade now.
The libation bearers (Fagles translation, 1977).
PYTHIA: First of the gods I honour in my prayer is Mother Earth, the first of the gods to prophesy, and next I praise Tradition, second to hold her Mother's mantic seat, so legend says, and third by the lots of destiny, by Tradition's free will - no force to bear her down - another Titan, child of the Earth, took her seat and Phoebe passed it on as a birthday fift to Phoebus, Phoebus a name for clear pure light derived from hers.
The Eumenides (Fagles translation, 1977).
Quotations
Last words
So as the eagles wheeled at the crossroads, Calchas clashed out the great good blessing mixed with doom for the halls of kings, and singing with our fate we cry, cry for the death, but good win out in glory in the end.
The Eumenides: The Women of the City: All-seeing Zeus and Fate embrace, down they come to urge our union on - Cry, cry, in triumph, carry on the dancing on and on! [tr. Flagles 1984]
The Eumenides (Chorus: There shall be peace forever between these people of Pallas and their guests. Zeus the all seeing met with Destiny to confirm it. Singing all follow our footsteps. Exeunt omnes, in procession. [tr. R. Lattimore 1953]
This LT Work is the complete Oresteia trilogy of plays by Aeschylus, comprising:
Agamemnon, Choephori (a/k/a, The Libation Bearers), and Eumenides (a/k/a, The Furies).
Please do not combine this trilogy with any of the individual plays, or with any other collection. Specifically, do not combine this work with any edition that also includes Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Thank you.
One of the founding documents of Western culture and the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy, the Oresteia of Aeschylus is one of the great tragedies of all time. The three plays of the Oresteia portray the bloody events that follow the victorious return of King Agamemnon from the Trojan War, at the start of which he had sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to secure divine favor. After Iphi-geneia's mother, Clytemnestra, kills her husband in revenge, she in turn is murdered by their son Orestes with his sister Electra's encouragement. Orestes is pursued by the Furies and put on trial, his fate decided by the goddess Athena. Far more than the story of murder and ven-geance in the royal house of Atreus, the Oresteia serves as a dramatic parable of the evolution of justice and civilization that is still powerful after 2,500 years. The trilogy is presented here in George Thomson's classic translation, renowned for its fidelity to the rhythms and richness of the original Greek.
I can imagine the characters as actual people, with their messy motivations and emotions. Clytemnestra, left alone for over a decade as her husband is off at Troy, her oldest daughter killed by this same man. I honestly can't really blame her for wanting to kill Agamemnon herself, especially since he tricked both of them by saying he had found a husband for Iphigenia in order to get his daughter to come to where he was. To then turn a celebration into a murder is really evil. But "an eye for an eye" really does just cause an endless trail of tragedy.
It's fascinating to see the Furies turned into some kind of auxiliary for the Fates. I wonder why Aeschylus did that, or if that was already an accepted mythology that he capitalized on. It contains aspects of karma for me, the idea that these beings who demand payment for crimes should morph into beings who deal out destiny. So interesting. ( )