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The Oresteia (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus and the pacification of the Furies (also called Erinyes or Eumenides).
The term can also be used for the more distant descendants of Atreus, also known as the 'House of Atreus' or the 'Atreid dynasty'. It has been suggested that the name Attarsiya , belonging to an Ahhiyawan king of 1400 BC, may be the Hittite rendition of the Greek name.
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (/ æ ɡ ə ˈ m ɛ m n ɒ n /; Ancient Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων Agamémnōn) was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War.He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. [1]
Atreus retook the throne using advice he received from the gods. Zeus sent Hermes to him, advising him to get Thyestes to agree that should the sun rise in the west and set in the east, Atreus could have his throne back. Atreus did so, and Helios reversed his normal course, in anger over Thyestes' actions. [4]
In the Homeric telling of the story, [4] Orestes is a member of the 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.
Orestes: Alas, you sovereign powers of the world below, behold, you potent Arai (Curses—i.e. the Erinyes) of the slain, behold the remnants of the line of Atreus in their helpless plight, cast out from house and home in dishonor.
Clytemnestra (/ ˌ k l aɪ t ə m ˈ n ɛ s t r ə /, [1] UK also / k l aɪ t ə m ˈ n iː s t r ə /; [2] Ancient Greek: Κλυταιμνήστρα, romanized: Klutaimnḗstra, pronounced [klytai̯mnɛ̌ːstraː]), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta.
As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops and his line, further adding to the curse on the House of Atreus. King Atreus, the son of Pelops and the namesake of the Atreidies, would later be killed by his nephew, Aegisthus. Before his death, Atreus had two sons, King Agamemnon of Mycenae and King Menelaus of Sparta.