Libation Bearers
Orestes
This is the second of a cycle of three plays written by the Greek playwright Aeschylus. Some time has passed since the murder of Agamemnon. Agamemnon's children, Orestes and Electra, have grown up with their mother Clytemnestra and their stepfather Aegisthus. But they are very unhappy, because they know their mother murdered their father. Orestes has gone away, fearing that his mother might murder him too. But he comes back when he is grown up, and struggles with the decision: Which is worse - to let his father's murder go unpunished, or to kill his own mother?
Orestes kills his mother while Electra looks on
and Aegisthus runs away. Bronze, ca. 570 BC,
Olympia, Greece
In the end, after a long discussion with his sister Electra, Orestes decides that he has to avenge his father's murder, even though it means killing his mother. So Orestes kills Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.
What would YOU do, if your mother had murdered your father? Would you protect your mother, or avenge your father? Why?
For the third play of this cycle, click here.
To find out more about Aeschylus and the Libation Bearers, check out these books from Amazon.com or at your local library:
Greek Theatre, by Stewart Ross (1999). For kids.
Greek and Roman Theater, by Don Nardo. For teenagers.
The Oresteia, by Aeschylus, translated by Robert Fagles (Penguin Classics). The most famous of the plays Aeschylus wrote. Fagles is a great translator! Includes a version for performance.
Aeschylus, by John Herington (1986). A discussion by a specialist about the life of Aeschylus and why his plays are written the way they are.
Greek Tragedy: A Literary Study, by H. D. F. Kitto (reprinted 2002). A classic discussion of the meaning of Greek tragic plays, by a specialist.
Why did people want to punch Socrates?
Where did Egyptians bury your liver?
How old are the Rocky Mountains?
What does a half-timbered house look like?
How do you spin wool?
(a project)
Agamemnon
Eumenides
Aeschylus (the man who wrote these plays)
Main Greek literature page
Main Greeks page
Main literature page
