Orestes in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
（᾿ορέστης the only son of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, and
brother of Chrysothemis, Laodice (Electra), and Iphianassa
(Iphigeneia; Hom. Il. 9.142, &c., 284; comp. Soph. Elect.
154; Eur. Orest. 23). According to the Homneric account,
Agamemnon his return from Troy did not see his son, but was
murdered by Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra before he had an
opportunity of seeing him. (Od. 11.542.) In the eighth year
after his father's murder Orestes came from Athens to
Mycenae and slew the murderer of his father, and at the same
time solemnised the burial of Aegisthus and of his mother,
and for the revenge he had taken he gained great fame among
mortals. (Od. 1.30, 298, 3.306, &c., 4.546.) This slender
outline of the story of Orestes has been spun out and
embellished in various ways by the tragic poets. Thus it is
sail that at the murder of Agamemnon it was intended also to
despatch Orestes, but that Electra secretly entrusted him to
the slave who had the management of him. This slave carried
the boy to Strophius, king in Phocis, who was married to
Anaxibia, the sister of Agamemnon. According to some,
Orestes was saved by his nurse Geilissa (Aeschyl. Choeph.
732) or by Arsinoe or Laodameia (Pilnd. Pyth. 11.25, with
the Schol.), who allowed Aegisthus to kill her own child,
thinking that it was Orestes. In the house of Strophius,
Orestes grew up together with the king's son Pylades, with
whom he formed that close and intimate friendship which has
almost become proverbial. (Eur. Orest. 804, &c.) Being
frequently reminded by messengers of Electra of the
necessity of avenging his father's death, he consulted the
oracle of Delphi, which strengthened him in his plan. He
therefore repaired in secret, and without being known to any
one, to Argos. (Soph. Elect. 11, &c., 35, 296, 531, 1346;
Eurip. Elect. 1245, Orest. 162.) He pretended to be a
messenger of Strophius, who had come to announce the death
of Orestes, and brought the ashes of the deceased. (Soph.
Elect. 1110.) After having visited his father's tomb, and
sacrificed upon it a lock of his hair, he made himself known
to his sister Electra. who was ill used by Aegisthus and
Clytaemnestra, and discussed his plan of revenge with her,
which was speedily executed, for both Aegisthus and
Cltaemnestra were slain by his hand in the palace. (Soph.
Elect. 1405; Aeschyl. Choeph. 931; comp. Eurip. Elect. 625,
671, 774, &c., 969, &c., 1165, &c., who differs in several
points from Sophocles.) Immediately after the murder of his
mother he was seized by madness; he perceived the Erinnyes
of his mother and took to flight. Sophocles does not mention
this as the immediate consequence of the deed, and the
tragedy ends where Aegisthus is led to death; but, according
to Euripides, Orestes not only becomes mad; but as the
Argives, in their indignation, wanted to stone him and
Electra to death, and as Menelaus refused to save them,
Pylades and Orestes murdered Helena, and her body was
removed by the gods. Orestes also threatened Menelaus to
kill his daughter Hermione; but by the intervention of
Apollo, the dispute was allayed, and Orestes betrothed
himself to Hermione, and Pylades to Electra. But, according
to the common account, Orestes fled from land to land,
pursued by the Erinnyes of his mother. On the advice of
Apollo, he took refuge with Athena at Athens. The goddess
afforded him protection, and appointed the court of the
Areiopagus to decide his fate. The Erinnyes brought forward
their accusation, and Orestes made the command of the
Delphic oracle his excuse. When the court voted, and was
equally divided, Orestes was acquitted by the command of
Athena. (Aeschyl. Eumenides.) He therefore dedicated an
altar to Athena Areia. (Paus. 1.28.5.) According to another
modification of the legend, Orestes consulted Apollo, how he
could be delivered from his madness and incessant wandering.
The god advised him to go to Tauris in Scythia, and thence
to fetch the image of Artemis, which was (Eur. IT 79, &c.,
968, &c.) believed to have there fallen from heaven, and to
carry it to Athens. (Comp. Paus. 3.16.6.) Orestes and
Pylades accordingly went to Tauris, where Thoas was king,
and on their arrival they were seized by the natives, in
order to be sacrificed to Artemis, according to the custom
of the country. But Iphigeneia, the priestess of Artemis,
was the sister of Orestes, and, after having recognized each
other, all three escaped with the statue of the goddess.
(Eur. IT 800, 1327, &c.)
After his return Orestes took possession of his father's
kingdom at Mycenae, which had been usurped by Aletes or
Menelaus; and when Cylarabes of Argos died without leaving
any heir, Orestes also became king of Argos. The
Lacedaemonians made him their king of their own accord,
because they preferred him, the grandson of Tyndareus, to
Nicostratus and Megapenthes, the sons of Menelaus by a
slave. The Arcadians and Phocians increased his power by
allying themselves with him. (Paus. 2.18.5, 3.4; Philostr.
Her. 6; Pind. P. 11.24.) He married Hermione, the daughter
of Menelaus, and became by her the father of Tisamenus.
(Paus. 2.18.5.) He is said to have led colonists from Sparta
to Aeolis, and the town of Argos Oresticnm in Epeirus is
said to have been founded by him at the time when he
wandered about in his madness. (Strab. vii. p.326, xiii. p.
582; Pind. N. 11.42, with the Schol.) In his reign the
Dorians under Hyllus are said to have invaded Peloponnesus.
(Paus. 8.5.1.) He died of the bite of a snake in Arcadia
(Schol. ad Eur. Or. 1640), and his body, in accordance with
an oracle, was afterwards conveyed from Tegea to Sparta, and
there buried. (Paus. 3.11.8.) In a war between the
Lacedaemonians and Tegeatans, a truce was concluded, and
during this truce the Lacedaemonian Lichas found the remains
of Orestes at Tegea or Thyrea in the house of a blacksmith,
and thence took them to Sparta, which according to an oracle
could not gain the victory unless it possessed the remains
of Orestes. (Hdt. 1.67, &c.; Paus. 3.3.6, 8.54.3.) According
to an Italian legend, Orestes brought the image of the
Taurian Artemis to Aricia, whence it was carried in later
times to Sparta; and Orestes himself was buried at Aricia,
whence his remains were afterwards carried to Rome. (Serv.
ad Aen. 2.116.)
There are three other mythical personages of the name of
Orestes, concerning whom nothing of interest is related.
(Hom. Il. 5.705, 12.139, 193; Apollod. 1.7.3.) - A
Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology,
William Smith, Ed.
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