Aeschylus - The Oresteia: Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and The Holy Goddesses

Aeschylus implies that the democratic city-state alone has mastered the tools needed to resolve the conflicts that arise where ties of blood are all that count: persuasion instead of compulsion; disinterested reasoning instead of blind loyalties. The theme is nothing if not timely. I have recently been won over to the view that the third play of the trilogy should be called The Holy Goddesses or The Furies, not Eumenides (see ), although I employ Eumenides as the title in my discussion of other aspects of the trilogy to avoid confusion. Two items in my lists of characters may confuse some readers. First, Coryphaeus. This is just an ancient Greek word meaning head in the sense of chief or leader.

In the context ofGreek tragedy, it denotes the leader of the chorus, who shared its attributes. He played an old soldier in Agamemnon, an elderly slave woman in Libation Bearers, and a Fury in Eumenides, but he had an additional function. Besides singing and dancing, he could and did converse with the actors. Second, despite what you may have seen in other translations (including my Agamemnon), the correct spelling of Mrs. Agamemnons name is Clytaemestra (), not Clytemnestra. The former spelling is found in the most ancient evidence, such as inscriptions on Athenian pottery.

The n is thought to have been introduced by Byzantine scholars on the mistaken assumption that her name was a play on the verb mnaomai (to court or woo). The other root involved in the names supposed etymology was klyto- (famous orin Clytaemestras caseinfamous). In preparing this translation, I relied chiefly on Alan Sommersteins Loeb Library Oresteia for help in resolving textual and interpretive issues. In addition, I regularly consulted Taplins Stagecraft of Aeschylus, Raeburn and Thomass commentary on Agamemnon, Garvies commentary on Choephori, and Podleckis on Eumenides. All translations are mine. Cf. Alan H. Alan H.

Sommerstein, Aeschylus, Oresteia, x n4; Eduard Fraenkel, ed., Aeschylus: Agamemnon, commentary on line 84.