Ὀρέστης
Orestes
Euripides · first staged City Dionysia, 408 BC
Six days after killing his mother, Orestes lies sick and half mad, nursed by Electra, while Argos votes on whether to stone them both. It votes for death, and he turns on Helen.
Persons, in order of appearance
- Ηλ.Electra
- Ελ.Helen
- Χο.Chorus
- Ορ.Orestes
- Με.Menelaus
- Τυ.Tyndareus
- Πυ.Pylades
- Αγ.Messenger
- Ερ.Hermione
- Φρ.Phrygian
- Απ.Apollo
Translations
- E. P. Coleridgeprose · 1891 · aligned by line · with Murray's Greek
- A. S. Wayverse · 1912 · aligned by speech · with Murray's Greek
- Ian Johnston (VIU)verse · aligned by speech · with Diggle's Greek
Greek texts
Cite as Eur. Or. 1–1693
Full synopsis (tells the ending)
Six days after killing his mother, Orestes lies sick and half mad in Argos, nursed by Electra, while the city prepares to vote on whether to stone them both. Helen, who came ahead by night, is in the palace; Menelaus arrives and will not risk helping. The assembly votes for death. Orestes, Electra, and Pylades, with nothing to lose, try to kill Helen, who vanishes, and take her daughter Hermione hostage on the roof with the palace ready to burn. Apollo appears, marries Orestes to Hermione and Electra to Pylades, and sends Helen to the stars.
Drawing: Line drawing after Karl Reichhold's 1909 drawing of the Eumenides Painter's bell-krater, Paris, Louvre Cp 710 (Furtwängler and Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei II, Taf. 120.3); cut out and retraced.