Oresteia (Aeschylus - Penguin ed.)

Author: Aeschylus

Translator: Robert Fagles

ISBN: 9780140443332

Binding: paperback

Section: Literature of the Ancient World

Subtitle: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

In The Oresteia, Aeschylus addresses the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos; In Agamemnon, a king's decision to sacrifice his daughter and turn the tide of war inflicts lasting damage on his family, culminating in a terrible act of retribution; The Libation Bearers deals with the aftermath of Clytemnestra's regicide, as her son Orestes sets out to avenge his father's death; and in The Eumenides, Orestes is tormented by supernatural powers that can never be appeased. Forming an elegant and subtle discourse on the emergence of Athenian democracy out of a period of chaos and destruction, The Oresteia is a compelling tragedy of the tensions between our obligations to our families and the laws that bind us together as a society.