InGreek mythology,Orestes orOrestis (/ɒˈrɛstiːz/;Ancient Greek:Ὀρέστης[oréstɛːs]) was the son ofAgamemnon andClytemnestra, and the brother ofElectra andIphigenia. He is the subject of severalAncient Greek plays and of variousmyths connected with his madness, revenge, and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older works.^[1][2] In particular Orestes plays a main role inAeschylus'Oresteia.

The Greek name Ὀρέστης, having become "Orestēs" in Latin and its descendants, is derived from Greek ὄρος (óros, "mountain") and ἵστημι (hístēmi, "to stand"), and so can be thought to have the meaning "stands on a mountain".^[3]

In theHomeric telling of the story,^[4] Orestes is a member of thedoomed house of Atreus, which is descended fromTantalus andNiobe. He is absent fromMycenae when his father,Agamemnon, returns from theTrojan War with the Trojan princessCassandra as his concubine, and thus not present for Agamemnon's murder byAegisthus, the lover of his wife,Clytemnestra. Seven years later, Orestes returns fromAthens and avenges his father's death by slaying both Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra.^[5]

In theOdyssey, Orestes is held up as a favorable example toTelemachus, whose motherPenelope is plagued bysuitors.^[6]

InPindar's version, the young Orestes was saved by his nurseArsinoe (Laodamia) or his sister Electra, who conveyed him out of the country when Clytemnestra wished to kill him.In the familiar theme of the hero's early eclipse and exile, he escaped toPhanote onMount Parnassus, where KingStrophius took charge of him.^[7]

In his twentieth year, he was urged by Electra to return home and avenge his father's death. He returned home, along with his first cousinPylades, son ofAnaxibia (sister to Agamemnon) and Strophius.

The story of Orestes was the subject of theOresteia ofAeschylus (Agamemnon,Choephori,Eumenides), of theElectra ofSophocles, and of theElectra,Iphigeneia in Tauris,Iphigenia at Aulis andOrestes, all ofEuripides.^[7] He also appears in Euripides’Andromache.

In Aeschylus'sEumenides, Orestes goes mad after killing his mother and is pursued by theErinyes (Furies), whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. He takes refuge in the temple atDelphi; but, even thoughApollo had ordered him to kill his mother, the god is powerless to protect Orestes from the consequences. At lastAthena receives him on theAcropolis of Athens and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve judges, including herself. The Erinyes demand their victim; Orestes asserts that it was indeed he who killed his mother,^[7] though he was acting on the orders of Apollo. At the close of the trial, Athena votes on the verdict last, announcing that she is for acquittal; the votes are counted and the result is a tie, forcing an acquittal in accordance with the rules previously stipulated by Athena. The Erinyes, who insisted on Orestes' responsibility in the murder, are converted into the Eumenides, who now offer him wisdom and counsel.^[8] They are then propitiated by the establishment of a new ritual, in which they are worshipped as "Semnai Theai", "Venerable Goddesses", and Orestes dedicates an altar toAthena Areia.

As Aeschylus tells it, Orestes' punishment for matricide ended after a trial, but according to Euripides, in order to escape the persecutions of the Erinyes, Orestes was ordered by Apollo to go toTauris, carry off the statue ofArtemis that had fallen from the heavens, and bring it to Athens. Orestes traveled to Tauris withPylades, where the pair were at once imprisoned by the people, among whom the custom was to sacrifice all Greek strangers in honor of Artemis. The priestess of Artemis, whose duty it was to perform the sacrifice, was Orestes' sisterIphigenia. She offered to release him if he would carry home a letter from her to Greece; he refused to go, but he implored Pylades to deliver the letter while he stayed to be slain. After a conflict of mutual affection, Pylades at last yielded, but the brother and sister finally recognized each other due to the letter, and all three escaped together, carrying with them the image of Artemis.^[7]

After his return to Greece, Orestes took possession of his father's kingdom of Mycenae (killing his half-brotherAlete, who was the son of Clytemestra and Aegisthus), to which were addedArgos andLaconia. Orestes was said to have died of asnakebite inArcadia. His body was conveyed to Sparta for burial (where he was the object of acult) or, according to a Roman legend, to Aricia, when it was removed to Rome (Servius onAeneid, ii. 116).^[7]

Before theTrojan War, Orestes was to marry his first cousinHermione, daughter ofMenelaus andHelen. Things soon changed after Orestes committedmatricide: Menelaus then gave his daughter toNeoptolemus, son ofAchilles andDeidamia. According to Euripides' play Andromache, Orestes slew Neoptolemus just outside a temple and took off with Hermione. He seized Argos andArcadia after their thrones had become vacant, becoming ruler of all thePeloponnesus. His son by Hermione,Tisamenus, became ruler after him but was eventually killed by theHeracleidae.

There is extant aLatinepic poem, consisting of about 1000hexameters, calledOrestes Tragoedia, which has been ascribed toDracontius of Carthage.^[7]

Orestes appears also to be a dramatic prototype for all persons whose crime is mitigated by extenuating circumstances. These legends belong to an age when higher ideas of law and of social duty were being established; the implacable blood-feud ofprimitive society gives place to a fair trial, and in Athens, when the votes of the judges are evenly divided, mercy prevails.^[7]

In one version of the story ofTelephus, the infant Orestes was kidnapped by King Telephus, who used him as leverage in his demand thatAchilles heal him.

According to some sources, Orestes fatheredPenthilus by his half-sister,Erigone.

For modern treatments seethe Oresteia in the arts and popular culture.

InThe History byHerodotus, theOracle of Delphi foretold that theSpartans could not defeat theTegeans until they moved the bones of Orestes to Sparta.^[9]Lichas discovered the body, which measured 7cubits long^[10] (311.5 cm if 1 cubit is 44.5 cm^[11]). Thus Orestes would have been aGiant. These remains could have belonged to a huge animal from thePleistocene epoch.^[9] Huge bones found in caves in nearby areas of Greece have been attributed tohorses (Equus abeli),mammoths,elephants,deers,bovids andcetaceans.^[10][12]

Maurus Servius Honoratus, an early 4th century grammarian, regards the ashes of Orestes (Cineres Orestis) as one of the sevenpignora imperii of the Roman empire in hisIn Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii (‘Commentary on Virgil’s Aeneid’). Alongside the ashes, Servius lists the other six pignora: the stone of the Mother of the Gods, the terracotta chariot of the Veientines, theancile, thesceptre of Priam, the veil of Iliona, and thepalladium.^[13][14]

The ashes were kept at theTemple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on theCapitolium.

The relationship between Orestes andPylades has been presented by some authors of the Roman era (not by classic Greek tragedians) as romantic orhomoerotic. A dialogue entitledErotes ("Affairs of the Heart") and attributed toLucian compares the merits and advantages of heterosexuality and homoeroticism, and Orestes and Pylades are presented as the principal representatives of homoerotic friendship:

Taking the love god as the mediator of their emotions for each other, they sailed together as it were on the same vessel of life...nor did they restrict their affectionate friendship to the limits of Hellas....as soon as they set foot on the land of the Tauride, the Fury of matricides was there to welcome the strangers, and, when the natives stood around them, the one was struck to the ground by his usual madness and lay there, but Pylades "did wipe away the foam and tend his frame and shelter him with a fine well-woven robe," thus showing the feelings not merely of a lover, but also of a father. But when it had been decided that, while one remained to be killed, the other should depart for Mycenae to bear a letter, each wished to remain for the sake of the other, considering that he himself lived in the survival of his friend. But Orestes refused to take the letter, claiming Pylades was the fitter person to do so, and thus showed himself almost to be the lover rather than the beloved.

L'Orestie d'Eschyle (47)

In 1734,George Frederic Handel's operaOreste (based on Giangualberto Barlocci's Roman libretto of 1723), was premiered in London'sCovent Garden.

L'Orestie d'Eschyle (1913–1923) is a French-language opera in three parts byDarius Milhaud based onThe Oresteia triptych byAeschylus in a French translation by his collaboratorPaul Claudel.^[15]

Pausanias writes that at the road fromMegalopolis toMessene there was a sanctuary of goddessesManiae (meaning madness). Citizens said that it was there that madness overtook Orestes.^[16]

• Bielfeldt, Ruth (2005).Orestes auf römischen Sarkophagen. Berlin: Reimer,ISBN 3-496-02767-3.
• Knoepfler, Denis (1993).Les imagiers de l'Orestie. Kilchberg/Zürich: Akanthus,ISBN 3-905083-07-8.
• Poppenberg, Gerhard (2013).Die Antinomie des Gesetzes. Der Orest-Mythos in der Antike und der Moderne. Berlin: Matthes & Seitz,ISBN 978-3-88221-087-3.

•   Media related toOrestes at Wikimedia Commons