The Oresteia

Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

by Aeschylus

336 pages

English language

Published Aug. 7, 1984 by Penguin.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-044333-2

(13 reviews)

In the Oresteia Aeschylus addressed the bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. As they move from darkness to light, from rage to self-governance, from primitive ritual to civilized institution, their spirit of struggle and regeneration becomes an everlasting song of celebration. 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 …

The only trilogy in Greek drama that survives from antiquity, Aeschylus' The Oresteia is translated by Robert Fagles with an introduction, notes and glossary written in collaboration with W.B. Stanford in Penguin Classics.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

1 edition

Adrián Astur Álvarez reviewed The Oresteia by Aeschylus

Review of 'The oresteia' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

"What good are the oracles to men? Words, more words, and the hurt comes on us, endless words and a seer's techniques have brought us terror and truth."

The distance from the violence and chaos of Agamemnon, through its perpetuated upheaval in The Libation Bearers, to the conclusion of all chaos with peaceful order in The Eumenides may not take up many pages but feels vast and richly familiar. Perhaps now is a good time to read The Oresteia at the end of 3 1/2 years of political disorder, hatred, violence and the pettiness of revenge. But it is all too easy to unfairly reduce Aescheylus' trilogy - a gift to Western civilization, a gift that defines us as it describes us.

The latent struggle we encounter in life itself (from identity, gender, social hierarchy, and power) only nearly avoids it's own poisonous end (as madness spins off into self-perpetuating and unending circles of madness) with the interruption of justice, and it's all here in this trilogy of plays. Such a profound work I could feel it operating on my dreams at night. Clearly these ideas tap into something wed to our society and I can't help but feel less relieved by the end than hopeful that the kind of struggle we engage in is one we can choose, though there is always struggle.