THE AVENGERS OF AEGISTHUS AND CLYTEMNESTRA
By Konstantinos Konstantinidis – Amphictyon
It is well known that Agamemnon, Cassandra, and all his companions were brutally murdered after his return from Troy to Argos by Aegisthus and his wife, Clytemnestra.
Agamemnon’s younger son, Orestes, and his friend Pylades devised a plan of vengeance against the two murderers, a plan that entailed their death. The deception involved spreading the rumor that Orestes himself had died, a story disseminated everywhere by Pylades.
Both men arrived secretly in Mycenae. Orestes went into hiding in the house of a poor and insignificant man who had married Electra. Pylades appeared before Aegisthus as a messenger and announced that Orestes had died while preparing powder in a vessel, as was customary at the time. As proof of his claim, he also presented the powder.
When Aegisthus and Clytemnestra heard the joyful news, they left the city to offer a sacrifice at the temple of Athena. There Orestes, together with several like-minded companions, rushed upon them, and Aegisthus and Clytemnestra were slain.
After these events, Orestes went from city to city seeking purification, but none would accept the matricide. Eventually, the people of Troezen took pity on him and set up a tent outside the city, beside the temple of Apollo. There, nine men purified him for many days through repeated rites and with the water of the Hypocrene.
The remnants of the purification rites were poured onto the ground, and from that spot a laurel tree sprang up before the temple of Apollo. The place was called “The Tent of Orestes.” There was also a stone upon which the purifiers sat, which was considered sacred. From this arose the custom that their descendants would eat together on certain designated days.
However, the purifications did not benefit him, for the Erinyes continued to torment him for the crime of matricide. In Arcadia he saw the black Erinyes in his sleep and, in a state of madness, bit off one of his fingers. It was buried in Megalopolis in a tomb called “The Tomb of the Finger,” and a stone finger was placed upon it. That place was called “Mania.”
Later, he saw the Erinyes as white and was healed. He sacrificed a dreadful offering to the Black Erinyes and a thanksgiving sacrifice to the White Ones. Their sanctuary was called “Ake.” Nearby stood another sanctuary called “Koureion,” because there he cut his hair after his recovery. There he built three shrines and made sacrifices to the Erinyes.
Subsequently, Orestes was summoned before a court of the Arcadians by Tyndareus—or, according to others, by relatives of Clytemnestra. Since no verdict was reached, the case was referred to Argos. The Argives condemned Orestes to death. Pylades secretly incited the court to turn against Helen, claiming that she was the source of all evils, but Apollo saved her by substituting Hermione in her place.
Orestes then appealed to the Areopagus in Athens, during the reign of Demophon, at the festival of the Anthesteria. The vote resulted in a tie, and he was acquitted. According to another version, Athena cast her vote in favor of Orestes. For this reason, he built an altar there in gratitude.
Despite his acquittal, the Erinyes continued to torment him. In Laconia, near Gytheion, he was healed at a place called Zeus Kapotas, meaning “the Reliever.” Yet he again fell into madness and sought the oracle at Delphi. The Pythia ordered him to bring from Tauris the statue of Artemis and to free his sister Iphigenia from the tyranny of Thoas; otherwise, he would never be cured. Thereupon he set out with his friend Pylades for Tauris.
Observations
1. The Erinyes were chthonic deities of ancient Greek mythology. Their role was to punish grave crimes, especially the murder of kin and the violation of oaths. They relentlessly pursued the guilty, causing remorse and madness.
In Aeschylus’ Oresteia, they are transformed into the Eumenides, symbolizing the transition from vengeance to justice.
2. The Greeks laid the foundations of the concept of justice and the institution of courts of law; the Romans systematized and codified it.
3. In antiquity, madness was understood primarily as divine possession or punishment, a state of ecstasy or loss of control. Today it might be interpreted as a psychotic or severe anxiety disorder.
4. Matricide in ancient Greece was considered the gravest form of pollution (miasma), violating both the natural and divine order, and was punished through purification rites, exile, and divine persecution.
(30/1/26)
Amphiktyon – Major General (ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers
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