Post on 03-Jun-2018
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TheHouseofAtreus
AnintroductiontotheOresteia
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TheInheritanceofCurses
Theres this idea in Ancient Greek cuthat curses were inherited down a fa
line the way debts were (sort of - not
legally, of course, not anymore)
that is, if someone dies with any unresolveguilt, his descendants inherit it
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TheOriginoftheCurse
Begins when Tantalus is invited to fewith Zeus and friends.
tries to steal nectar and ambrosia, the food
gods, which are what give them their immo
(nectar is etymologically related to the wo
not-killing and ambrosia for immortal).
Tantalus gets caught.
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TheOriginoftheCurse III
Thats just the lite, sanitized versi The version - the much more common one
were concerned with here is where he inv
the gods to a sacrifice/banquet deal which
him a Pretty Cool Guy (hes Zeus son, so it
plausible that theyd RSVP)
Except he chooses to sacrifice his son, Pelo
(Infanticide, human sacrifice and eating
are considered Uncool b the ods
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TheOriginoftheCurse IV
Now the gods arent retarded They totes smell that the food is people
BUT Demeter, whose daughter Persephone has j
kidnapped into Hell by Hades, is so butthurt abo
she doesnt quite notice
and she eats the cooked and cut up Pelops shou
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TheOriginoftheCurse V
For this, Tantalus bloodline is cursed
hes cast into Hell
where he stands neck-deep in a pool under
with branches of hanging fruit
if he reaches up, the fruit gets blown by thjust out of reach
if he reaches down, the water drains away
so hes always starving and thirsty as al
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TheOriginoftheCurse VI
This begins a long family tradition of
infanticide, murder, and people-eatiwhich only gets worse - the circle of
gets wider, the portfolio of heinousn
more varied - and the violence intensas the generations go on
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Gen2-PelopsI
Pelops, who got eaten a bit by Deme
earlier, eventually gets resurrected aback together by the gods
years later he comes upon this chick, Hippo
that he wants to bang. Unfortunately, her dad is running this big-a
chariot race in an effort to kill any applica
in-laws because of a prophecy saying that h
killed by his son-in-law.
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Gen2-PelopsII
The rules were simple:
beat the king, get the daughterlose, the king executes you. Pelops runs off to the kings horse-c
Myrtilus and goes yoyoyo hows abou
make a deal yo Pelops offers the first night with
Hippodamea as the bribe
Myrtilus goes YAY OKIE DOKES becautotally had a secret boner for her fo
now
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Gen2-PelopsIII
So the little things that attach whe
chariots got replaced with wax littthings
and when the chariots got super fast, th
melted and the wheels came off
Mister King died after getting dragged a
bit
The trio - Pelos, Myrtilus and Hippodam
escape
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Gen2-PelopsIV
Obvs Pelos didnt actually mean
Myrtilus to have his way with hiprecious when they stop for the first night My
tries to do her and she totally tells o
and Pelos gets super mad Pelos ends up shoving Myrtilus off a As he falls off, he curses Pelops and
Pelops descendants 4eva
Pelos
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Fuuuuuck you and all your ran
blossoms 4eva*
*not verbatim
Pelos
Myrtilus
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Gen2-PelopsV
So by the time Pelops has any
they will be laboring under thweight of two curses - Tantal
and Pelops. we can kinda see Pelops curse a
murder of Myrtilus as an extensiodistortion of Tantalus - P is murdand thenmurders outside of the
which is new. Interesting.
I
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesI
Pelops actually has a few kid
these two are the ones wereinterested in their relationship fairly complica
but as far as were concerned, th
Mycenae needs a king. the city receives an oracle, who
II
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesII
You kids need to fiyourselves a son of
Pelops
II
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesII
Atreus & Thyestes disagree (o
over which of them should be
at Thyestes suggestion, they a
that the throne will go towhomever has possession of the
fleece of a golden lamb (not thone)
okay bit weird but theres a lonass story behind it and its dull
t III
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesIII
This is the fun part:
Atreus only agreed because he hashit lying at home
BUT Thyestes had only suggested
because Thyestes had seduced Atwife and had already taken the f
unbeknownst to Atreus. So Thyestes becomes king.
t IV
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesIV
Atreus goes NOOOooooOOOO
Asks the gods for an OMEN Zeus makes the sun set in the
which is a pretty big one
and Thyestes hands over the tlike a good little boy
and is promptly banished fromkingdom
All cool right? HAH.HAH.HAH.
t V
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesV
Atreus does a bit of deep thin
Just how did Thyestes get his hanmy fleece? doesnt take him long to susp
his brothers been banging his so he plots. A summons T bac
Mycenae for a big unbanishmelets all be friends again feast
your sons!, says Atreus. Itll b
h t s VI
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesVI
When Thyestes and his kids get
there Atreus, unbeknownst to T, kidnaps tkids - his nephews - kills them, cuts up, has them cooked, and serves the
Thyestes at the big unbanishing ban
Thyestes eats. After T eats, Atreus has a big platte
the boys hands and feet, which wer
uncooked, and undiced, I guess, serv
up -
Th tes VI
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesVI
Lifts up the lid and goes:
DO YOU RECOGNIZE WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL YO
JUST EATEN?
Th tes VII
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesVII
Atreus rebanishes Thyestes Thyestes curses Atreus and Atreu
descendents.
(4 or so now if youre countinnot only has Atreus incurred a
curse through his actions, he
been directly cursed by hisbrother, and these are just thones weve counted)
out of ideas, Thyestes goes to
oracle. Always a good sign.
& Th stes VIII
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Gen3-Atreus&ThyestesVIII
(Its yet another different oracle.)
she tells him that in order to avenge the osons, hed have to father another son.
With his daughter. In some versions of the story, its slightly d
she tells him to go hang out by this fouthe dark of night and basically rape the
chick who passes by -
who, of course, is his daughter anyway (althoug
them dont know till later).
n & Aegis
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Gen4-Agammemnon&Aegis
At this point there are 3 generations
of curses, starting with Tantalus, andnext generation is doomed to reitera
reenact and add tothe murder, ince
cannibalism, adultery etc.
& Aegisth
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Gen4-Agamemnon&Aegisth
Aegisthus gets adopted by Atreus via
shepherd (of course) doesnt know till hes full grown and Atreu
other kids (Agamemnon and Menelaus) tha
Thyestes is his real dad + granddad
Pelopia, Thyestes poor daughter and Aegimom, finds out too at this point and kills h
Aegisthus kills Atreus
Of course, this shedding of family blood, w
closing that vengeance loop, does add an a
A memnon St
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Gen5-WhereAgamemnonSt
What you need to know before sta
skip the intros for now. Probs s sacrifices were traditionally,
99.99999% of the time performe
burning the skin and bones of a
animal; the rest was eaten. Itswhy Prometheus was chained to
and got his liver pecked out eve
A memnon St
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Gen5-WhereAgamemnonSt
Agamemnon and Menelaus have
major players in the Trojan War everyone watching the play would hafamiliar with the pseudohistory of the
Agammemnons place therein key takeaway - the chorus describes a
eagles eviscerating a pregnant bunny something (I think): refers to them go
overboard sacking Troy.
Agammemnon
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Gen5-WhereAgammemnon
Aegisthos and Clytemnestra -
Agamemnons wife - have been bo (Aegisthos is trying to gain back contro
Mycenae for his dad, Thyestes)
Dont worry, chart coming
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