An Introduction to the Oresteia

8/12/2019 An Introduction to the Oresteia

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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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An Introduction to the Oresteia

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