The Oresteia

Clytemnestra

• plots to (and does)assassinate Agamemnon

• in love with Aegisthus

• is killed by her son Orestes

Cassandra

• the daughter of the King of Troy

• captured during the war by Agamemnon

• given the gift of prophecy, no one believes her due to Apollo’s curse

Agamemnon

• leader of the Greek army

• sacrifices his daughter to help win the war

• killed by his wife Clytemnestra

Electra

• daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon

• encourages her brother Orestes to kill Clytemnestra

• mourns her father for years, calling on Gods and performing rituals for his vengeance

Orestes

• son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon

• kills his mother

• after years in exile, he returns to Mycenae in disguise when Apollo commands him to kill his mother

Apollo

• the God of prophecy, sun

• brother of Athena

• commands Orestes to avenge his father by killing his mother

Athena

• goddess of wisdom

• sister of Apollo

• casts the tie breaking vote to acquit Orestes

Eumenides

• also known as the Furies

• the goddesses of vengeance

• torment Orestes after he kills his mother until his trial

Aegisthus

• in love with Clytemnestra

• has a personal issue with Agamemnon’s family for wronging his father

• is also killed by Orestes

Pythia

• delivers Apollo’s prophecies

• this character is only in Eumenides

• does not take an active role in deciding Orestes’s fate