Skip to main content

Oresteian Trilogy, The

By: Chartwell Books

Type: Softcover

Product Line: Historical Reference Books (Penguin Publishing)

Last Stocked on 4/14/2022

Product Info

Title
Oresteian Trilogy, The
Publisher
Category
Author
Aeschylus, Philip Vellacott
Publish Year
1964
Pages
204
Dimensions
4x7x.5"
NKG Part #
2147482976
Type
Softcover

Description

One of the founding documents of Western culture and the only surviving ancient Greek trilogy, The Oresteia of Aeschylus is one of the great tragedies of all time.

The three plays of "The Oresteia" portray the bloody events that follow the victorious return of King Agamemnon from the Trojan War, at the start of which he had sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to secure divine favor. After Iphigeneia's mother, Clytemnestra, kills her husband in revenge, she in turn is murdered by their son Orestes with his sister Electra's encouragement. Orestes is pursued by the Furies and put on trial, his fate decided by the goddess Athena. Far more than the story of murder and vengeance in the royal house of Atreus, The Oresteia serves as a dramatic parable of the evolution of justice and civilization that is still powerful after 2,500 years.

The trilogy is presented here in George Thomson's classic translation, renowned for its fidelity to the rhythms and richness of the original Greek.