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the oresteia the oresteia The vengeful murders wrought by Clytemnestra and Orestes, however justified by the logic of blood-vengeance, are complicated by the relationships between murderer and murdered: wife murdering husband (and a king besides), and son murdering his mother. Neither act of revenge can be celebrated as heroic; they are deeply ambiguous deeds. In the world of Aeschylus, where nothing is exclusively right or wrong, and situations are too complex for the judgement of one man alone, resolution requires a jury of citizens to decide. The third scene of Eumenides takes place at the Areopagus, located west of the Acropolis. The Areopagus was the court that presided over serious judgements such as homicide. In Eumenides Athena establishes this tribunal and explains it as the outcome of the antagonism between Orestes and the Chorus. She calls it, ‘this first trial for bloodshed’ (719)—not only in Athens, but in literature. Agamemnon ends with tyranny; Eumenides ends with a triumph of democracy. Note on the Chorus The Chorus in each of the plays of the Oresteia may have consisted of twelve persons. This group chanted choral passages in unison. The choral episodes consist of variable numbers of stanzas (commonly referred to as strophes). These episodes divide dialogue scenes from one another. During the choral episodes, the Chorus may have signalled a change in subject matter (e.g. variations of theme or perspective) by changing its physical position on stage. A Chorus leader, known as the Coryphaeus, represents (i.e. speaks for) the entire Chorus during dialogue exchanges with individual actors. During such exchanges, the Chorus leader is not identified as such in the ancient Greek text. The original text identifies the speaker who may be the Coryphaeus simply as Chorus. The English reader will infer when it is the Chorus Leader who 266 266
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afterword is, or could be, speaking (as in the dialogue exchanges with individual actors). For the reader of ancient Greek, the original text of the Oresteia offers a clue. Whenever the lines attributed to the Chorus are written in iambic trimeter rather than in lyric modes, it is the Chorus Leader speaking on his own. Where I have assigned individual voices to the Chorus during choral episodes, such as in Agamemnon, 1136–1359, I follow the time-honoured convention based on the work of key commentators. Moreover, that passage strongly suggests a breakdown into shorter choral units, so that the assignment of various voices to the text of the Chorus appears not only probable but essential. Some of the choral speeches in the Eumenides, such as the text at 170–200, may possibly have been distributed among smaller divisions of the Chorus (i.e. semi-Choruses, or even individual members), but there is no critical consensus on such allocations, as the lines of the passages are less obviously differentiated from one another than the Agamemnon lines, and the text offers no explicit guide to allocation. I offer my own breakdown of some choral speeches in Eumenides so that the text is not spoken by the entire Chorus in unison but by smaller units in turn. My division is to be taken as a suggestion only. Sometimes music underscored the chants of a Chorus; sometimes a Chorus danced; sometimes a Chorus stood in place and conveyed its inner temperament through expressive gestures. However, except for five associated instances in the Eumenides, there are no stage directions in the ancient Greek texts of the Oresteia that have survived. 267 267

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the oresteia the oresteia

The vengeful murders wrought by Clytemnestra and Orestes, however justified by the logic of blood-vengeance, are complicated by the relationships between murderer and murdered: wife murdering husband (and a king besides), and son murdering his mother. Neither act of revenge can be celebrated as heroic; they are deeply ambiguous deeds. In the world of Aeschylus, where nothing is exclusively right or wrong, and situations are too complex for the judgement of one man alone, resolution requires a jury of citizens to decide.

The third scene of Eumenides takes place at the Areopagus, located west of the Acropolis. The Areopagus was the court that presided over serious judgements such as homicide. In Eumenides Athena establishes this tribunal and explains it as the outcome of the antagonism between Orestes and the Chorus. She calls it, ‘this first trial for bloodshed’ (719)—not only in Athens, but in literature. Agamemnon ends with tyranny; Eumenides ends with a triumph of democracy.

Note on the Chorus

The Chorus in each of the plays of the Oresteia may have consisted of twelve persons. This group chanted choral passages in unison. The choral episodes consist of variable numbers of stanzas (commonly referred to as strophes). These episodes divide dialogue scenes from one another. During the choral episodes, the Chorus may have signalled a change in subject matter (e.g. variations of theme or perspective) by changing its physical position on stage.

A Chorus leader, known as the Coryphaeus, represents (i.e. speaks for) the entire Chorus during dialogue exchanges with individual actors. During such exchanges, the Chorus leader is not identified as such in the ancient Greek text. The original text identifies the speaker who may be the Coryphaeus simply as Chorus. The English reader will infer when it is the Chorus Leader who

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