hadrian6:The Expiation of Orestes. 1810. after Richard Westall British 1765-1836. stipple engraving.
hadrian6:The Expiation of Orestes. 1810. after Richard Westall British 1765-1836. stipple engraving. http://hadrian6.tumblr.com Essentially… Orestes was absolved of killing his mother (because she killed his father). In Greek Mythology, when a mother or father was murdered, a surviving son or daughter must get revenge on the killer. But an even worst situation was that if you killed a parent, the Furies would hound you until the ends of the earth. Before the start of the Trojan War, Agamemnon offended the goddess Artemis. When he gathered the ships to sail to Troy, Artemis ask the god of the winds not to blow… stranding the ships in the harbor. An oracle said there would be no wind unless Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. He reluctantly agree and send word to his wife Clytemnestra to bring the girl to him. The terrible feed was done but Clytemnestra vowed revenged. Agamemnon returned 10 years later, triumphant. But as soon as he entered his palace Clytemnestra murdered him. Electra, their other daughter, urged her brother Orestes to get revenge. But he was in a Catch 22 - by killing Clytemnestra to avenge his father’s death, he committed the crime of killing a parent. The god Apollo commanded that Orestes kill is mother. But as soon as he did, the Furies lashed out at him as was their duty. This drove Orestes mad. Finally, the goddess Artemis agreed to help… she called for a jury of 12 to hear the case. The result - acquittal. Thus new ritual satisfies the Furies. And from that point, the accused are punish based on Man’s judgement, not the gods. -- source link