Iphigeneia, Orestes, and Pylades escaped from Tauris.

The two met when Orestes and Pylades were brought to Iphigenia to be prepared for sacrifice to Artemis. In his version, Orestes was led by the Furies to Tauris on the Black Sea, where his sister Iphigenia was being held. In Iphigeneia in Tauris, Euripides tells the tale somewhat differently. They pursue Orestes, urging him to end his life. The Erinyes or Furies, whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety, fulfill this curse with their torment. Orestes and his friend Pylades, son of King Strophius of Phocis and Anaxibia, killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus (in some accounts with Electra helping).īefore her death, Clytemnestra cursed Orestes. When Orestes was twenty, the Oracle of Delphi ordered him to return home and avenge his father's death.Īccording to Aeschylus, Orestes recognized Electra's face before the tomb of Agamemnon, where both had gone to perform rites to the dead, and they arranged how Orestes should accomplish his revenge. 25), Orestes was saved either by his old nurse or by Electra, and was taken to Phanote on Mount Parnassus, where King Strophius took charge of him. In some versions of this story, Iphigenia was saved by the goddess at the last moment.Įight years later, Electra returned home from Athens at the same time as her brother, Orestes. Clytemnestra had held a grudge against her husband for sacrificing their eldest daughter, Iphigenia, to the goddess Artemis in exchange for a fair wind so that he could set sail for Troy.

Upon their arrival, Agamemnon and Cassandra were murdered, by either Clytemnestra herself, her lover Aegisthus, or both. When he came back, he brought with him his war prize, the Trojan princess Cassandra, who had already borne him twin sons.

380–370 BC, Louvre (K 544)Įlectra was absent from Mycenae when her father, King Agamemnon, returned from the Trojan War. Orestes, Electra and Hermes at the tomb of Agamemnon, lucanian red-figure pelike, c.

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