Devoir de Philosophie

Orestes

Publié le 22/02/2012

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Greek The only son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra; brother of Electra, Iphigenia, and Chrysothemis. Orestes killed his mother, who had killed her husband, Agamemnon. According to some accounts, the Furies drove Orestes mad for the unforgivable crime of matricide. He took refuge in Athens. He was tried and acquitted at the court of Areopagus, a tribunal of Athenian judges. He then took possession of his dead father's kingdom and married Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Matricide had always been regarded as a terrible crime, but in this myth, a court finds the son, Orestes, innocent. Zeus, Apollo, and Athene had championed his cause in this trial. Orestes absolution represents the final triumph of patriarchy over the old pre-Hellenic religions and customs.

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