Orestes (Euripides)

Data
Title:	Orestes
Original title:	Orestes
Genus:	ancient tragedy
Original language:	Greek
Author:	Euripides
Premiere:	408 BC Chr.
Place and time of the action:	Argos in mythical times, after the Trojan War
people
Orestes Elektra Pylades Menelaus Helena Hermione delivery boy Phrygians Tyndareus Apollo

Orestes (Greek Ὀρέστης) is the title of a tragedy by Euripides .

Euripides, Orestes , verses 1–23 with scholia in the Oxford manuscript, Bodleian Library , MS. Barocci 120, fol. 32r (early 14th century)

The play about the mother murderer Orestes and his sister Elektra , which is seldom played today , counted after its premiere in 408 BC. For a long time BC it was one of the most popular ancient dramas and has undergone numerous adaptations. The piece has been referred to as "melodrama", "gangster drama" and "thriller" because of its exciting and drastic plot.

action

Orestes is due to be tried for the murder of his mother, Clytaimnestra . He tries in vain to win his uncle Menelaus as savior. A messenger announces the death sentence for Orestes and his sister Elektra. Orestes follows the suggestion of his sister, Hermione , to take Menelaus' daughter hostage in order to obtain the support of the king. When Menelaus comes to save his daughter, he sees Orestes holding a knife to Hermione's throat on the roof. Suddenly the god Apollo appears , orders a stop and announces that Orestes will be acquitted by a court in Athens.

Dubbing

Manfred Trojahn's opera Orest (premier Amsterdam 2011) is based on the tragedy of Euripides.

expenditure

• Werner Biehl: Euripides, Orestes. Teubner, Leipzig 1975 (text edition)
• Charles W. Willink: Euripides, Orestes. Oxford 1986 (text edition, English translation, commentary)
• Martin L. West : Euripides, Orestes. Warminster 1987 (text edition, English translation, commentary)

literature

• Karl Reinhardt : "The crisis of meaning in Euripides" in: Reinhardt: Tradition und Geist , Göttingen 1960, 227-256