Will I love Oresteia?

My journey to specialising in gender and revenge in ancient Athens began when I read this trilogy of tragedies by Aeschylus in the original ancient Greek. These plays captivated me because of their stunningly powerful and breathtakingly beautiful use of imagery and language.

The characters are equally striking, especially the clever and determined queen Clytemnestra, a ruthless and duplicitous killer who murders her husband in the bath. In turn, her son Orestes is faced with the dreadful prospect of killing his own mother to avenge the death of his father. Performing matricide brings forth the terrifying Erinyes, goddesses of vengeance,… show more.

The three extant plays in Aeschylus' Orestaia trilogy - Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides - form one of the cornerstones of western literature. Written in 5th century BCE Athens, they tell the story of a family, in which Fate and the Gods decree that each generation repeat the crimes and endure the suffering of their forebears. All classical Greek drama was, in some way, political and these are no exception, showing how, with the help of Athena a new system of laws, determined by men, can halt the never-ending cycles of violence.

Some of the poetry is stunning. And from… show more.