Orestes

Orestes, in Greek mythology, son of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Clytemnestra. He was still a child when his mother and her lover, Aegisthus, murdered Agamemnon. Orestes' older sister Electra, fearing for the boy's life, sent him to live with their uncle Strophius, king of Phocis. There Orestes grew up with Pylades, son of Strophius, who became his lifelong companion. When he reached maturity, Orestes realized that he had a sacred duty to avenge the death of his father, but the crime of matricide, the act of killing one's mother, was abhorrent to him. He consulted the oracle at Delphi and was advised to kill the two who had murdered his father. With Pylades he returned to Mycenae and slew his mother and Aegisthus. Pursued by the avenging goddesses the Erinyes, Orestes wandered through many lands. Finally, at the command of the god Apollo, he went to Athens to plead his cause before the goddess Athena and a council of Athenian nobles on the hill known as the Areopagus. The Erinyes prosecuted, and Orestes defended himself. When Athena and the other judges voted, the votes were found to be equally divided. Athena ruled that in cases of equally divided votes the defendant should be acquitted, which settled the case and established a principle of Athenian law.

According to the dramas of Greek playwright Euripides, some of the Erinyes refused to accept the verdict and continued to pursue Orestes. In despair he again consulted the Delphic oracle. He was advised to go to the land of the Taurians (now Crimea) and steal the sacred image of Artemis from the temple of the goddess. With Pylades he went to the temple and discovered that the priestess was his sister Iphigenia, whom he had thought to be dead. With her help he stole the sacred statue and returned with it to Mycenae. Thereafter the Erinyes let Orestes live in peace.