The Trial of Orestes
After killing Clytemnestra to avenge Agamemnon, Orestes is pursued by the Erinyes and brought to judgment at Athens. Athena establishes a court whose verdict brings the House of Atreus revenge cycle toward an end.
The Story
Orestes reached Athens while still pursued by the Erinyes.
He appealed to Athena for judgment.
The dispute could not easily be resolved.
Orestes had killed Clytemnestra.
The Erinyes demanded punishment because a son had shed the blood of his mother.
Orestes and Apollo argued that the killing had been committed as vengeance for Agamemnon, who had himself been murdered.
Athena refused to settle the matter through another act of divine force.
Instead, in Aeschylus' Eumenides, she established a court of citizens to hear the case.
The opposing claims were presented.
The Erinyes defended the ancient duty to punish bloodshed within the family.
Apollo defended Orestes and the command to avenge Agamemnon.
The judges voted.
The result allowed Orestes to be acquitted.
But Athena did not simply humiliate or destroy the Erinyes.
Their power was acknowledged.
She persuaded them to accept an honoured place within the order of Athens.
The meaning of the story therefore extends far beyond Orestes himself.
For generations, the House of Atreus had answered murder with murder.
Atreus punished Thyestes.
Aegisthus killed Atreus.
Clytemnestra and Aegisthus killed Agamemnon.
Orestes killed them in return.
At Athens, the pattern finally changed.
A dispute over blood vengeance was placed before a court.
Justice became something judged by a community rather than carried out endlessly by another member of the family.
Why was Orestes put on trial? Orestes had killed his mother Clytemnestra while avenging the murder of his father Agamemnon. The act fulfilled a duty of vengeance but also constituted matricide, bringing the Erinyes against him.
What happened at the Trial of Orestes? In Aeschylus' Eumenides, Orestes reaches Athens and seeks protection from Athena. Instead of allowing the conflict to continue through another killing, Athena establishes a court to hear the case.
Apollo supports Orestes, while the Erinyes prosecute him for the murder of his mother. The dispute therefore places two forms of obligation against one another: vengeance for a murdered father and punishment for the killing of a mother.
The judges cast their votes. When the result is tied, Athena gives the deciding vote in favour of Orestes, and he is acquitted.
Why did Athena acquit Orestes? Within Aeschylus' drama, Athena's vote resolves the deadlock and prevents the blood feud from continuing indefinitely. The reasoning expressed in the play also reflects ancient ideas about kinship that are very different from modern biological understanding.
What happened to the Erinyes after the trial? Athena does not simply defeat or expel them. She persuades them to accept an honoured place within the new order of Athens. They become associated with the Eumenides, the 'Kindly Ones', receiving respect rather than continuing their pursuit of Orestes.
Why is the Trial of Orestes important? The trial transforms the meaning of the House of Atreus story. A family that has answered murder with murder for generations finally reaches a point where judgment replaces private revenge.
The sequence from the Murder of Agamemnon through the Revenge of Orestes to the Trial of Orestes therefore forms one continuous story: murder creates revenge, revenge creates another crime, and formal judgment finally offers a way to stop the cycle.
Key Figures
House of Atreus
From Murder to Judgment
Follow the final cycle of the House of Atreus: Agamemnon's murder leads to Orestes' revenge, which in turn leads to his trial at Athens.
Why It Matters
In Aeschylus' Oresteia, the trial provides the great resolution of the House of Atreus cycle. Private blood vengeance gives way to institutional judgment, while the Erinyes are incorporated into a new civic and religious order rather than simply defeated.
Traditions & Variations
The courtroom resolution is most famously developed in Aeschylus' Eumenides. Other traditions concerning Orestes describe different forms of purification, exile and later adventures, so the Athenian trial should not be treated as the only ancient version of his fate.