Information AboutElectra |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT ELECTRA | |
| greek mythology | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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]] In Greek Mythology , several persons were named ''Electra'' (also spelled '''''Elektra'''''): ELECTRA # A Pleiad , mother of Dardanus , Iasion and Harmonia , by Zeus . # An Oceanid , daughter of Oceanus and Tethys , mother of Iris and the Harpies by Thaumas . # (Most famous "Electra") Daughter of DEATH TO AGAMEMNON According to the story, Electra (daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra) was absent from Mycenae when her father, King Agamemnon, returned from the Trojan War and was murdered by Aegisthus , Clytemnestra's lover, and/or by Clytemnestra herself. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra also killed Cassandra , Agamemnon's war prize, a prophet priestess of Troy. ORESTES Eight years later Electra brought from Athens with her brother, Orestes . ('' Odyssey '', iii. 306; X. 542). According to Pindar (''Pythia'', xi. 25), Orestes was saved by his old nurse or by Electra, and was taken to Phanote on Mount Parnassus , where King Strophius took charge of him. MATRICIDE In his twentieth year, Orestes was ordered by the Delphic Oracle to return home and avenge his father's death. According to Aeschylus , he met Electra before the tomb of Agamemnon, where both had gone to perform rites to the dead; a recognition took place, and they arranged how Orestes should accomplish his revenge. FURIES Pylades and Orestes, after the deed (sometimes with Electra helping), goes mad, and is pursued by the Erinyes , or Furies, whose duty it is to punish any violation of the ties of family piety. Electra, however, is not hounded by the Erinyes. APOLLO Orestes takes refuge in the temple at Delphi . Even though Apollo (to whom the Delphic temple was dedicated) had ordered him to do the deed, he is powerless to protect Orestes from the consequences of his actions. ATHENA At last Athena (also known as Areia) receives him on the Acropolis of Athens and arranges a formal trial of the case before twelve Attic judges. The Erinyes demand their victim; he pleads the orders of Apollo; the votes of the judges are equally divided, and Athena gives her casting vote for acquittal. In Iphigeneia In Tauris , Euripides tells the tale somewhat differently. ELECTRA AND IPHIGENIA He claims that Orestes is led by the Furies to Taurus in ancient Egypt, where his sister Iphigeneia is being held. The two meet as Orestes is led to Iphigeneia to be prepared for sacrifice to the Egyptian Gods. Iphigeneia helps her brother escape from Taurus, and the Furies, sated by the reuniting of the family, abate their persecution. ELECTRA'S LOVER, PYLADES Later, Pylades (Orestes' best friend) and Electra fell in love and married each other. Palydes was the son of King Strophius (the same one who had cared for Orestes while he hid from his mother and her lover). He helped them kill their mother and mother lover. PSYCHOLOGY The psychological disorder Electra Complex is named after her. , from an 1897 ''Stories from the Greek Tragedians'', by Alfred Church]] ADAPTATIONS OF THE ELECTRA STORY
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