The Oresteia

Aeschylus · 525–456 BCE · Greece

Originally Ὀρέστεια (Ancient Greek) · translated by Robert Fagles

Why it matters

Agamemnon returns from Troy to a household that has spent ten years rehearsing its revenge, and one act of violence begets another until an entire royal house is consumed by blood-debt. The only surviving Greek trilogy, and drama's founding argument that justice must replace vengeance.

At a glance

Dense, image-heavy choral odes carry much of the meaning and reward slow rereading.