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Oresteia Questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Robert Fagles considers the "two noblest monuments" of 5th-century Athens to be what? [You will be asked to identify two from a list.] | Parthenon and Orestia |
| Robert Fagles summarizes the message of the Oresteia thus: [Know the quoted statement: | "Out of the savagery of past wars and feuds a new harmony might be created."] when is the revenge going to end. |
| What objects make up the electric chair in Jüttner's 1909 cartoon, "The Elektric Execution"? | Instruments: harp, drum, trumpet The drum makes up the actual seat and the harp makes up the chair. |
| Who rides Pegasus and when? | Bellerophon (killed the chimera); before Perseus ever existed (chronologically), no one knows the year, |
| Heracles' first canonical Labor is generally regarded as his defeat of what creature, a beast with impermeable skin? | Nemean Lion |
| The single episode of Heracles life that is often called "Hercules Furens (raging Hercules)" refers to which moment and which crime in particular? | When he kills his wife Megara and their three kids. Hera made him kill them by driving him mad |
| In Prodicus’s Choice of Heracles, who chooses what? | Heracles has to choose between vice and virtue. Choosing Vice he would live a life full of instant gratification, but choosing virtue he would face difficult obstacles that would ultimately lead him to an eternal reward. He chooses virtue. |
| According to the conventional myth, Heracles performs his labors for which particular reason? | He does it in order to overcome his sin. He was driven mad by Hera and killed is wife and children, now he is subservient to his cousin Eurysteus who made him complete 12 tasks to be cleansed of his sin. |
| What is the literal meaning of Heracles’ name? | The Glory of Hera |
| How does Heracles acquire the lion skin that becomes part of his essential iconography? | He kills the Nemean Lion in his first labor and flays it with its own claws |
| The Farnese Hercules shows the hero concealing a surprise in his right hand. What does he hold AND what abstract gift is symbolized? | The Apples of the Hesperides; immortality |
| The Farnese Hercules is a depiction of which portion of Hercules’ life and labors? | After he has completed them, in his manly glory; towards the end of his mortal life (he looks tired) |
| The establishment of the Areopagus has what particular effect on the cycle of revenge? | |
| What one divinity presides over the new order of justice after the revolution narrated in Aeschylus's Oresteia? | Athena |
| Aeschylus' version of Aegisthus' demise has him killed by whom, where, in whose company, and in what play? | Orestes, in the palace (the house of Atreus), with Pylades, in front of Clytemnestra Libation Bearers |
| Characters in Greek myths such as Orestes have a tendency to "suffer into ___________." (Cf. Aesch. Eum. 275) | Truth. |
| Aeschylus' Agamemnon begins thematically at what time of day? | the darkest part of night, right before dawn |
| Aeschylus' Oresteia reaches its thematic pinnacle of "brilliant sunlight" after ultimate darkness at which point? | After the trial of Orestes? |
| In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is primarily concerned with which one of her husband's past mistakes? | Sacrificing Iphegenia |
| Clytemnestra says that one god especially delivered the speedy sign of Troy's sack. Which god is it? | Hephaestus |
| In what ways does Clytemnestra act as an agent of revenge in the Agamemnon? | She avenges the death of her daughter and inadvertently the wrong that Atreus committed against Thyestes by serving for dinner his own children. (only Aegisthus survived the killing) |
| What is Orestes's relation to Aegisthus? | step-son unofficially by way of Aegisthus’ messed up “marriage” to Clytemnestra, officially he is his first cousin once removed (the son of Agamemnon, who is Aegisthus’s first cousin) |
| The thematic element of "matriarchal primacy" is promoted by which characters in the Oresteia? | Clytemnestra; she rebels against the patriarchal order by killing Agamemnon |
| Who stands forward first with the claim to being the agent of vengeance in Agamemnon line 264: "May happy news come with the dawn from her mother night." | Clytemnestra |
| When it is said that the Areopagus is "an institution and a place," what is meant? | It is a rocky outcrop in Athens, called “Mars Hill” and is also the name of the high court of Athens. It was a place for the counseling of the senate |
| What does the name "Areopagus" mean, literally? | Rock of Ares (or Mars Hill) |
| Where is the geographical feature that Athenians called "the Areopagus"? | Northwest of the Acropolis |
| What "prize" does Agamemnon bring home from the Trojan War? | Cassandra, the oracle and Trojan Princess |
| Why does Cassandra ignore Clytemnestra when she is brought to be a slave in the House of Atreus? | Cassandra knows her fate and that she cannot avoid it, she is going to die. Another possibility is that she did not know the language |
| The closing moments of the Agamemnon bring which individuals on the stage each claiming to have killed the warlord? | Clytemnestra and Aegisthus |
| In the "Carpet Scene" of the Agamemnon, Agamemnon expresses reason(s) for not wanting to tread the purple tapestry that Clytemnestra spreads before him. His reasoning includes what point(s) from the following list. | It’s pampering like a woman receives 2. He didn’t want gawping or obeisance 3. Those things are for the gods 4. he should be treated like a man, not a god |
| In the "Carpet Scene" of the Agamemnon, Clytemnestra ultimately prevails over Agamemnon, concluding with which one point (paraphrased) from among those the following list? | If Priam had won the war he would have walked on the carpet |
| According to Aeschylus, which weapon does Clytemnestra use to murder Agamemnon? | An axe |
| Who are the Erinyes and what is their relation to the Furies? | They are the same.The Furies(Erinyes) become the Eumenides |
| Aeschylus' Athena clarifies the establishment of the Areopagus, making a connection to what historical political event? | Ephialtes suggestion to restrict the judicial power of the Areopagus, he was murdered; Aeschylus writes the Orestia four years later. |
| From a literary-historical perspective what is unique about the survival of Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy? | It is the only complete Greek trilogy to survive antiquity to this day. Only 7 plays out of Aeschylus's 80 survived antiquity |
| Where does Orestes meet his sister Electra when he first returns? | At the tomb of his father, Agamemnon, as she goes to pour libations there |
| In Caracci’s painting “Heracles choice,” what is represented by the figure writing in a book crouched to the right of the female personification of virtue? | A historian about to record Heracles’ choice |
| According to Aeschylus where is Orestes when Agamemnon is killed? Where is he when Cassandra is killed? | When Agamemnon and Cassandra are killed, Orestes is staying with Strophius the Phocian in Phocis. He has been exiled by Clytmenestra |
| Who constitutes the chorus’ in each play of the Oresteia? (WARNING: Know this well. The question is tricky on the exam.) | Agamemnon: old men of Argos (they were too old to fight in the war); Libation Bearers: woman slaves; Eumenides: Chorus 1-Furies, Chorus 2-Athena’s female temple attendants |
| The chorus learns from Cassandra herself (Ag. 1206 ff.) that she "consented to Loxias, ... [but] cheated him." What does she mean? | Apollo was outraged and added a condition to the gift: though Cassandra would always speak the truth, no one would ever believe her. Apollo is Loxias |
| How is Cassandra, according to the words Aeschylus has her speak, blessed with Apollo's curse (of prophecy)? | Cassandra is blessed with the gift of prophecy, but because she broke her promise to bear Apollo a child, he cursed her so that no one would believe/understand the things she prophesied. |
| Who speaks the first lines in the Oresteia and where? | The watchman from his watch tower in Argos |
| The Oresteia contains many allusions to "third" things — "third libations" or "third, saving Zeus" and so forth — because it is expected that Orestes' act of murder closes a cycle. (Choe. 561ff.) If the death of Clytemnestra/Aegisthus is the third act of | 1. Atreus boiling Thyestes’ children and feeding them to him, 2. the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra. -or- 1. Death of Iphigenia 2. Death of Agamemnon |
| To whom was Cassandra referring when she prophesied “infants weeping for their slaughter, and over their roasted flesh which their father devoured.” | Thyestes children. Cassandra was referring to when Agamemnon's father, Atreus, roasted his brother's, Thyestes’ children, excluding Aegisthus and fed them to him |
| According to his own pronouncement late in Agamemnon, Aegisthus’ plot against Agamemnon was motivated primarily by what? | The event in which Agamemnon's father, Atreus fed Aegisthus's brothers to their father, Thyestes, and also to usurp power and authority as the new king because of Agamemnon's father and his father's conflict in the past for the throne. |
| Cannibalism is a theme among Tantalus's descendants. Who in the family's sordid history gets eaten and by whom? | Tantalus’s son Pelops’s shoulder is eaten by Demeter, Thyestes children are eaten by Thyestes |
| How did Clytemnestra know, almost in an instant, that Troy had been sacked? | Surrounding islands have taken up torches to signify the sack of Troy. |
| What had Calchas promised would happen if Agamemnon killed his daughter? | The winds would calm for the Greek army to sail to Troy. A seer told Agamemnon that he could please Artemis and gain favorable winds by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess. The king tricked Clytemnestra into sending Iphigenia to him by sayin |
| What are Clytemnestra’s first words to Agamemnon upon his return home? | She explains why Orestes is not there with them. |
| Who says the following and to whom? “I have been taught amid my ordeal.” | Orestes to the Furies (p. 93) |
| What are the names and order of birth of Agamemenon's children? | Chrysothemis?, Iphigenia, Orestes, Elektra |
| What place/institution stands at the center of Athens, where Paul preached a sermon on the unknown God? | Mars Hill or Areopagus |
| What essential change comes over the Furies, by their own admission, that allows them to become "Eumenides"? | They allow themselves to accept the offer of Athena |
| After the Chorus in Agamemnon, which character delivers the next most lines in that play? | Clytemnestra |
| According to the Oresteia, which divinity demanded the blood of Iphigenia and why? | Artemis, to provide the warriors with wind leading them correctly on their journey |
| What do Orestes and Pylades first see upon returning home? | Chorus of women slaves and Electra mourning Agamemnon’s death |
| Who delivers the first line in the Agamemnon? | The “Watchman” (Ag. line 1 pg3) |
| What is Electra's first clue that her brother Orestes had returned home at the beginning of the Libation Bearers? | She sees a lock of Orestes’ cut hair on the tomb of Agamemnon (Libation Bearers line 164-180 pg 56) |
| What does Pylades do in the Libation Bearers? | He is a representative of and the mouth piece for Apollo. His only line is when Orestes hesitates to kill Clytemnestra. He reminds Orestes of his duties to Apollo, saying that one would rather make enemies of all men than anger the Gods. |
| What is the importance of the opening statements between the chorus and Clytemnestra in the Agamemnon? | It tells of the happenings of the Trojan War and of Agamemnon's homecoming which is soon to happen. |
| Why does Cassandra not go inside the palace when Clytemnestra invites her? | She knows she is about to die. She makes one final speech and then meets her unavoidable death |
| Greek tragic convention keeps the audience from seeing a character killed on stage. How does the audience know Agamemnon is dead? | Clytemnestra wields an ax and Agamemnon has some off stage lines stating that he has been struck with a fatal blow. Sometimes a tableau of the dead bodies is shown. |
| Who was present at Orestes' "trial"? | Athena, Apollo, the furies, and the jurors (citizens of Athens) |
| What reason does Apollo give for visiting the chorus at his temple in the Eumenides? | To tell them to leave the temple because they are “not fit to come to this temple.” |
| Who is Clytemnestra's mother? Father? | Leda,Tyndareus (lxxvi “Family Tree” page) |
| How does Orestes conceal himself upon his homecoming? | Disguises himself as a merchant |
| What are the Furies doing as Apollo tells Orestes to leave Delphi and travel to Athens? | sleeping |
| Why does the chorus find it so hard to believe the word of Clytemnestra concerning the fall of Troy, but not the word of the messenger? | She is a woman. The chorus does not understand how the fire signal worked and why she was able to get a message so quickly |
| What is the ultimate fate of Priam's daughter who was wrestled away from the Palladium during the sack of Troy? | She (Cassandra) is slaughtered by Clytemnestra |
| How is Agamemnon related to Helen and therefore involved in the Trojan War? | She is his sister-in-law. Helen married his brother Menelaus but had an affair/eloped with Paris of Troy. |
| Under what circumstances does the endless cycle of revenge end in the Oresteia? | An intermediary had to step in (the gods) to pronounce final judgement (Athena). The end of the Eumenides. |
| Where was Orestes when Agamemnon returned from the war, and how does Agamemnon learn about it? | When Agamemnon returns home the first thing Clytemnestra tells him is Orestes is away traveling with his cousin. She says that he is being brought up by his war-ally Strophius the Phocian (p. 24-25), but in reality he is exiled. |
| What character says in Eumenides "I say you are driving Orestes into exile unjustly!" AND how does that character justify the assertion? | Apollo, he justifies it saying that the agreement between a husband and a wife is more sacred than that of guardianship and if the furies do not hold them accountable they are unjustly pursuing Orestes. (p. 91, ln. 213-224) |
| What character in the Eumenides says that "I approve the masculine in everything — except for union with it — with all my heart"? | Athena |
| Who in the Oresteia urges the Furies to “lull the black waves of your anger in its bitter force to sleep, for you are to be honoured with awe, and be the sharer of my home.” | Athena (bottom of p. 107-108) |
| Who in the Oresteia says this and to which divinity in particular? “You younger gods! The ancient laws — you have ridden them down. You have taken them out of your hands for yourselves!” | Furies, to Athena (Eumenides line 777ish pg 106) |
| Which divinity enters the Eumenides claiming to have been summoned from the Scamander, the river of Troy? | Athena (Eumenides line 397ish pg 96) “From far away I heard a cry summoning me from Scamander...” |
| When Athena and the jurors make their final judgement, the Furies are still angry. What does Athena offer them to appease them? | She offers them a place in her home, a hidden abode seated on gleaming thrones full of honor from the people in Athens, an abode untroubled by all distress and that no house in Athens will thrive without her. (p. 107-108) |
| Who ultimately judges Orestes and determines his fate? | Athena (p. 105) |
| What do the Furies say is their reason for not pursuing Clytemnestra for killing her husband? | One reason is that she is not his “blood” relation, there may be more. If anyone knows of more, please update this comment. :) |
| Why are the Furies reluctant to accept Athena's not-guilty verdict when it is pronounced upon Orestes? | they claimed that his new way has "ridden down" the ancient laws. "you have taken them out of my hands for yourselves" they say they were dishonored, laughed at, etc. pg 106 |
| What does Apollo do to the Furies to help Orestes get to Athens? | Makes them go to sleep |
| Which divinity converses with Orestes on stage first and in which play of the Oresteia? | Apollo, Eumenides |
| In Eumenides 320 ff. and 415 ff., whom do the Furies claim as their mother? | Night |
| What does Athena give as her ultimate reason for siding with Orestes at his trial? (Cf. Eum. 733 - 743) | Athena: “because there is no mother who game me birth and I approve of the masculine in everything.-except for union with it-with all my heart.; and I am very much my father’s; so I will set a higher value on the death of a women who killed her husband, a |
| Clytemnestra's final appearance in the Oresteia occurs in which play and in which circumstances? | In the Eumenides, she appears as a ghost. She awakes and sends the Furies to go persecute Orestes. (p. 88-89) |
| What is Apollo's last argument in defense of Orestes? | That the mother is not really a parent just a host for the embryo and that there can be fathers without mothers (using Athena as an example) Apollo: “The so-called mother is no parent of a child, nut nurturer of a newly seeded embryo; the parent is the o |
| Who says the following in Eumenides (line 995ff): "Greetings, people of Athens, so dear to the dear maiden, ... Beneath Pallas' wing you have due respect from her father." | Chorus of furies (p. 112) |
| When confronted by the Furies, how does Orestes report his involvement in his mother's murder? | He reported that he was the one who killed her by the oracle of Apollo and with his father’s support. (p. 93) |
| Heracles 1st task is... | To kill the Nemean lion. |
| 2nd task... | To destroy the Lernaean Hydra. |
| 3rd task... | To capture the Ceryneian Hind. |
| 4th task... | To capture the Erymanthian Boar. |
| 5th task... | To clean the Augean Stables. |
| 6th task... | To kill the Stymphalian Birds. |
| 7th task... | To capture the Cretan Bull. |
| 8th task... | To round up the Mares of Diomedes. |
| 9th task... | To steal the Girdle of Hippolyte. |
| 10th task... | To herd the Cattle of Geryon. |
| 11th task... | To fetch the Apples of Hesperides. |
| 12th task... | To capture Cerberus. |
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