She hopes that these offerings to Agamemnon’s spirit will appease him. The Chorus explains that the queen has had an ominous dream, in which she gave birth to a snake, which then killed her. Then he asks why Clytemnestra is making offerings to the husband she murdered. Orestes reveals that the god Apollo has sent him to avenge Agamemnon, threatening him with leprosy if he does not comply. Eventually, brother and sister pray together to their father’s spirit, asking for Clytemnestra’s destruction. The Chorus encourages Orestes and Electra to compare their love for their father and their hatred for their mother. After a joyful reunion, Electra explains that she and the Chorus have been sent to the tomb by Clytemnestra. Spotting footprints, she follows them behind the tomb and finds Orestes. Noticing Orestes’ hair on the tomb, she is amazed by its similarity to her own. She prays that her brother will return to avenge her father. Orestes’ sister Electra arrives, followed by the Chorus, a group of slave women who are carrying offerings for Agamemnon.Įlectra mourns her father and then begins to curse her mother, Clytemnestra. At the sound of approaching footsteps, Orestes and Pylades hide. He cuts off a lock of his hair as an offering to his father’s spirit and, talking to his companion Pylades, he reveals that he has returned to Mycenae to avenge Agamemnon’s murder.

His son Orestes has arrived at the tomb, having secretly returned to the kingdom. The play opens at the burial mound of Agamemnon, former king of Mycenae. Exploring themes of justice and duty, The Libation Bearers is one of the most important surviving examples of ancient Greek tragedy and one of the most significant and influential works of Western literature. The play depicts the murder of Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae, by her son Orestes, who is duty-bound to revenge Clytemnestra’s murder of his father, Agamemnon. The Libation Bearers is an ancient Greek tragedy, written in the middle of the fifth century BCE by the Athenian playwright Aeschylus.

The libation bearers