The Image of the Ilioupersis in Aischylos’ Agamemnon

Aischylos’ Oresteia trilogy begins with the nostos of Agamemnon, with the ill-omened homecoming which follows the king’s long awaited victory over the Trojans. And as in the epic tradition of Troy’s fall, where the Ilioupersis launches the Achaians on their disastrous homeward journeys, so too in Aischylos’ Agamemnon the Ilioupersis opens the final chapter in the life of an Achaian hero. Over the first 800 lines of the play, while awaiting the imminent arrival of the victorious king on stage, we repeatedly hear reflections and recollections of his recent victory--from the chorus a memory of a distant omen, from Klytaimestra a provocative vision of distant events, a first eyewitness account from the messenger, and finally a report from the conqueror himself. Through these varied and sometimes contradictory recollections Aischylos projects a mysterious, haunting image of Troy’s destruction into the drama of events at Argos.

Art · Art history · Chorus · Drama · EPIC · HERO · Homecoming · Literature · Trilogy · Victory · Byzantine Studies and History · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Law