Iliktirā: Persian 1401

Euripides' Electra is a play probably written in the mid-410s BC, possibly before 413 BC. Years before the start of the play, near the start of the Trojan War, the Greek general Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter to appease the goddess Artemis. While his sacrifice allowed the Greek army to march on Troy, it caused deep resentment in his wife Clytemnestra. Ten years later, when Agamemnon returned from the Trojan War, Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murdered him. The play begins with the introduction of Electra, the daughter of Clytemnestra and the late Agamemnon. The enduring popularity of the Oresteia trilogy (produced in 458 BC) is famous for Euripides' creation of the recognition scene between Orestes and Electra, which mocks Achilles' play. In Euripides' version of the story, Electra is thrown out of the royal household and married a poor farmer to prevent her from having children of quite high status to avenge Agamemnon's death. One day two strangers arrive at his door. Although they do not introduce themselves, they are in fact Electra's exiled brother Orestes and his friend Pleiades. As he invites them in and tells them his story, an old servant recognizes Orestes from a childhood wound and...