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Aeschylus, Choephoroi 2751

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

T. C. Owtram
Affiliation:
Lucca

Abstract

This line, composed of only three words, occurs near the beginning of a speech in which Orestes, having revealed himself to his sister, is passing on to her and toa sympathetic chorus consisting of slaves in the royal palace at Argos, the gist of the instructions Apollo, through his oracle at Delphi, has given him about avenging his murdered father. The God, less merciful than the ghost of King Hamlet, has ordered him to kill his mother as well as her paramour.

Type
Shorter Notes
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1978

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References

1 The usual English title is ‘The Libation Bearers’. It is doubtful whether this literal translation of the Greek title means much to the average English reader, since we do not normally associate libations with death. ‘The Mourners’ or ‘The Last Rites’ would perhaps be better.