The Oresteia Trilogy” is the three plays of “Agamemnon,” “The Libation Bearers,” and “The Eumenides,” all written by Greek playwright Aeschylus. In these works, and in most of ancient Greek literature, the same basic theme prevails: the concept and ethics of revenge. 

“The Eumenides” was the third and final play of the trilogy. Eumenides were monstrous beings from the underworld, and it was explained in this poem that Greeks referred to them as “eumenides” while Romans referred to them as “furies” as they were described in previous plays. Greatly feared by the population, the furies were described as “goddesses of hate” by Apollo. The Olympian gods had long-standing animosity with the gods of the underworld. Oretes was lured outside the city of Athens, which was safe and was caught by the furies. The furies claimed Orestes was without hope and would be taken to the underworld for justice. Thankfully for him, Orestes was being protected by Apollo. The goddess Athena assembled a court in the underworld for Orestes’ trial, but she stated that she could not save Orestes. Going on she proclaimed that without the furies, there would be murder in families because of the lack of retribution handed down by the furies. 

Eventually, the furies consented to the trial but quarreled with Apollo over whose system of justice is sovereign. The jury was made of citizens of Athens and was divided, and the vote came down to Athena’s ballot. Orestes was finally set free, although this angered the furies who vowed revenge on Athens, but were later compelled by Athena to not destroy the city. Athena predicted prosperity and military victory for Athens, and the citizens pledged loyalty to her. The city’s religion triumphed over the underworld, making the jury the source of justice in Athens. The conflict between the gods of the underworld and the Olympian gods was eventually settled because the people of Athens promised to offer sacrifice to the Olympian gods, the gods of the hearth, and the underworld gods. Also, the city gained autonomy by means of its sacrifices and jury system. 

During the reign of Augustus Caesar from 14-180 AD, there was little turmoil and general peace, earning his rule the name “Pax Romana” or Roman peace. Augustus created a large standing army at all times, a different approach from earlier eras when there was only a standing army during times of war. Conquering Egypt with 60 legions, Augustus still kept 28 in service. The plan was to instantly obliterate anyone who decided to attack Rome. Following the reign of Augustus, there was stability at some times, with there being some good emperors but also some horrible emperors who took the throne during the second century. 

Augustus had complete power over Rome and was feared. However, he was not known as especially brutal and was still generally considered to be a great emperor. He managed to acquire massive amounts of troops because of conscription. Augustus died towards the end of the first century with no male heir, so his wife’s son Tiberius, was named emperor. 

Tiberius had a mostly uneventful reign (14-37) yet power became even more centralized to the emperor under his leadership. From 37-41 AD, Caligula ruled over the Roman Empire. He was insane, cruel, and believed himself to be a god. This theme of the emperor being divine would continue with later emperors. The people of Rome hated this and such emperors would usually end up getting assassinated. For instance, Caligula even made a temple to himself and was murdered by the Praetorian guard because of this. 

After Caligula’s reign, Claudius took the throne and inherited an awful situation, with Rome being in massive debt and rebellion breaking out across the empire. Claudius turned out to be a competent emperor and saved Rome from these troubles. One of the most infamous Roman rulers ever, Nero, ruled from 54-68 and was apparently said to have been sane and sensible during his first five years as emperor. In the second half of his reign, Nero was known for tyranny and especially mass killings of Christains. His most heinous crimes include murdering his own mother for annoying him, burning the bodies of Christains to light his garden, and lighting the city of Rome on fire for an unknown reason. Obviously, Nero was despised by the people who caused a rebellion, leading Nero to commit suicide. The rule from Tiberus to Nero is known as the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. 

A large power gap was left after Nero’s death and in 69 AD is remembered as “The Year of the Four Emperors.” Eventually Vespasian took power ruling for 10 years and his sons continued what is known as the Flavian Dynasty. Under Vespasian, Rome stabilized, continuing the cycle of the situation getting out of control under an incompetent emperor and then being saved by a good emperor. Some notable events during the Flavian Dynasty include: the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD under Vespasian and the Colosseum in Rome being constructed in 80 AD under Vespasian’s son Titus. Roman art and engineering flourished during this time as impressive aqueducts were built and many works of art were made, being almost completely copied off of Greek art. 

The Greek poet and playwright Aeschylus wrote “The Libation Bearers” as a sequel to “Agamemnon”. Its name comes from the ancient Greek religious practice of Libation, which is a basic showing of piety that you do often to appease the gods and dead humans. In the story, the dead were not being appeased because libations were not offered. Differing from “Agamemnon”, the chorus is made up of captured Trojan slaves who converted to Greek religion. 

In this play Zeus is once again in charge, yet seems to always be in the background instead of making every decision. Still, everyone praises Zeus since this was basic to Greek thought. The god Apollo is the most important of the Olympians in this play. Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, promises Apollo that he will kill his father’s murderers, but Apollo has to validate the legitimacy of this oath. He eventually does at the conclusion. There is another set of gods called the “furies” or “hounds.” They are gods of retribution and avenge people who have been murdered. Described as being relentless in their revenge, they are feared by the characters. 

One of the other vital Olympian gods in “The Libation Bearers” is Hermes who is a messenger of Zeus to the underground gods. He is known as a trickster and will sometimes change Zeus’ message to get what he wants. There are gods of the “hearth” who provide the well-being and success of each individual family, and they are the ones that must be offered Libations. Fate, time, fear, and justice are described as invisible forces or gods themselves. Like in “Agamemnon”, bloodshed is dealt with by more bloodshed; justice is constant and merciless. Fate is a large part of the story; the outcome of men’s actions depend on it. The succession of Agamemnon’s family is unclear and we don’t know if Orestes becomes the ruler, but in the end, Orestes kills his father’s murderers fulfilling the oath.