A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

42 ORESTES. ORESTES.
opportunity of seeing him. (Od. xi. 542.) In the According to another modification of the legend,
eighth year after his father's murder Orestes came Orestes consulted Apollo, how he could be delivered
from Athens to Mycenae and slew the murderer of from his madness and incessant wandering. The
his father, and at the same time'solemnised the god advised him to go to Tauris in Scythia, and
burial of Aegisthus and of his mother, and for the thence to fetch the image of Artemis, which was
revenge he had taken he gained great fame among (Eurip. Iph. Taur. 79, &c., 968, &c.) believed to
mortals. (Od. i. 30, 298, iii. 306, &c., iv. 546.) have there fallen from heaven, and to carry it to
This slender outline of the story of Orestes has Athens. (Comp. Paus. iii. 16. ~ 6.) Orestes and
been spun out and embellished in various ways by Pylades accordingly went to Tauris, where Thoas
the tragic poets. Thus it is said that at the mur- was king, and on their arrival they were seized by
der of Agamemnon it was intended also to despatch the natives, in order to be sacrificed to Artemis,
Orestes, but that Electra secretly entrusted him according to the custom of the country. But
to the slave who had the management of him. Iphigeneia, the priestess of Artemis, was the sister
This slave carried the boy to Strophius, king in of Orestes, and, after having recognised each other,
Phocis, who was married to Anaxibia, the sister of all three escaped with the statue of the goddess.
Agamemnon. According to some, Orestes was (Eurip. Iph. Taur. 800, 1327, &c.)
saved by his nurse Geilissa (Aeschyl. Choeph. 732) After his return Orestes took possession of his
or by Arsinoe or Laodameia (Pind. Pyth. xi. 25, father's kingdom at Mycenae, which had been
with the Schol.), who allowed Aegisthus to kill usurped by Aletes or Menelaus; and when Cylaher own child, thinking that it was Orestes. In rabes of Argos died without leaving any heir,
the house of Strophius, Orestes grew up together Orestes also became king of Argos. The Lacedaewith the king's son Pylades, with whom he formed monians made him their king of their own accord,
that close and intimate friendship which has because they preferred him, the grandson of
almost become proverbial. (Eurip. Orest. 804, Tyndareus, to Nicostratus and Megapenthes, the
&c.) Being frequently reminded by messengers of sons of Menelaus by a slave. The Arcadians and
Electra of the necessity of avenging his father's Phocians increased his power by allying themdeath, he consulted the oracle of Delphi, which selves with him. (Paus. ii. 18. ~ 5, iii. 1. ~ 4;
strengthened him in his plan. He therefore re- Philostr. Her. 6; Pind. Pyth. xi. 24.) He married
paired in secret, and without being known to any Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus, and became
one, to Argos. (Soph. Elect. 11, &c., 35, 296, by her the father of Tisamenus. (Paus. ii. 18.
531, 1346; Eurip. Elect. 1245, Orest. 162.) He ~ 5.) He is said to have led colonists from Sparta
pretended to be a messenger of Strophius, who had to Aeolis, and the town of Argos Oresticum in
come to announce the death of'Orestes, and Epeirus is said to have been founded by him at
brought the ashes of the deceased. (Soph. Elect. the time when he wandered about in his madness.
1110.) After having visited his father's tomb, (Strab. vii. p. 326, xiii. p. 582; Pind. NAfeo7. xi.
and sacrificed upon it a lock of his hair, he made 42, with the Schol.) In his reign the Dorians
himself known to his sister Electra, who was ill under Hyllus are said to have invaded Peloponnsed by Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra, and dis- nesus. (Paus. viii. 5. ~ 1.) He died of the bite
cussed his plan of revenge with her, which was of a snake in Arcadia (Schol. ad Euzr. Or. 1640),
speedily executed, for both Aegisthus and Cly- and his body, in accordance with an oracle, was
taemnestra were slain by his hand in the palace. afterwards conveyed from Tegea to Sparta, and
(Soph. Elect. 1405; Aeschyl. Choeph. 931; comp. there buried. (Paus. iii. 11. ~ 8.) In a war
Eurip. Elect. 625, 671, 774, &c., 969, &c., 1165, between the Lacedaemonians and Tegeatans, a
&c., who differs in several points from Sophocles.) truce was concluded, and during this truce the
Immediately after the murder' of his mother he Lacedaemonian Lichas found the remains of
was seized by madness; he perceived the Erinnyes Orestes at Tegea or Thyrea in the house of a
of his mother and took to flight. Sophocles does blacksmith, and thence took them to Sparta,
not mention this as the immediate consequence of which according to an oracle could not gain the
the deed, and the tragedy ends where Aegisthus is victory unless it possessed the remains of Orestes.
led to death; but, according to Euripides, Orestes (Herod. i. 67, &c.; Paus. iii. 3. ~ 6, viii. 54. ~ 3.)
not only becomes mad; but as the Argives, in According to an Italian legend, Orestes brought
their indignation, wanted to stone him and Electra the image of the Taurian Artemis to Aricia, whence
to death, and as Menelaus refused to save them, it was carried in later times to Sparta; and
Pylades and Orestes murdered Helena, and her Orestes himself was buried at Aricia, whence his
body was removed by the gods. Orestes also remains were afterwards carried to Rome. (Serv.
threatened Menelaus to kill his daughter Her- ad Aen. ii. 116.)
mione; but by the intervention of Apollo, the dis- There are three other mythical personages of the
pute was allayed, and Orestes betrothed himself to name of Orestes, concerning whom nothing of inHermione, and Pylades to Electra. But, accord- terest is related. (Hom. Il. v. 705, xii. 1 39, 193;
ing to the common account, Orestes fled from land Apollod. i. 7. ~ 3.) [L. S.]
to land, pursued by the Erinnyes of his mother. ORESTES ('Opeo'Trs), regent of Italy during
On the advice of Apollo, he took refuge with the short reign of his infant son1 Romulus AngusAthena at Athens. The goddess afforded him tulus, from the 29th of August, A. D. 475, to the
protection, and appointed the court of the Areio- 28th of August, 476. As his history is given in
pagus to decide his fate. The Erinnyes brought the lives of Romulus Augustulus, Nepos, and
forward their accusation, and Orestes made Odoacer, we need only add here a few remarks.
the command of tile Delphic oracle his excuse. He was a Roman by origin, but born in Pannonia,
When the court voted, and was equally divided, and when Attila conquered that province, he and
Orestes was acquitted by the command of Athena. his father Tatulus both entered the service of the
(Acschyl. Eumenides.) He therefore dedicated conqueror till the death of the latter and the downan altar to Athena Areia. (Panus. i. 28. ~ 5.) fai of the H1unlnic empire. Orestes held the office