Electra

Electra stole away her brother Orestes after Agamemnon’s murder. Clytemnestra and Aigisthos had killed Agamemnon and controlled the household at Mycenae. Orestes was still young, so Electra removed him from their reach and entrusted him to Strophios the Phocian. Strophios received him into his own household and raised him with his son, Pylades. The two boys grew up together, and Pylades later accompanied Orestes in his return to Mycenae. Homer does not mention Pylades, but a later account names them together as the avengers of Agamemnon. When Orestes reached manhood, he went to Delphi and asked Apollo whether he should take vengeance on his father’s murderers. The god authorised the act. Orestes then left for Mycenae in secret, with Pylades beside him, and killed Aigisthos and his mother, Clytemnestra. Other accounts give less attention to Clytemnestra and focus on Aigisthos as the principal killer and Orestes as the avenger. In the revenge story told by Homer, the matricide is not stated directly. Later poetry presents Electra praying at Agamemnon’s tomb and calling on his ghost to send Orestes home and punish his killers. After the killings, Orestes was struck by madness and pursued by the Furies. He fled to Athens, where he was tried before the Areiopagos. The accuser was variously said to be the Furies, Tyndareus, or Erigone, the daughter of Aigisthos and Clytemnestra. The votes were evenly divided, and Orestes was acquitted.

Electra stole her brother Orestes away and entrusted him to Strophios the Phocian. Strophios raised him with his own son, Pylades. When Orestes reached manhood, he went to Delphi and asked the god whether he should avenge the murder of his father, Agamemnon. The god authorised the vengeance.

Orestes then left for Mycenae in secret, accompanied by Pylades. There he killed Agamemnon’s murderers, his mother Clytemnestra and Aigisthos. Electra’s action had preserved Orestes and enabled him to return, so she supported the revenge that ended with their deaths. In Homer, however, the story gives primary attention to Orestes and Aegisthus. Homer does not plainly mention the killing of Clytemnestra. Nestor says that Orestes slew his father’s slayer, who had ruled Mycenae for seven years, and then held a funeral feast for his mother and Aegisthus.

Soon after the killings, madness struck Orestes. The Furies pursued him for the murder of his mother, and he went to Athens, where he was tried before the Areiopagos. The accusers differ between accounts. They are said to have been the Furies, Tyndareus, or Erigone, the daughter of Aigisthos and Clytemnestra. The votes were evenly divided, and Orestes was acquitted. Another account says that Apollo’s aid freed him from the Furies, though it is uncertain whether the god ordered the killing or whether his gift was enough to end the pursuit.

They ran across the meadows of Boeotia as Orion pursued them. The sisters were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and their mother fled with them. Orion, a hunter from Boeotian Hyria, was said to have followed them relentlessly. Some accounts describe his pursuit as amorous, while others simply say that he chased the sisters and their mother.

The flight continued until the gods took pity on them. They changed the sisters into doves and carried their forms into the heavens. Their images were placed among the stars, where they became the group called the Pleiades. Electra joined her sisters there after their transformation. The group was set in the constellation Taurus, and Orion remained associated with the pursuit, appearing near them in the sky.

The story also connects the Pleiades with their rising before Orion. Their appearance marked the approach of weather suitable for sailing, which was linked with the name Pleiades. Pindar used the form Peleiades, meaning a flock of doves, perhaps preserving an older version of the story.

The number of visible stars caused further variations. Hyginus said that Electra disappeared in grief after the destruction of the House of Dardanus. Another account said that the sisters were not virgins: three had lain with Zeus, two with Poseidon, one with Ares, and the seventh had married Sisyphus of Corinth. Since Sisyphus was mortal, that sister was said to have been left out of the constellation.

Electra came from Libya and settled on Samothrace. There she united with Zeus and gave birth to Eetion, Dardanus, and Harmonia. In this tradition, Harmonia was the daughter of Zeus and Electra. She later became the bride whose marriage joined a divine woman to the mortal founder of Thebes.

Cadmus sailed past Samothrace with Thasos while searching for his sister Harmonia. He was initiated into the island’s mysteries. During the rites, he saw Harmonia. With Athena’s help, he carried her away. Another account says Athena gave Harmonia to Cadmus when he visited Samothrace. The Samothracian story presents their union as a divine marriage, while the Greek account places the wedding at Thebes.

Cadmus had first served Ares for eight years to atone for killing the Castalian serpent. After his servitude ended, Athena secured Boeotia for him. With the Sown Men, he built the Theban citadel called the Cadmea. After Cadmus had been initiated into the mysteries that Zeus had taught Iasion, the gods attended his wedding to Harmonia. Some accounts say Zeus gave Harmonia to Cadmus as his wife. The Olympians left the sky and joined the singing at the feast. Twelve golden thrones were set in Cadmus’s house. Aphrodite gave Harmonia a golden necklace made by Hephaestus, and Athena gave her a golden robe and flutes. Hermes brought a lyre. In another account, Cadmus gave Harmonia the robe and necklace, and the necklace had come to him through Europa from Zeus. This wedding was described as the first mortal wedding attended by the Olympians.

Electra stole her brother Orestes away and entrusted him to Strophios the Phocian. Strophios raised him with his own son, Pylades. The two boys grew up together. When Orestes reached manhood, he went to Delphi and asked whether he should avenge the murder of his father, Agamemnon. The god authorised the revenge. Orestes then left Mycenae in secret with Pylades, and together they killed Clytemnestra and Aigisthos, who had murdered Agamemnon.

Not long afterwards, madness struck Orestes. The Furies pursued him, and he went to Athens, where he was tried before the Areiopagos. In one telling, the Furies accused him. In another, Tyndareus brought the charge. In a third, Erigone, daughter of Aigisthos and Clytemnestra, accused him. The votes were evenly divided, so Orestes was acquitted.

After the revenge ended, Electra married Pylades, her brother’s companion and the son of Strophios. A later telling made Electra the mother of Strophius and Medon. Another telling joined Pylades to Orestes in the vengeance against Agamemnon’s murderers, while the revenge story otherwise centred on Orestes. Electra’s marriage to Pylades followed the trial and brought her into the family of the man who had helped her brother carry out the revenge.