0467NOTGodsGoddesses

0764NOTOrestes_Mei

ogcma@byu

ClCv241

Mastery

MythMatters

Ovid Met. 10.1-85
Apollodorus Libr. 1.3.2
OGCMA0766Orestes_Bouguereau

Bernardino Mei, "Orestes Slaying Aegisthus and Clytemnestra," 1654

Reid's omission of this important version of the Orestes story is remarkable.

The graphic immediacy of the moment is perhaps Mei's strongest contribution here. Only Orestes participates in the act — no Electra, no Pylades — and the two Furies shown will shortly have their way with him.

The positioning of the men in the scene, and Clytemnestra's as well, may suggest somewhat "freudian" interpretations of the whole.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.