These works contain elements of Greek tragedy similar to those within the Oresteia, such as a forewarning Chorus, an emphasis on the divine power of fate, and a series of heroic but flawed main characters. Sophocles’ great tragic trilogy is made up of the three Theban Plays: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. The two other great Greek tragedians of Aeschylus’s time and caliber are Sophocles and Euripides. All three plays center on the tragic House of Atreus and the consequences of Agamemnon’s return from the Trojan War, and together, they make up a group called the Oresteia. Greek tragedies were usually written as trilogies, meaning that Aeschylus also wrote two prequels to The Eumenides: Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers. This sense of Athenian dominance and power is evident in Aeschylus’s works, all of which argue for reason over revenge, order over chaos, and democracy over tyranny.

Aeschylus himself played a role in establishing Athenian hegemony, taking part in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, when Athens vanquished invading Persian forces. This was a time when Athens dominated the Ancient Greek world, preaching values of republicanism and enlightenment. Aeschylus himself, however, lived and wrote nearly a millennium after the Trojan War supposedly occurred-during the Golden Age of Athenian democracy. The events of the Oresteia then begin the moment the war ends with a Greek victory.

Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon then led a fleet of troops to Troy to avenge Paris’s insult, and the following siege lasted ten years. According to Greek mythology, the Trojan War began as a result of Paris, the Trojan prince, stealing Helen, who was married to the Greek king Menelaus. The events that take place in the Oresteia would have been well known to the plays’ original audience.

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