More on the sources for the tale of Orestes

The story of Orestes is told in detail in Aeschylus' Orestia, which is composed of three plays Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. Parts of the story also appear in the Odyssey, but in small sections: Zeus endorses Orestes' actions as just (Bk 1 29-43), Nestor tells the story to Telemachus (Bk 3 254-312), Menelaus mentions that he learned of the death of Agamemnon (Bk 4 514-37). Finally the ghost of Agamemnon himself tells Odysseus what happened to him (Bk 11 405-434).

The story is also featured in Pindar's Pythia 11. This version follows the same story line as Aeschylus, including the section about Iphigenia. This section which isn't in Homer, helps decrease the villainy of Clytaemnestra. Rather than being an unfaithful wife, she is avenging the death of her daughter.

The sources for the story also bring clarification about the purification process that was necessary following a murder. Before Orestes reached Delphi, he could not be entertained in anyone's house and was housed in a specially built small dwelling. This was so that he would not bring pollution to those who hosted him (Pausanias 2.31.8). The purification process itself is described in the Eumenedes. Orestes assures Athena that he is bringing no pollution to her sanctuary because he had already been cleansed by running water and the blood of a young victim in a ceremony performed by a qualified priest of Apollo.

(The vase London E382 depicts Orestes as a baby and the figure on the left is his father Agamemnon.)