Orestes. The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. On the murder of his father by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, Orestes was saved from the same fate by his sister Electra, who caused him to be secretly carried to Strophius, King in Phocis, who was married to Anaxibia, the sister of Agamemnon. There he formed a close and intimate friendship with the king's son, Pylades; and when he had grown up, he repaired secretly to Argos with his friend, and avenged his father's death by slaying Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. After the murder of his mother he was seized with madness, and fled from land to land, pursued by the Erinyes or Furies. At length, on the advice of Apollo, he took refuge in the temple of Athena (Minerva), at Athens, where he was acquitted by the court of the Areopagus, which the goddess had appointed to decide his fate.
