  the oresteia () is a trilogy of greek tragedies written by aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the house of atreus. when originally performed it was accompanied by proteus, a satyr play that would have been performed following the trilogy; it has not survived. the term "oresteia" originally probably referred to all four plays, but today is generally used to designate only the surviving trilogy. the only surviving example of a trilogy of ancient greek plays, the oresteia was originally performed at the dionysia festival in athens in 458 bc, where it won first prize. a principal theme of the trilogy is the shift from the practice of personal vendetta to a system of litigation. the name derives from the character orestes, who sets out to avenge his father's murder. ==agamemnon==  ===introduction=== the play agamemnon (, agamemnÅn) details the homecoming of agamemnon, king of argos, from the trojan war. waiting at home for him is his wife, clytemnestra, who has been planning his murder, partly as revenge for the sacrifice of their daughter, iphigenia, and partly because in the ten years of agamemnon's absence clytemnestra has entered into an adulterous relationship with aegisthus, agamemnon's cousin and the sole survivor of a dispossessed branch of the family (agamemnon's father, atreus, killed and fed aegisthus's brothers to aegisthus's father, thyestes, when he took power from him), who is determined to regain the throne he believes should rightfully belong to him. ===storyline=== the play opens to a watchman on top of the house, reporting that he has been lying restless there "like a dog" (kunos diken) for a year, "for so rules the expectant manly-willed heart of a woman" (that woman being clytemnestra awaiting the return of her husband, who has arranged that mountaintop beacons give the signal when troy has fallen). he laments the fortunes of the house, but promises to keep silent: "a huge ox has stepped onto my tongue." however, when agamemnon returns, he brings with him cassandra, the enslaved 
Mythology_of_Argolis Plays_by_Aeschylus Trilogies Trojan_War_literature