page_title: Pylades
section_title: Death of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra
hierarchical_section_title: Pylades / Mythology / Death of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra
context_page_description: In Greek mythology, Pylades is the son of King Strophius of Phocis and of Anaxibia, who is the daughter of Atreus and sister of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He is mostly known for his friendship with his cousin Orestes, son of Agamemnon.
context_section_description: As an adult, Orestes returns to Mycenae/Argos to avenge the murder of Agamemnon. With the assistance of his friend Pylades, Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.  While Pylades seems to be a very minor character, he is arguably the most vital piece of Orestes' plan to avenge his father.  In The Libation Bearers, the second play of Aeschylus' trilogy The Oresteia, Pylades speaks only once.  His lines come at the moment Orestes begins to falter and second-guess his decision to kill his mother.  It is Pylades who convinces Orestes to follow through with his plan for revenge and carry out the murder.  The significance of Pylades' lines has invited speculation into whether or not he might represent something more than human next to Orestes; he might play the role of divine encouragement or fate.
  In other versions of the revenge of Orestes and Electra (the Electra of Sophocles and the Electra of Euripides), Pylades accompanies Orestes, but does not speak. In the Sophocles version, Orestes pretends to be dead and Pylades carries the urn supposedly holding his friend's remains.
  According to Pausanias, Pylades killed two sons of Nauplius (Oeax and Nausimedon) who had come to aid Aegisthus.
caption: Pylades and Orestes by François Bouchot. Pylades is shown protecting Orestes during his spell of madness.
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