Orestes Pursued by the Furies
Orestes Pursued by the Furies is an event from Greek mythology that is a recurring theme in art depicting Orestes. Background. In the "Iliad", the king of Argos, Agamemnon, sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis to assure good sailing weather to travel to Troy and fight in the Trojan war. In "Agamemnon", the first play of Aeschylus's "Oresteia" trilogy, Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, murder Agamemnon upon his return home as revenge for sacrificing Iphigenia. In "The Libation Bearers", the second play of the Orestia, Agamemnon's son Orestes returns home  to take revenge on his mother for murdering his father. Orestes ultimately does murder his mother, and afterward is tormented and chased offstage by The Furies, beings who personify vengeance. In art. Orestes being tormented by the Furies has been depicted by a number of artists, including the following: