Mortal · Character in Homer’s Odyssey
Orestes
The avenging son held up
Came home, killed the usurper, won his name; the pattern set before Telemachus.
Agamemnon's son, who came back in the eighth year and killed Aegisthus, his father's murderer. Athena and Nestor both set his example squarely in front of Telemachus: that is what a son of the house does about the men who wrong it.
Bonds
- Orestes son of Agamemnon — the avenger the poem cites
- Orestes slays Aegisthus — the revenge held up to Telemachus
Appears in
- Book I Visit of Athena to Telemachus
- Book III Interview of Telemachus with Nestor
- Book IV Conference of Telemachus and Menelaus
- Book XI Visit of Odysseus to the Land of the Dead
Scenes
- Zeus recalls Aegisthus — Book I. Zeus blames mortals via Aegisthus
- Athena counsels a voyage — Book I. Athena urges Telemachus toward Pylos, Sparta
- The Full Tale of Murder — Book III. Nestor tells of Aegisthus, Menelaus’s voyage
- Fates of Ajax and Agamemnon — Book IV. Ajax drowns, Aegisthus kills Agamemnon
- Warning About Wives — Book XI. Agamemnon warns of wives, praises Penelope