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41-480: Orestes had been sent to Phocis during his mother Clytemnestra 's affair with Aegisthus . There he was raised with Pylades, and so considered him to be his closest friend. While Orestes was away, Clytemnestra killed her husband, Orestes' father Agamemnon . 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

82-573: A group to replace him with the consul Quintus Sosius Falco while he was in Ostia inspecting the arrangements for grain shipments. The plot was betrayed; Falco himself was pardoned but several of the officers behind the coup were executed. On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when, according to the Historia Augusta , a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed

123-440: A lover but like a father." The priestess of Artemis, whose duty it is to perform the sacrifice, is Orestes' sister Iphigeneia . She offers to release Orestes if he carries home a letter from her to Greece; he refuses to go, but bids Pylades take the letter while he himself stays to be slain. Pylades eventually agrees, but the letter causes Orestes to recognise Iphigenia and reveal himself. The three escape together, carrying with them

164-407: A swan, seducing and impregnating her. Leda produced four offspring from two eggs: Castor and Clytemnestra from one egg, and Helen and Polydeuces (Pollux) from the other. Therefore, Castor and Clytemnestra were fathered by Tyndareus, whereas Helen and Polydeuces were fathered by Zeus . Her other sisters were Philonoe , Phoebe and Timandra . Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were in exile at

205-410: 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

246-573: Is also sometimes Latinized as Clytaemnestra . It is commonly glossed as "famed for her suitors". However, this form is a later misreading motivated by an erroneous etymological connection to the verb mnáomai ( μνάoμαι , "woo, court"). The original name form is believed to have been Klytaimḗstra ( Κλυταιμήστρα ) without the -n- . The present form of the name does not appear before the middle Byzantine period. Homeric poetry shows an awareness of both etymologies. Aeschylus, in certain wordplays on her name, appears to assume an etymological link with

287-587: Is described in David Hume 's essay Of the Original Contract as an "excellent prince" possessing an implied modesty when, on the arrival of soldiers who had come to proclaim him emperor, he believed that Commodus had ordered his death. During the debate over ratification of the United States Constitution , Virginia politician John Dawson , at his state's ratifying convention in 1788, spoke of

328-651: Is documented in the Historia Augusta as well as Cassius Dio 's History of Rome , and confirmed in many places by existing inscriptions. He was born in Alba Pompeia in Italy, the son of freedman Helvius Successus. Cassius Dio writes that Helvius was not of noble birth but was at least able to earn enough money to allow Pertinax education to gain a livelihood. Through this as well as patronage from Lucius Avitus (or Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus according to Dio), Pertinax

369-486: Is largely a positive one, beginning with the assessment of Cassius Dio, a historian and senator who was a colleague of Pertinax. Dio refers to him as "an excellent and upright man" who displayed "not only humaneness and integrity in the imperial administrations, but also the most economical management and the most careful consideration for the public welfare". Dio's approval is not unqualified, however. He acknowledges that while some would call Pertinax's decision to confront

410-457: The "atrocious murder" of Pertinax by the Praetorian Guard as an example of the danger of establishing a standing army . Pertinax was the pseudonym of the French journalist André Géraud (1882–1974). In Romanitas , a fictional alternate history novel by Sophia McDougall , Pertinax's reign is the point of divergence . In the history as established by the novel, the plot against Pertinax

451-741: The Pretorian Guard and the auctioning of the Emperorship, the new emperor, Didius Julianus , celebrated as follows: "A magnificent feast was prepared by his order, and he amused himself till a very late hour, with dice, and the performances of Pylades, a celebrated dancer." Clytemnestra Clytemnestra ( / ˌ k l aɪ t ə m ˈ n ɛ s t r ə / , UK also / k l aɪ t ə m ˈ n iː s t r ə / ; Ancient Greek : Κλυταιμνήστρα , romanized :  Klutaimnḗstra , pronounced [klytai̯mnɛ̌ːstraː] ), in Greek mythology ,

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492-401: The fleet from sailing on the ocean. Through a subplot involving the gods and omens, the priest Calchas said the winds would be favorable if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis . Agamemnon persuaded Clytemnestra to send Iphigenia to him, telling her he was going to marry her to Achilles . When Iphigenia arrived at Aulis, she was sacrificed, the winds turned, and

533-400: The gates (two hundred according to Cassius Dio). Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay. Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials chose to resist them. Pertinax sent Laetus to meet them, but he chose to side with the insurgents instead and deserted the emperor. Although advised to flee, Pertinax then attempted to reason with the insurgents and

574-545: The home of Tyndareus; in due time Agamemnon married Clytemnestra and Menelaus married Helen. In a late variation, Euripides's Iphigenia at Aulis , Clytemnestra's first husband was Tantalus , King of Pisa ; Agamemnon killed him and Clytemnestra's infant son, then made Clytemnestra his wife. In another version, her first husband was King of Lydia . After Helen was taken from Sparta to Troy , her husband, Menelaus , asked his brother Agamemnon for help. Greek forces gathered at Aulis . However, consistently weak winds prevented

615-598: The image of Artemis. The relationship between Orestes and Pylades has been presented by some authors of the Roman era as romantic or homoerotic. The dialogue Erotes ("Affairs of the Heart"), attributed to Lucian , compares the merits and advantages of heterosexuality and homoeroticism, and Orestes and Pylades are presented as the principal representatives of a loving friendship: In 1734, George Frederic Handel 's opera Oreste (based on Giangualberto Barlocci's Roman libretto of 1723),

656-413: The importance of a prince not being hated, Machiavelli provides Pertinax as an example of how it is as easy for a ruler to be hated for good actions as for bad ones. Though describing him as a good man, Machiavelli considered Pertinax's attempt to reform a soldiery that had become "accustomed to live licentiously" a mistake, as it inspired their hatred of him, which led to his overthrow and death. Pertinax

697-507: The intervention of the gods. They then take hostage Hermione , daughter of Helen and Menelaus. Apollo arrives to settle the situation and gives them all instructions, including one for Pylades to marry Orestes' sister Electra . Many of these events are depicted in Euripides' play Orestes . Pylades plays a major role in another of Euripides' plays, Iphigeneia in Tauris . In order to escape

738-455: The lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions Clytemnestra helps him or does the killing herself in his own home. The best-known version is that of Aeschylus: Agamemnon, having arrived at his palace with his concubine, the Trojan princess Cassandra , in tow and being greeted by his wife, entered the palace for a banquet while Cassandra remained in the chariot. Clytemnestra waited until he

779-505: The money, selling off Commodus ' property, including the concubines and youths Commodus kept for his sexual pleasures. He reformed the Roman currency dramatically, increasing the silver purity of the denarius from 74% to 87% – the actual silver weight increasing from 2.22 grams to 2.75 grams. Pertinax attempted to impose stricter military discipline upon the pampered Praetorians. In early March he narrowly averted one conspiracy by

820-557: 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

861-479: The palace to receive her death. After the murders, Aegisthus replaced Agamemnon as king and ruled for seven years with Clytemnestra as his queen. In some traditions they have three children: a son Aletes , and daughters Erigone and Helen. Clytemnestra was eventually killed by Orestes, her son by Agamemnon. The infant Helen was also killed. Aletes and Erigone grow up at Mycenae, but when Aletes comes of age, Orestes returns from Sparta, kills his half-brother, and takes

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902-556: The persecutions of the Erinyes , Orestes is ordered by Apollo to go to Tauris , carry off the statue of Artemis , which had fallen from heaven, and bring it to Athens . He goes to Tauris with Pylades and the pair are at once imprisoned by the people, among whom the custom is to sacrifice all strangers to Artemis. Orestes is seized by a mania for fear of the barbarians; Pylades tends to him, acting, as described in Lucian 's Amores "not only like

943-428: The power of divination. In every version though, Cassandra is thereafter cursed by Apollo to be incredible, completely negating the utility of her prophecies, after refusing to have sex with the god. So, despite her ability to envisage both Agamemnon's murder and her own, her attempts to elicit help failed due to Apollo's curse making her prophesies incredible. She realized she was fated to die, and resolutely walked into

984-452: The soldiers that would wind up killing him "noble", others would call it "senseless". He is also critical of Pertinax's judgment when it came to the speed with which he tried to reform the excesses of the reign of Commodus by suggesting that a more tempered approach would have been less likely to result in his murder. Pertinax is discussed in The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli . Discussing

1025-542: The throne. Orestes and Erigone are said to have had a son, Penthilus . Clytemnestra appears in numerous works from ancient to modern times, sometimes as a villain and sometimes as a sympathetic antihero . Author and classicist Madeline Miller wrote "[a]fter Medea , Queen Clytemnestra is probably the most notorious woman in Greek mythology". Pertinax Publius Helvius Pertinax ( / ˈ p ɜːr t ɪ n æ k s / PER -tin-ax ; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193)

1066-407: The troops set sail for Troy. The Trojan War lasted ten years. During this period of Agamemnon's long absence, Clytemnestra began a love affair with Aegisthus , her husband's cousin. Whether Clytemnestra was seduced into the affair or entered into it independently differs according to the version of the myth. Nevertheless, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus began plotting Agamemnon's demise. Clytemnestra

1107-543: The urban prefecture of Rome, and a second consulship as ordinarius with the emperor Commodus as his colleague. When Commodus' actions became increasingly erratic in the early 190s, a conspiracy led to his assassination on 31 December 192. The plot was carried out by the Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus , Commodus' mistress Marcia , and his chamberlain Eclectus. After the murder had been carried out, Pertinax, who

1148-514: 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. Pylades returns to his homeland, but is exiled by his father for taking part in the crime. He then returns to Orestes' side and helps him to come up with a plan to avoid execution. They attempt to murder Helen , wife of Orestes' uncle Menelaus , after he proves to be of no help in protecting Orestes. However, their attempt fails through

1189-452: The verb mḗdomai ( μήδoμαι , "scheme, contrive"). Thus given the derivation from κλῠτός ( klutós "celebrated") and μήδομαι ( mḗdomai "to plan, be cunning"), this would result in the quite descriptive "famous plotter". Clytemnestra was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda , the King and Queen of Sparta , making her a Spartan Princess. According to the myth, Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of

1230-557: Was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors . Born to the son of a freed slave , Pertinax became an officer in the army. He fought in the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 , where his success led to higher positions in both the military and political spheres. He achieved the rank of provincial governor and urban prefect . He

1271-770: Was a member of the Roman Senate , serving at the same time as the historian Cassius Dio . Following the death of Commodus, Pertinax was proclaimed emperor. He instituted several short-lived reform measures, including the restoration of discipline among the Praetorian Guard . This led to resistance that culminated in Pertinax's assassination by the Guard. Pertinax would later be deified by the emperor Septimius Severus . His historical reputation has been largely positive, in line with Cassius Dio's assessment. His career before becoming emperor

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1312-557: Was almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers. Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple , for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thereby protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination. After Pertinax's death, the Praetorians auctioned off the imperial title; the winner was the wealthy senator Didius Julianus , whose reign would end mere weeks later with his assassination on 1 June 193. Julianus

1353-678: Was commissioned as an officer in a cohort . In the Parthian War that followed, he distinguished himself, which resulted in a string of promotions, and after postings in Britain (as military tribune of the Legio VI Victrix ) and along the Danube , he served as a procurator in Dacia . He suffered a setback as a victim of court intrigues during the reign of Marcus Aurelius , but shortly afterwards, he

1394-410: Was enraged by Iphigenia's murder (and presumably the earlier murder of her first husband and son by Agamemnon, and her subsequent rape and forced marriage). Aegisthus saw his father Thyestes betrayed by Agamemnon's father Atreus (Aegisthus was conceived specifically to take revenge on that branch of the family). In old versions of the story, on returning from Troy, Agamemnon is murdered by Aegisthus,

1435-531: Was in the bath, and then entangled him in a cloth net and stabbed him. Trapped in the web, Agamemnon could neither escape nor resist his murderer. Meanwhile, Cassandra prophesied the murder of Agamemnon and herself. Most versions of the myth attribute her prophetic power as being a gift from Apollo in exchange for sex, while some claim that serpents from the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo flicked their tongues in her and her brother Helenus' ears, somehow giving

1476-460: Was premiered in London's Covent Garden . The fame of Lucian's works in the 18th century, as well as the generally well-known tradition of Greco-Roman heroic homoeroticism, made it natural for theatre audiences of that period to have recognized an intense, romantic, if not positively homoerotic quality, to the relationship between Orestes and Pylades. After the assassination of Roman Emperor Pertinax by

1517-425: Was recalled after three years to Britain, where the Roman army was in a state of mutiny. He tried to quell the unruly soldiers there but one legion attacked his bodyguard, leaving Pertinax for dead. When he was forced to resign in 187, the reason given was that the legions had grown hostile to him because of his harsh rule. He served as proconsul of Africa from 188 to 189, and followed this term of service with

1558-486: Was recalled to assist Claudius Pompeianus in the Marcomannic Wars . In 175, he received the honour of a suffect consulship and until 185, Pertinax was governor of the provinces of Upper and Lower Moesia , Dacia , Syria , and finally governor of Britain . During the 180s, Pertinax took a pivotal role in the Roman Senate until the praetorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis forced him out of public life. He

1599-536: Was serving as urban prefect at this time, was hurried to the Praetorian Camp and proclaimed emperor. His short reign of 87 days was an uneasy one. He attempted to emulate the restrained practices of Marcus Aurelius and made an effort to reform the alimenta , but he faced antagonism from many quarters. Ancient writers detail how the Praetorian Guard expected a generous donativum on his ascension, and when they were disappointed, agitated until he produced

1640-495: Was succeeded by Septimius Severus . After he entered Rome, Septimius recognized Pertinax as a legitimate emperor, executed the soldiers who had killed him, and not only pressured the Senate to deify him and provide him a state funeral , but also adopted his cognomen of "Pertinax" as part of his own name. For some time, he held games on the anniversary of Pertinax's accession and on his birthday. Pertinax's historical reputation

1681-556: Was the wife of Agamemnon , king of Mycenae , and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta . In Aeschylus ' Oresteia , she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess Cassandra , whom Agamemnon had taken as a war prize following the sack of Troy ; however, in Homer 's Odyssey , her role in Agamemnon's death is unclear and her character is significantly more subdued. Her Greek name Klytaimnḗstra

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