Definition: Orestes, the only son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, killed Aegisthus (a cousin of his father and the lover of his mother), according to Homer, and Clytemnestra, according to the tragedians. As a result of killing his mother, Clytemnestra, Orestes is pursued by the Furies, defended by Apollo, and, ultimately, saved by the deciding vote of the goddess who was born not from a woman, but from the head of her father, Athena. It is for this reason that Athena decides that Orestes' crime is less significant than the killing of his "more essential" father.
Named after Orestes, Aeschylus' Greek tragedy trilogy, the Oresteia, contains Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides. The last tragedy, Eumenides, refers to the furies who pursued Orestes.
