Definition: Electra is a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sister of the sacrificed Iphigenia and the matricide Orestes. On the basis of her familial relationship's, Electra's name was given to a psychoanalytical phenomenon, known as the Electra Complex.
Electra appears in drama, not epic, particularly in the Oresteia trilogy of Aeschylus, and in the tragedy of the name Electra, by Sophocles. Electra supported her brother Orestes in his murder of their mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Electra married Orestes' friend Pylades.
Electra is the name of ancient plays about her, by Sophocles and Euripides, as well as modern plays (e.g., Mourning Becomes Electra, by Eugene O'Neill,)and opera. Here is a famous quotation from the Electra play by Sophocles:
"Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot." Electra, 1007.
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In Greek mythology there are other women named Electra. One is the daughter of the Titan Atlas. This Electra is the mother of Dardanus, ancestor of the kings of Troy. Another Electra is a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, wife of Thaumas, and mother of Iris and the Harpies:"And Thaumas wedded Electra the daughter of deep-
flowing Ocean, and she bare him swift Iris and the long-haired
Harpies, Aello (Storm-swift) and Ocypetes (Swift-flier) who on
their swift wings keep pace with the blasts of the winds and the
birds; for quick as time they dart along."
Hesiod Theogony 265ff
