Electra (Sophocles play)
ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles
Electra (Ancient Greek: Ἠλέκτρα, Ēlektra, also called The Electra), is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. The original publication date is not known, but various stylistic similarities with the Philoctetes (409 BC) and the Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC) leads scholars to believe it was written towards the end of Sophocles' career. Richard Claverhouse Jebb dates it between 420 BC and 414 BC.
Background
During the Trojan War, King Agamemnon of Mycenae sacrifices his oldest daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis in order to ensure favorable weather and winds when sailing for Troy after offending the goddess. When King Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War, his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus (Agamemnon's cousin) kill him. Clytemnestra believes the murder was justified since Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter. Electra, a younger daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, rescued her younger brother Orestes from her mother by sending him to Strophius of Phocis.
Plot
Set in the city of Mycenae a few years after the Trojan War, the play tells the story of Electra and her brother Orestes, who are haunted by the murder of their father Agamemnon by their mother Clytemnestra and their stepfather Aegisthus. The play begins years later when Orestes has returned as a grown man with a plot for revenge, as well as to claim the throne.
Orestes arrives with his friend Pylades, son of Strophius, and a pedagogue, i.e. tutor.
“Electra (Sophocles play)” enters the record as ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Electra, Sophocles and play can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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