★ Orestes ★

Mysia. Kyzikos circa 450-330 BC.
Sixth Stater or Hekte EL

10 mm, 2,67 g

Orestes kneeling left on tunny left, holding sword in his lowered right hand, left hand resting on omphalos to right / Quadripartite incuse square.

Extremely Fine

Von Fritze I 165; Boston MFA 1533.

Orestes, a central figure in Greek mythology, is best known for avenging the murder of his father, King Agamemnon of Mycenae. After Agamemnon was killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, in revenge for Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia, Orestes was sent into exile for his safety. As he grew, Orestes felt compelled to avenge his father's death, a duty reinforced by the god Apollo. With the help of his sister Electra, Orestes returned to Mycenae and killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. However, this act of matricide brought upon him the wrath of the Furies (Erinyes), ancient deities who pursued him relentlessly for his crime. In Aeschylus’s Oresteia, Orestes seeks purification and is eventually tried in Athens, where the goddess Athena intervenes. In a groundbreaking decision, she establishes a legal system to replace the cycle of blood vengeance, acquitting Orestes and ending his torment.