Orestes

Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra of the house of Atreus, Orestes is raised outside Mycenae during the period of his father's absence and murder. Various sources place his upbringing in exile (e.g., in some traditions with Strophius at Phanote on Mount Parnassus). Prompted by Electra and aided by his cousin Pylades, he returns and avenges Agamemnon's death by killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, an act that precipitates divine and chthonic repercussions in the post-Trojan War mythic period.

The provided sources give no sustained physical description; Orestes is identified by genealogy and social role (son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, brother of Electra and Iphigenia) and later as king of Mycenae and, in some traditions, of parts of the Peloponnese. Classical authors portray him through actions and legal-religious circumstances rather than bodily detail.

Orestes possesses no innate supernatural powers in the cited materials; his significance derives from mortal actions (the revenge killings), obedience to divine commands in some versions (Apollo's instruction), endurance of supernatural pursuit (the Erinyes drive him to madness), and participation in ritual-legal processes (seeking sanctuary, being tried before Athena and twelve judges, and receiving ritual cleansing/propitiation). In Euripides' variant he undertakes a mission to Tauris to carry off a cult statue of Artemis and is involved in recognition scenes that secure escape.