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Aeschylus · c. 525-456 BC

Libation Bearers

Χοηφόροι
Ancient Sources / Aeschylus / Libation Bearers

Read our guide to Libation Bearers

Libation Bearers is the second play of the Oresteia. Orestes returns to Argos in secret, meets his sister Electra at their father's tomb, and carries out the order of Apollo to avenge Agamemnon by killing Aegisthus and his own mother Clytaemestra. The sections follow the play's own units (prologue, parodos, episodes, the great lament, choral songs and exodos) and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 16 passages, about 9600 words in English.
Translator
Herbert Weir Smyth (modernised by Perseus) (1926)
Edition
Greek text: Herbert Weir Smyth (ed. and trans.), Aeschylus, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1926, as digitised by Perseus. English: Herbert Weir Smyth, Aeschylus, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1926 (Perseus's modernised version of Smyth's prose translation)
Cite as
Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 1 (by line number)

Contents · 16 passages

  1. 1–83bPrologue and parodos: Orestes at the tomb of Agamemnon629 words
  2. 84–151First episode: Electra pours the libations702 words
  3. 152–245First episode (cont.): the lock of hair and the recognition885 words
  4. 246–305Orestes' prayer to Zeus and the oracle of Apollo543 words
  5. 306–422Kommos (1): the lament at the tomb835 words
  6. 423–478Kommos (2): Agamemnon's burial and Electra's confinement454 words
  7. 479–584End of the kommos: Clytaemestra's dream and Orestes' plan1128 words
  8. 585–651First stasimon: the crimes of women and the sword of Justice443 words
  9. 653–718Episode: Orestes brings false news of his own death675 words
  10. 719–782Episode: the Nurse and the message to Aegisthus631 words
  11. 783–837Second stasimon: prayer to Zeus and Hermes for the deed385 words
  12. 838–891Episode: Aegisthus walks into the trap504 words
  13. 892–930Episode: Orestes confronts Clytaemestra446 words
  14. 931–972Third stasimon: Justice has come to the house321 words
  15. 973–1020bExodos (1): Orestes displays the robe473 words
  16. 1021–1076Exodos (2): Orestes sees the Furies555 words

More by Aeschylus

English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth (modernised by Perseus) (1926). Original text: Greek text: Herbert Weir Smyth (ed. and trans.), Aeschylus, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1926, as digitised by Perseus. English: Herbert Weir Smyth, Aeschylus, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1926 (Perseus's modernised version of Smyth's prose translation).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.