Beyond Death in the Oresteia

Book excerpt: The Oresteia is permeated with depictions of the afterlife, which have never been examined together. In this book Amit Shilo analyses their intertwined and conflicting implications. He argues for a 'poetics of multiplicity' and 'poetics of the beyond' that inform the ongoing debates over justice, fate, ethics, and politics in the trilogy. The book presents novel, textually-grounded readings of Cassandra's fate, Clytemnestra's ghost scene, mourning ritual, hero cult, and punishment by Hades. It offers a fresh perspective on the political thought of the trilogy by contrasting the ethical focus of the Erinyes and Hades with Athena's insistence on divine unity and warfare. Shedding new light on the trilogy as a whole, this book is crucial reading for students and scholars of classical literature and religion. This title is available as open access on Cambridge Core.