Names: Orestes

[helens_daughter]

In Greek, the name 'Orestes' means 'the mountaineer,' 'he who conquers mountains,' or 'the mountain dweller.'  In Greek-speaking countries and in the Latin-speaking world, some parents still call their sons 'Orestes' or 'Orestis' to this day.

No concrete evidence exists for a real Orestes Agamemnonides, or the real Agamemnon or Atreus, for that

Comments

[helens_daughter]

You can tell that Euripides absolutely loathes Orestes. He makes Orestes a whiny, homicidal little prick who cries about honor and forgiveness, but then plots to murder Helen and Hermione to deflect attention away from his matricide when his uncle Menelaus refuses to help him escape the death penalty.

Aeschylus's Oresteia is still the best version of the story.

[aikaterini]

Yes, that threw me off, too. Orestes throws a big temper tantrum when Menelaus won't help him, and selfishly and callously plans to kill Hermione and Helen in revenge (because it's not like homicidal revenge has been the cause of his family's woes or anything)...and then he *marries* Hermione by the end? Euripides just expects the reader to forget that Orestes had planned to *kill* her? That just doesn't make sense to me.