Orestes, in Greek mythology, was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the rulers of Mycenae, or Argos. Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon after he returned from the Trojan War. Fearing that Orestes was also in danger, his sister Electra sent him from the royal palace.
When Orestes was grown up, the god Apollo ordered him to avenge his father’s death by killing Clytemnestra. Orestes returned home and killed his mother and Aegisthus. He then was driven insane by the Furies, the goddesses of vengeance. Orestes finally went to Athens. There, a jury found him innocent of manslaughter and freed him from his guilt and the Furies. Orestes later married Hermione, the daughter of Helen of Troy and Menelaus, the king of Sparta.
