Oresteia (Oberon Classics)

The ancient Greek concept of “miasma,” often translated as pollution, is a complicated concept concerning spiritual cleanliness and purity. Evil acts put one at risk of polluting themselves, their family, house, bloodline, or even city. While natural acts, such as sex and childbirth, were seen as minor pollutants, extreme infractions, such as rape, murder, and even cannibalism, were considered major sources of pollution. Individuals stained by crime were ostracized by society, made outcasts until the proper purgative rites were performed. This is illustrated by Orestes in the interim between The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides. In The Eumenides, clinging to the idol of Athena, Orestes proclaims, “The blood sleeps, it is fading on my hands / the stain of mother’s murder washing clean. / It was still fresh at the god’s hearth. Apollo / killed the swine and the purges drove it off” (278-281). The indicates the necessity of a rite of purgation and Apollo’s dedication to Orestes. For the pollution of homicide, a consecrated victim was a necessary sacrifice before Orestes could even stand trial for his crime. Apollo takes on the role of a priest. This direct divine intervention demonstrates the fated nature of the burden Orestes took on by committing matricide.