Ancient Greek Art: Orestes at Delphi

Purification of Orestes at Delphi, with Apollo, ghost of Clytemnestra, & the Erinyes | Greek vase, Apulian red figure krater

T40.6 ORESTES AT DELPHOI

Museum Collection: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
Museum Catalogue No.: TBA
Beazley Archive No.: N/A
Ware: Apulian Red Figure
Shape: Krater
Painter: Attributed to the Eumenides Painer
Date: ca 380 - 370 BC
Period: Late Classical

ARTICLES

Erinyes, Apollon, Artemis

SUMMARY

Orestes is purified by the god Apollon at Delphoi, appeasing the Furies (Erinyes) of his mother Klytaimnestra who torment him for the crime of matricide. The hero sits upon the Delphic atlar as Apollon purifies him with the blood of a suckling pig. The god holds a branch of Delphic laurel in his other hand. Beside him stands Artemis, dressed in a knee-length maiden's skirt, and holding a pair of hunting spears. On the opposite side, the three Erinyes are shown falling into slumber, appeased by the purification rituals of the god. The ghost of Klytaimnestra tries futily to rouse them.