Cassandra's Vision

In Agamemnon Must Die, a retelling of the Oresteia by Aeschylus, I wrote a chapter about Cassandra. The most beautiful of Trojan princesses had been chosen by Agamemnon to be his war bride. In my retelling, her visions become one of the "choruses" that typically comment or editorialize on the "action" in classic Greek plays.

Perhaps this did not do Cassandra justice for she has captured the imagination of artists since then. There are wonderful Attic vases that portray the plight of the doomed princess, but those are best seen directly on proper websites. I offer instead a medieval woodcut (Penn Libraries call number: Inc B-720 All images from this book Penn Libraries catalog record from a 15th century German translation of Boccacio) and a painting from the late preRaphaelite period ([Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cassandra1.jpeg"> by Evelyn de Morgan).

On Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 6.30 p.m., I read this chapter to a meeting of Sierra Writers.

For information about buying Agamemnon Must Die, please see my website.

To those who are interested in historical fiction, I am pleased to introduce a wonderful Group on Goodreads.  It is one of many.

Getting "beta reads" for Agamemnon

Through a group on Goodreads.com, I found some beta readers for my next publication, Agamemnon Must Die. The Group, one of hundreds (perhaps more) on the site, is called the (link here) Beta Reader Group. I had never heard of a beta reader before and was most grateful to have found this group and the volunteer readers who can be reached there. A writer's circle of friends gets tired after being asked so many times and anyone willing to read one's writing and give concrete feedback other than paid editors is truly welcome.

Finding online those willing to read one's work in this manner is a blessing. The same rules of etiquette still apply, of course. These readers perform a service without contract and must be treated with courtesy and respect. If any do not comment (or read), they are no different from one's friends who blithely promised to do so but do not deliver. One may only prompt or nudge for a response only so often and only with regard for feelings, "life events," etc.

As it turned out, I was fortunate to find three such readers in a combination of friends and the online group. I wish here to report on my experience. 

One reader raved over Agamemnon to such an extent that I actually asked if there was not anything that might be less than perfect. Honestly, I did. Obviously there is nothing better for an author's ego than such a reception. I felt vindicated in the choices I made in the retelling of thoroughly foreign (to me) myths that are over three thousand years old.

But I was glad also for the reaction of the second reader who confessed that reading my work had been an almost overwhelming chore--that nothing worked, not the plot, the characters or the dialogue. The reader was most apologetic and fortunately my usually robust ego had been previously fortified by the first response I received. Here was warning, if such was necessary, not to expect a runaway seller.  

The third reader turned out to have been born and educated in Greece. We discussed the nuances of religion and philosophy implied by my reinterpretations of the myths that Aeschylus wove into the Oresteia seven hundred years after the "events." I was quizzed about the sources of the differences, many quite radical, between what the fifth century (B.C.) dramatist conceived for his prize-winning trilogy and the story I wished to tell. I was also challenged to check on the terrain, for instance between Mycenae and Delphi, since I could not use the excuse that something happened "off stage" for some of the major transitions (scene changes). How wonderful these days to be able to avail oneself of satellite maps and "street views"!

These beta readers have prepared me for the forthcoming travail with the editor and proof-reader. I don't pretend to have discovered their existence, not even in the sense of Columbus discovering America, but nonetheless heartily commend them to my fellow writers.

Background on Aeschylus and the Oresteia

The Oresteia is the only Greek trilogy that has survived to the present. It is said to have won first prize in an Athenian festival in 458 B.C. Aeschylus, is known to have written

at least seventy plays of which only seven have survived. Although he won at least thirteen prizes equivalent to the Oscars for Best Picture, his gravestone speaks only of his service and valor at the Battle of Marathon (490 B. C.).

The trilogy was based on a popular group of legends surrounding the royal family of Atreus, king of Mycenae and father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. The two brothers were married to sisters, Clytemnestra and Helen (of Troy). When Helen was seduced and abducted by Trojan prince Paris, Agamemnon led the fleet of “a thousand ships” against Troy (possibly ca. 1250 B. C.).

The Trojan War lasted a legendary ten years. When Agamemnon returned, he was murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s cousin.

In the second play of the trilogy, Orestes returns several (?seven) years later to Mycenae to avenge his father. He is accompanied by his sister Elektra and cousin Pylades, and is urged on by the god Apollo, one of the “younger gods” from Olympus. After he kills Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, the Erinnyes (“Furies,” old earth goddesses) set upon him. Apollo finds that the Furies are unmoved by his purification of Orestes. Unable to deliver on his promise to protect Orestes, he sends him to seek Athena’s protection.

In Athens, Athena persuades the Furies to submit the question of Orestes’ guilt and of their right to punish him to a debate adjudicated by a court of Athenians. A verdict is arrived at with Athena having to cast the deciding vote. The whole of the third part of the trilogy is devoted to his "action."

***

Following is a list and brief description of the characters involved in the legends, the Oresteia and in Agamemnon Must Die (Agamemnon in short). They are grouped by “generations.” Names significant in Agamemnon are in capitals.

Atreus, his brother Thyestes (father of AEGISTHUS), and his wife Aerope.

AGAMEMNON, Menelaus and Anaxibia were born to Atreus. CLYTEMNESTRA and Helen were married to the brothers and Anaxibia was married to king Strophius of Phocis.

Iphigenia, ORESTES and ELEKTRA were born to Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. PYLADES was the son of Strophius and Anaxibia.

Non-royals were ARISTIDES, one of the Chorus of Elders mentioned in the Oresteia and named in Agamemnon, the WATCHMAN, and the HERALD, named AGATHON (in Agamemnon but not in the Oresteia).

***

The significance of the Oresteia for the development of Greek drama and of Greek

and Western religious and political thought continues to be a subject of much scholarship.

I first read it in the translation by Richmond Lattimore (1942, 1959) which seem to me then and still to breathe the worshipful tones of Greek civilization as interpreted by C. M. Bowra (The Greek Experience) and Werner Jaeger (Paideia). It was then clear that the trilogy told of the triumph of rational new gods over bloody-minded old ones, and/or the rise of humane/democratic justice from the barbaric cycle of vengeance.

Two generations of classics professors and scholarship have passed. The landscape has changed. I have not “kept up” with this research but have told the story, selecting from variations from Aeschylus’ version and elaborating on characters as I felt would make sense and “connect with” a modern audience.

The images of Aeschylus in this post were downloaded on April 15, 2014 from the Wikipedia article on the dramatist/poet.  The one near to top of this post is an image of a bust in the Capitoline Museums in Rome, while the other is of a bust in the North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC).