Point of View

As previously discussed (see "Characters - The Gods), The Oresteia is written from a point of view reflective of the culture of the time - specifically, that there was an inextricable, inevitable relationship between the physical human life and the various forces of nature and/or the human spirit. While contemporary religious systems are essentially monotheistic, or based in a belief in a single core God, the Greek religious system was pantheistic, or based in the belief in an almost infinite number of gods, albeit of various degrees of power and/or jurisdiction. These gods, in retrospect, can be seen as manifestations and/or evocations of larger, archetypal aspects of existence - male power based in the sky (Zeus), female power based in the earth (Demeter) and motherhood (Hera), the tension/attraction between the beautiful/sexual (Aphrodite) and the aggressive/life destroying (Ares) ... the list, as...