Electra

Electra (Ἠλέκτρη) was the long-suffering heroine of a number of Athenian tragedies. She appeared in the 2nd play of Aeschylus' tragedy titled Libation Bearers. Then there are two other plays both bearing her name – one written by Sophocles and the other by Euripides; both dealing the same event as Libation Bearers.

She was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Electra was also the sister of Iphigeneia and Orestes; she was the middle child. Sometimes Chrysothemis was mentioned as Electra's sister. However, some said that Iphigeneia was the daughter of Theseus and Helen. Helen was too young at the time, so Clytemnestra raised Iphigeneia as if the girl were her own daughter. Homer called her Laodice, while Iphigeneia was called Iphianassa.

Her brother Orestes was only an infant when Agamemnon sacrificed her sister Iphigeneia to the goddess Artemis to gain favourable winds, so that the fleet could sail to Troy. It was probably because of Iphigeneia's death that her mother conspired with Aegisthus, Agamemnon's cousin and enemy. Aegisthus became her mother's lover and they plotted to have Agamemnon killed upon his return.

Agamemnon didn't return to Mycenae until ten years later. When Aegisthus and Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon, fearing for her brother's life, Electra prudently sent Orestes, who was aged ten, to her uncle Strophius in Phocis.

When Orestes reached manhood, he sought the oracle in Delphi where Apollo informed Orestes that he must avenge his father, not only to kill Aegisthus, but his own mother as well.

Orestes secretly returned to Mycenae with Pylades, his foster brother, where he sought his sister. Depending on which versions you may have read, Electra passively urged her brother to avenge their father, which included killing their mother, but in one version, Electra was more aggressive, and even helped her brother to deliver a death blow to Clytemnestra.

See Orestes in the Houses of Argolis.

According to Aeschylus' third play, Eumenides, the Furies (Erinyes) inflicted madness upon Orestes for murdering his mother, and he wandered around Greece until he was tried and acquitted in Athens. Electra played no part in the Eumenides.

According to another play by Euripides, titled Orestes, their grandfather Tyndareus, king of Sparta, arrested Orestes and Electra. Tyndareus wanted justice for his daughter's death, and his grandchildren would have been executed, but they escaped. Orestes and Electra would have killed Helen, but Zeus saved his daughter, and Helen became immortal. Failing this, they captured Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen, holding their cousin as hostage. Apollo, however, intervened. Hermione was released. Apollo ordered Orestes to go into exile for a year, where it was hinted that Orestes would be tried and acquitted in court at Athens like in Aeschylus' Eumenides.

When Orestes returned from the Tauric kingdom, Electra thought that her sister Iphigeneia had sacrificed their brother to the goddess Artemis. Electra would have blinded her sister with a firebrand had Orestes not arrived in time to save Iphigeneia.

Electra married her cousin Pylades, foster brother of Orestes. Electra was the mother of Medon and Strophius.