Out of Argos. Dramatic Landscapes and Kinship Strategies in Euripides’ Electra

Abstract

Euripides’ Electra is characterised by a decentralisation of the scenic focus. In this paper, we will analyse from a historical-anthropological perspective one of the ‘centrifugal’ images that distinguish the play, that is the killing of Aegisthus during the sacrifice to the Nymphs. The spaces involved can be associated to the domestic prerogatives once belonging to Agamemnon and the status of young aristocrat which Orestes is entitled to by birth. This process is triggered by the ‘setting’ of the scene in a specific dramatic landscape, the one in which Aegisthus’ sacrifice takes place.