Human responsibility and divine necessity in Aeschylus’ Oresteia: the Agamemnon’s dilemma (Ag. 205-227)

Aeschylean characters have always to face a situation that leads them to an aporia between divine necessity and human responsibility. Aeschylus’ Agamemnon shows how the leader of the Greek expedition against Troy, the instrument of Zeus’ punishment of the Trojans, comes to a miserable end. In Aulis, the goddess Artemis prevents the fleet from sailing and Agamemnon is faced with a terrible decision: he has to sacrifice either his daughter Iphigeneia or the purpose of his expedition. Eventually, he consents to his daughter’s sacrifice, imposed by “the yoke of ἀνάγκη” (Ag. 218). Thus, this action determines Clytemnestra’s revenge and, lastly, his murder planned by her. Agamemnon’s responsibility is the object of disagreement among the scholars: does Agamemnon have to choose between two possibilities or does he rather recognise that there is only one possible choice imposed by ἀνάγκη? Human motives are interlocked with the divine justice. This study aims to analyse the interplay between personal freedom and the limitations imposed by divine necessity in Aeschylus’ Oresteia, by focusing on the so-called “Agamemnon’s dilemma” (Ag. 205-227).