Orestes was the son of the great King Agamemnon — he of the Trojan War — and the wicked Queen Clytemenestra. During Agamemnon’s long absence at Troy she became the lover of the pretender, Aegisthus, and the two conspired to murder Agamemnon should he return from the war. They would also have to murder Orestes, but his older sister, Electra, knowing of the plot, saved him by spiriting him off to the court of his uncle, Strophius, King of Phocis.

In the palace Orestes grows up with the king’s son, Plyades, and as Thomas Bullfinch so charmingly put it in 1855 — “formed with him that ardent friendship which has become proverbial”... That’s Victorianese for — “they became lovers.”

The story gets tortuously complicated. Agamemnon is indeed murdered by the dirty duo, Orestes assumes false identities to save his hide, Electra prays for vengeance against her mother and her boyfriend, and Orestes finally kills them. But this creates a big problem.
The Greeks and their gods hated the perfidious Clytemenestra and her false king, but they hated matricide even more. Orestes had to be punished.

The Eumenides, horrible avenging female deities were set upon him. He was driven insane, driven from country to country frantically trying to find surcease; a madman in the streets.

But he was not alone.

The faithful Plyades was with him always, protecting him from himself and others, foraging for food, shelter, clothing, praying to the gods and their oracles for help, bathing him, holding him, and making love to him; in short — saving his life. He was a hero of love.

Later, after endless wanderings and terrible adventures they were captured by the barbarous people of Taurus in Scythia and were bound (naked as usual) to be sacrificed to the goddess Artemis... But lo and behold, the temple priestess turns out to be the other, long lost, sister of Orestes... Recognizing her brother she succeeds in freeing them and the three make their escape and return to Mycenae... The gods finally relent, Orestes is acquitted of matricide, and he lives on in legend forever and ever with his beloved Pylades.

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HYPNOS AND ENDYMION

Hypnos, the god of sleep, so loved the beauty of the handsome Endymion’s eyes that he broke his own rules and kept Endymion’s eyes wide open even as he slept so that the god could adore their beauty.

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ARION AND PERIANDER (IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT KING PERIANDER AND THE POET-MUSICIAN ARION WERE REAL PEOPLE WHOSE LOVE STORY ENTERED THE REALM OF LEGEND.)

Arion was a brilliant young musician (the lyre) and a “singer of songs” (a poet) in the most intimate service of Periander, King of Corinth.

At the time of a famous music festival in Sicily Arion left to compete in the contests. The king, who loved Arion, did not want him to go but the young man prevailed promising his immediate return after the festival... “Oh, Periander,” he exclaimed, “dismiss your fears. Soon shall you forget them in my hot embrace!”

He went to Sicily, competed, and won the biggest prize; a good deal of money... On the ship back the piratical sailors coveted his purse and announced their intent to kill him. But first, they wanted him to give them a concert dressed in his theatrical attire. He behaved courageously and with dignity, lamenting only, — “Alas, my only regret is that I must leave my friend behind me, never to see him again.” With that he threw himself off the ship. They watched him go under, lyre still in his hand, and began counting their loot as the ship sailed on.

(Now here’s where the story becomes “legendary.” We’ll never know how the real Arion made it to shore.)

But the creatures of the deep had heard and were enchanted by his wonderful music and suddenly, a magnificent dolphin rose up beneath him and carried him to shore accompanied by other dolphins as outriders.

Arion rid himself of his sodden garments and journeyed on, lyre in hand singing with a heart full of love, not caring about his loss, only mindful of what he still had; the love of Periander and his lyre.

There is a fevered reunion as the king receives Arion into his waiting arms...
Later, the king tracks down the miscreants, has them brought to court, and asks where Arion is. They lie saying they left him happy in Tarentum whereupon Arion emerges from behind a curtain. They are terrified, admit their guilt, and are sure they are going to die. Periander, however, merely exiles them in perpetuity; an astonishingly magnanimous act for the ancient Greeks. Pity was not much their style in situations like this.

The king explains his decision thusly; “Arion wishes not your blood, you slaves of avarice! Begone! Seek some barbarous land and never may anyone or anything beautiful delight your souls!”

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HARMODIUS AND ARISTOGEITON (TRAGIC HEROES OF DEMOCRACY AND REAL PEOPLE)

Harmodius and Aristogeiton were two strapping young Athenians who lived in the time of the brutal tyrant, Hippias. They were lovers and completely devoted to one another.

Hippias had an equally tyrannical younger brother, Hipparchus, who took a fancy to Harmodius and attempted to seduce him and supplant Aristogeiton in Harmodius’s affections. Harmodius, in spite of the danger of resisting so powerful a personage, would have none of it.
Failing in his attempt and enraged, Hipparchus set about to take revenge with the connivance and under the protection of his brother, the dictator.

They mounted a public affront to Harmodius’s sister at a public festival — probably something in the nature of a sexual assault — with impunity. Thereupon Harmodius and Aristogeiton entered into a conspiracy with a few brave democrats to rid Athens of the tyrants.

Their attempt to assassinate them (514 BCE) failed and Harmodius was cut down on the spot. Aristogeiton was captured and hideously tortured to death as an example to the populous.

When Hippias and his gangsters were finally overthrown in 510 BCE, Harmodius and Aristogeiton became Heroes of Democracy and a vast cult grew up around them. Songs and poems were written about them, monumental statues were sculpted in their image, and one of the most magnificent — probably by Antenor — was put in a place of honor in the Agora. A beautiful, larger-than-life size marble of the two tyrannicides, standing shoulder to shoulder, nude and defiant, can be seen in The National Museum of Naples in Italy.

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