Pylades

Also known as: PYL. / PYLADES · Family: Phocis · Role: friend of Orestes · First appears: Aeschylus, The Libation-Pourers — Scene 1

Pylades first appears as Orestes’s trusty friend, accompanying him to Argos. In disguise as a Phokian traveller, he enters the palace with Orestes to deceive its occupants, and Clytemnestra admits them as welcomed guests. Later, he returns with Orestes to Mycenae, helps prepare the revenge for Agamemnon’s murder, and enters the palace with him to carry it out.

After Clytemnestra’s death, Strophius exiles Pylades from his house for taking part in the murder. Pylades nevertheless remains with Orestes, guiding him toward Agamemnon’s tomb and leading him away from the council while mourning friends follow. He shares responsibility for the slaughter and declares, “With thee I did at least; I ought also to suffer these things in common with thee.” He agrees to die with Orestes and Electra, helps devise the plot against Helen, and arms himself for the final attack, while Orestes credits him with directing the sword and contriving Aegisthus’s destruction. Apollo later orders Orestes to give Electra to Pylades in marriage.

In Tauris, Pylades travels with Orestes as a sacrificial stranger, tends him after his madness and collapse, and is captured with him before Iphigenia devises a purification ruse for their escape. He is identified as Strophius’s son and Orestes’s cousin, “my only certain friend.” Pylades is later married to Electra, and they depart Argos together to begin their married life.