Pylades’s Family Tree

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Family

• Anaxibia(parent),Strophius(parent)— Marriage

  Strophius, King of Phocis, married Anaxibia, sister of Agamemnon. Their son Pylades grew up alongside the exiled Orestes and became his lifelong companion.

• Electra (Argive)(spouse)— Marriage

  In several traditions, Orestes gave his sister Electra in marriage to his loyal companion Pylades after the vengeance against Clytemnestra and Aegisthus was complete.

Allied with

• Orestes

  Pylades and Orestes formed an unbreakable bond while raised together at the court of Strophius in Phocis. Pylades stood by Orestes through the matricide and the Erinyes' pursuit.

Slew

• Aegisthus

  Orestes and Pylades together slew Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover and Agamemnon's murderer, while he was making a sacrifice. In Aeschylus's Choephoroi, this killing precedes the matricide.

Associated with

• Electra (Argive)

  Pylades conspired with Electra and Orestes to avenge their father Agamemnon. In Euripides' Electra, the three planned the murders together, and Pylades later married Electra, binding their families permanently.

• Erinyes

  Pylades urged Orestes to kill Clytemnestra despite the certainty that the Erinyes would pursue him. His three lines in Aeschylus's Choephoroi sealed the matricide and the Erinyes' pursuit.

• Iphigenia

  In Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris, Pylades and Orestes were captured and nearly sacrificed by Iphigenia, who served as Artemis's priestess. Each friend offered to die so the other might live.