Themes

 The specific allusion to the Choephori brings to the fore the theme of the vicious circle of revenge, very prominent in Aeschylean tragedy.

 The representation of Orestes holding the ‘marble head in his hands’ alludes to the moment when he realises his predicament.

 The ‘mutilated hands’ at the end of the poem point to man’s distress, when he feels implicated in an endless bloodshed.

Lines 17-8

The theme of man’s helplessness and suffering as inflicted by the gods is recurrent in Greek tragedy as a whole, even though it finds its representative par excellence in Euripides.

Language

Epigraph

‘Remember the baths where you were murdered’ (Mέμνησο λουτρῶν οἷς ἐνοσφίσθης); 

The sentence is a verbatim allusion to Aeschylus’ Choephori 491.   [cf. “Notes” for a poem]

Mythic Characters

Bibliography

Kapsomenos, E. 1978. ‘Σεφέρη “Μυθιστόρημα Γ”’: Δομική ανάλυση’, Kodikas 1: 50-77.

Dallas, G. 1973. ‘To ιστορικό συναίσθημα στον Σεφέρη’, Dokimasia [Ioannina] 1: 55-60.

Kakava, M. ‘Seferis and the Homeland’, Journal of Modern Hellenism 1: 55-62.

Klironomos, M. 2002. ‘Ancient “Aνάμνησις”, Νational “Mneme” in the Poetry of Giorgos Seferis’, Journal of Modern Greek 20: 215-39. 

Ladia, E. 1983. ‘O μνησιπήμων πόνος μέσα από τα αρχαία αγάλματα’, in Ποιητές και αρχαία Ελλάδα, Athens, 76-85. 

Capri-Karka, C. 1985. War in the poetry of George Seferis, New York, at 33