When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Mythological Reference
Orestes, Electra, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, Agamemnon, Chrysothemis, Apollo, and Iphigenia – these are characters in the main plot line of Electra, but don't forget that they come from Greek mythology and had been outlined in gory detail (literally) 400-ish years before in Homer's work. Sophocles's audience would have been very familiar with these figures.
- Io (5)
- Hera (7)
- Atreus (10, 651, 1413)
- The Delphic Oracle (32)
- Ares (96)
- Hades and Persephone (110, 542)
- Hermes (110, 1396)
- The Furies (112, 276, 490, 1080, 1387)
- Itys (149)
- Niobe (150)
- Iphianassa (167)
- Zeus (163, 209, 659, 766, 1063, 1097, 1467)
- Pelops (504, 1497, 1508)
- Myrtilus (508)
- Menelaus (537, 576)
- Helen (541)
- Artemis (563, 567, 626, 1239)
- Nemesis (792)
- Lord Amphiaraus (837)
- Justice (1064)