Persecuted by the vengeful Erinyes, exhausted by wanderings and grief, Orestes finally came to sacred Delphi and sat down there in the temple of Apollo near the omphalos. Even the terrible goddesses followed him to the temple of Apollo, but there the arrow god put them to sleep, and their terrible eyes closed in sleep.
Apollo, secretly from the Erinyes, appeared to Orestes and ordered him to go to Athens and there to pray for protection from the ancient image of the goddess Pallas Athena. God promised his help to the unfortunate Orestes, and gave him his brother, the god Hermes, as a guide. Orestes got up, quietly left the temple and went with Hermes to Athens.
He had just left when the shadow of Clytemnestra rose from the earth in the temple of Apollo. Seeing the Erinyes sleeping, she began to wake them up and reproach them for stopping pursuing the murderer who had shed their mother’s blood. She hurried them to quickly chase after the hidden Orestes and not give him a moment's peace. But the Erinyes slept in a deep, heavy sleep; in their sleep they moaned, at times screaming, as if chasing a murderer fleeing from them. Finally, with great difficulty, one of the Erinyes woke up and woke the others. The Erinyes became furious when they saw that Orestes had disappeared. They began to reproach Apollo for snatching the murderer from their hands, but Apollo, shaking his bow, drove them out of his temple. Full of furious anger, the goddesses rushed in a discordant crowd in the footsteps of Orestes.
Meanwhile, Orestes came to Athens and there sat down at the statue of the goddess Athena, hugging her with his arms. Soon the Erinyes were brought. They looked everywhere for Orestes. In terrible anger, the goddesses of vengeance were ready to tear the unfortunate man to pieces, but they did not dare to offend the sacred image of Athena.
The goddess Athena heard the menacing cries of Erinyes and appeared before them, sparkling with her weapons. Erinyes menacingly demanded that the goddess give Orestes into their power; they wanted to subject Orestes to terrible torment for killing his mother. Orestes prayed to the goddess to protect him. He reminded Pallas Athena of his father Agamemnon, of how he died at the hands of the treacherous Clytemnestra. Did Orestes take revenge on his mother of his own free will? After all, he carried out the orders of Apollo. Orestes prayed to Athena to judge him herself.
Athena heeded Orestes' pleas. To decide his case, she elected a court from the Athenian elders. This court - the Areopagus - from now on was always supposed to exist in Athens and gather on the hill where the Amazons once camped when they attacked Theseus. This hill has since been called the Hill of Ares, since the Amazons sacrificed to it.
The judges elected by Athena gathered, two ballot boxes were brought into which the judges were supposed to place pebbles during voting, and the trial began. The goddess Athena also participated in it as a judge. People crowded around, wanting to hear how the judges would decide the case. The Erinyes accused Orestes and threateningly demanded that he be convicted. The god Apollo himself appeared to protect Orestes. Apollo began to speak calmly in defense of Orestes. He justified his action, since Orestes was taking revenge on Clytemnestra for a terrible crime - the murder of her husband, the great hero King Agamemnon. Yes, finally, Orestes fulfilled his will. We listened to the accusers and the judge's defense and began voting.
It was decided that if the same number of votes were cast for the prosecution and acquittal of Orestes, then he would be acquitted. When the judges' votes were counted, there was an equal number of acquittal and conviction votes. The equal number of votes for accusation and acquittal turned out to be because Athena voted for Orestes, saying that she was voting for him since she did not have a mother, but only a father, the god Zeus. Thus, Orestes was acquitted, and the Erinyes had to stop their persecution.
The Erinyes fell into a terrible rage; the court deprived them of their original rights to punish criminals with terrible torment. They threatened Erinyes that they would devastate all of Attica and plunge it into a sea of disasters. But Athena softened the anger of the goddesses; she convinced them to remain forever in Attica in a sacred cave, where all the Athenians would give them great honors.
The formidable goddesses agreed. With great triumph, the citizens led them, led by Athena and her priests, to their sanctuary - a cave at the foot of the Hill of Ares.
From then on, the Erinyes became the protectors of all of Attica, and they began to be called Eumenides.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru