Editing Pylades (section)

===Death of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra===
As an adult, Orestes returns to [[Mycenae]]/[[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] to avenge the murder of Agamemnon. With the assistance of his friend Pylades, Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.  While Pylades seems to be a very minor character, he is arguably the most vital piece of Orestes' plan to avenge his father.  In ''[[Oresteia#The Libation Bearers|The Libation Bearers]],'' the second play of Aeschylus' trilogy ''[[The Oresteia]]'', Pylades speaks only once.  His lines come at the moment Orestes begins to falter and second-guess his decision to kill his mother.  It is Pylades who convinces Orestes to follow through with his plan for revenge and carry out the murder.  The significance of Pylades' lines has invited speculation into whether or not he might represent something more than human next to Orestes; he might play the role of divine encouragement or fate.<ref>Aeschylus.  ''The Oresteia.''  Trans. Hugh Lloyd-Jones.  Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1979.  Print.</ref>

In other versions of the revenge of Orestes and [[Electra]] (the [[Electra (Sophocles)|''Electra'' of Sophocles]] and the [[Electra (Euripides)|''Electra'' of Euripides]]), Pylades accompanies Orestes, but does not speak. In the Sophocles version, Orestes pretends to be dead and Pylades carries the urn supposedly holding his friend's remains.

According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], Pylades killed two sons of [[Nauplius (mythology)|Nauplius]] ([[Oeax (mythology)|Oeax]] and [[Nausimedon]]) who had come to aid Aegisthus.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Graeciae Descriptio'' 1.22.6</ref>

[[File:Pieter Lastman - De offerstrijd tussen Orestes en Pylades - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Orestes and Pylades Disputing at the Altar, 1614 [[Pieter Lastman]] (1583–1633)]]
[[Image:Pylades orestes.jpg|thumb|300px|''Pylades and Orestes'' by [[François Bouchot]]. Pylades is shown protecting Orestes during his spell of madness.]]
[[File:Benjamin West - Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|300px|''Pylades and [[Orestes]] Brought as Victims before [[Iphigenia]]'', by [[Benjamin West]], 1766]]