Mythology Book

64

A

gamemnon, King of Argos,

was commander of the

Greek forces during the

legendary Trojan War. His family

history was steeped in blood and

betrayal. A ruthless feud between

his father, Atreus, and his uncle,

Thyestes, had already precipitated

adultery, multiple murders, and

enduring enmity by the time the

Trojan conflict in Asia Minor had

broken out. That grisly lineage was

set to pass on to a new generation.

Iphigenia’s sacrifice

Agamemnon’s departure for Troy

with his fleet of a thousand ships

was delayed for weeks by adverse

winds, sent by the goddess

IN BRIEF

THEME

Revenge versus justice

SOURCES

Odyssey, Homer, 8th century bce

Oresteia, Aeschylus, 458 bce;

Orestes, Euripides, 408 bce;

Electra, Sophocles, ca. 400 bce.

SETTING

Agamemnon’s palace,

Mycenae, Argos, Greece.

KEY FIGURES

Agamemnon The murdered

king of Argos.

Iphigenia Aga memnon’s

sacrificed daughter.

Clytemnestra Aga memnon’s

wife.

Aegisthus Clytemnestra’s

lover; Agamemnon’s successor

as king.

Orestes Agamemnon’s son,

who killed Aegisthus.

Electra Aga memnon’s

daughter.

Artemis, whom he had offended

by killing a sacred deer. To banish

these winds, the king reluctantly

heeded the advice of a prophet

and sacrificed his own innocent

daughter, Iphigenia, whom he had

lured to the coast with the false

promise of a husband. This was

an act that his wife, Clytemnestra,

would neither forgive nor forget.

The king is murdered

While Agamemnon was away

at war, his queen took a lover

named Aegisthus, who was

Agamemnon’s first cousin. They

had been bitter enemies since the

king’s father had slain Aegisthus’s

siblings. Having gained access to

the bed of Agamemnon, Aegisthus

quickly helped himself to his crown

as well. Soon, he and Clytemnestra

were reigning together as king and

queen in Argos, openly displaying

their adulterous union.

Such was the situation to which

Agamemnon returned, victorious at

last after 10 long years of war. No

longer lord in his own house, he

faced a fight to reclaim what was

his. This was a fight he quickly lost

when he was murdered by his wife

and her lover. Different versions of

the story offer varying details: some

THIS PAIR

OF TYRANTS.

THEY MURDERED

MY FATHER

ORESTES AVENGES AGAMEMNON

This man, Agamemnon,

my husband, is dead, the

work of this right hand.

Oresteia

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ANCIENT GREECE 65

Orestes slays his mother to avenge

his father’s death in this painting by

Bernardino Mei (1655). Clytemnestra’s

lover, Aegisthus, lies beside her, also

slaughtered at the hand of Orestes.

See also: The many affairs of Zeus 42–47 ■ The founding of Athens 56–57 ■ The quest of Odysseus 66–71

say the king was killed at a feast

celebrating his return from the war;

others say he was murdered while

naked and helpless after his bath.

Crime and punishment

The varying accounts also cite

several possible motivations for

Agamemnon’s murder. Some place

the guilt squarely with Aegisthus,

Agamemnon’s longstanding enemy,

as an act of vengeance for the

crimes of the king’s father. Other

versions lay the blame firmly at

Clytemnestra’s feet, presenting

her as a fearless and defiant woman

who murdered her husband as

retribution for killing their daughter.

Aeschylus

Revered as the father of tragedy,

Aeschylus was an early Greek

dramatist—one of three, along

with Euripides and Sophocles,

whose works survive and are

still performed. He was born

around 525 bce in Eleusis, a

town northwest of Athens, and

grew up to fight against two

Persian invasions. When not

at war, Aeschylus regularly

took part in Athens’s annual

“Dionysia” playwriting contest.

He claimed that the god of

theater, Dionysus himself, visited

him while he was asleep and

persuaded him to take up the art.

Aeschylus was a prolific

playwright, yet only seven of his

plays survive, each one believed

to have won first prize at the

Dionysia. The Oresteia trilogy—

Agamemnon, Choephoroi, and

Eumenides—are now his best-

known plays. Aeschylus was

credited with writing Prometheus

Bound, though his authorship

of that play is now disputed.

Other accounts cite Clytemnestra’s

ungovernable female sexuality

and her passion.

Agamemnon’s children—his

son, Orestes, and his daughter

Electra—were both away from

home when their father was killed.

They returned to Argos to find their

mother and Aegisthus reigning in

his place. Orestes felt it the duty of

a son to avenge his father, so, with

Electra’s help and encouragement,

he disguised himself and gained

access to the palace, where he

killed Aegisthus.

The spirit of vengeance

demanded that Clytemnestra, too,

should pay the price for her role in

the crime. Orestes slew her also,

but carried her dying curse on his

head: relentless furies, the Erinyes,

hunted him across the face of the

earth for the rest of his days for his

crime of matricide. Electra escaped

the curse, marrying Orestes’s friend

and co-conspirator Pylades. ■

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