Agamemnon – Mythopedia Agamemnon laid claim to a number of important epithets in Greek literature These include anax andrōn, “lord of men”; eury kreiōn, “wide-ruling”; and poimēn laōn, “shepherd of the people ” Agamemnon was often also known by his patronymic, Atreidēs, meaning “son of Atreus ” Attributes Kingdom Agamemnon was a powerful king
Agamemnon (Play) - Mythopedia Today, the Agamemnon and the Oresteia remain among Aeschylus’ most widely-read and widely-admired works Translations Translations of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon usually appear together with the other plays in the Oresteia trilogy (the Libation Bearers and the Eumenides) The following is a selected chronological list of important and useful
Iphigenia - Mythopedia According to most sources, Iphigenia was the firstborn child of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the king and queen of Mycenae Agamemnon led the Greeks to victory during the Trojan War, while Clytemnestra was best known for murdering Agamemnon when he returned from Troy However, there were other traditions regarding Iphigenia’s parentage
Iphigenia in Aulis - Mythopedia The Iphigenia in Aulis is one of Euripides’ final plays, first performed after the playwright’s death in 406 BCE The tragedy is a retelling of the myth of Iphigenia, who was sacrificed by her father Agamemnon in exchange for a wind to carry the Greek fleet to Troy
Clytemnestra – Mythopedia Clytemnestra, daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, was the wife of Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae She and her lover Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon when he returned home from the Trojan War, but were later killed in turn by Orestes, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s son
Menelaus – Mythopedia Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon were usually said to be the sons of Atreus Their mother was Aerope, Atreus’ wife According to an alternative genealogy, however, their father was Pleisthenes, who was himself a son of Atreus (thus making Menelaus and Agamemnon the grandsons, rather than the sons, of Atreus)
Eumenides - Mythopedia But whereas the justice of the Agamemnon and the Libation Bearers is largely based on retribution, the Eumenides moves towards a notion of justice as fundamentally rooted in law Thus, while the Erinyes physically embody the retributive justice of the first two plays, legal due process ultimately wins the day over vendetta
Aegisthus - Mythopedia Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes, who had long quarreled viciously with his brother Atreus Aegisthus eventually killed his uncle Atreus, as well as Atreus’ son Agamemnon, thus usurping the throne of Mycenae He also took Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra as his lover before being killed by Agamemnon’s son Orestes
Atreus – Mythopedia But Atreus was avenged by his sons Agamemnon and Menelaus (sometimes known as the “Atreids”), with Agamemnon ultimately becoming king of Mycenae Unfortunately, the atrocities carried out by Atreus and Thyestes were not forgotten by the gods, and the curse of the house of Atreus continued to haunt his descendants
Achilles – Mythopedia Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae and the commander of the Greek army, learned from the prophet Calchas that the winds would only turn if he sacrificed his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, to Artemis This volute-krater (a bowl used for mixing wine and water) depicts the sacrifice of Iphigenia (c 370 BCE-350 BCE)