The Mycenaean Saga:
Fires, Snares,
and Family Bloodshed
Pelops and
Tantalus
Like Europa, Pelops
came to Greece from
Asia. In a common
folktale motif, he
sought the hand of a
princess through a
contest which had
already cost 12 other
princes their lives.
The contest was
chariot racing against
the girl’s father.
Pelops has a fascinating childhood, since he
was killed by his father, served to the gods
in a stew, then reconstituted (except for a
shoulder blade which had been eaten by
Demeter – it was replaced with an ivory
substitute).
Pelops
Win, you get
married; lose, you
get killed.
Pelops cheated by bribing the father’s charioteer to sabotage the
chariot. His future father in law was killed in the ensuing
accident, and Pelops won.
He then killed the charioteer.
Pelops lived happily ever after, became the eponymous hero of
the Peloponnese (central Greece), and was celebrated as a hero
in rituals at Olympia. But his family was cursed.
Atreus and
Thyestes
A prophecy had awarded the
kingdom of Mycenae to
whichever of Pelops’ sons,
Atreus or Thyestes, had a
golden-fleeced ram.
The god Pan brought the
ram to Atreus, who was
already celebrating his
kingship –
When Thyestes showed up
with the ram.
He had gotten it by seducing
Atreus’ wife, who then gave
him the ram.
Thyestes was king for a
while, till Atreus expelled
him.
Then Atreus invited him
over for a yummy
reconciliation dinner.
Atreus and
Thyestes
Atreus had cut up Thyestes’
young sons, and served them
up to their father.
When Thyestes discovered this,
he was overcome by horror
and went into exile.
Thyestes was haunted by
pollution, miasma, which
infects you if you have done
something awful, even if it was
not your fault.
He cursed his brother.
Then Thyestes produced
another son, Aegisthus, by
impregnating his own
daughter.
Atreus had two sons,
Agamemnon and Menelaus.
Menelaus was chosen to
marry the beautiful Helen of
Sparta (a.k.a. Helen of Troy).
Agamemnon had to make
do with Helen’s sister,
Clytemnestra.
When Helen was kidnapped,
Agamemnon led the
mission to get her back.
Sources
Homer (c. 700 BCE) tells about the Trojan war in the Iliad, and
alludes to several of the events leading up to it. In the Odyssey,
he tells of what happened right after the war.
In 458 BCE Aeschylus wrote the Oresteia, a trilogy of plays,
about the murder of Agamemnon and its aftermath. It is the
only extant trilogy. It is rare for all three plays in a trilogy to be
on the same theme. The three pays are Agamemnon, The
Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides.
Sophocles wrote Electra (exact date unknown), showing a
heroic account of the revenge of Orestes and Electra.
Euripides wrote an Electra (416 BCE?) and an Orestes (?), both
of which treat the two in a very uncomplimentary way.
Sources
The three Greek playwrights and Homer show a wide range of
attitudes toward the story, and toward who is to blame for the
slaughter within the family. Through these plays we see a range
of the culture’s ideas about family rights and responsibilities.
Seneca (Roman, 1st c. CE) wrote a very gory play, Thyestes,
about that aspect of the story
Many other sources
make reference to the
myths in passing.
Art illustrates various
scenes in ways which
show different
traditions of the
stories.
Levi-Strauss and Structuralism
These versions show that the Greeks saw many complex meanings
in this myth. it changed over time, and from author to author,
and maybe even from person to person.
Claude Levi-Strauss, in his theory of structuralism, argues that all
of the different versions of the story constitute “The Story.”
Myth is a mode of communication. The relationship between
the elements of the story provide the structure of the myth.
The basic structure of human thought is binary – that is, dealing
with opposites. Therefore myths explore vital oppositions:
life/death, primitive/new, light/darkness, chaotic/civilized,
male/female.
Through these oppositions, as played out in myth, we get an idea
of the complex meanings of myth relative to that society’s issues.
Sacrifice of Iphigeneia
As the Greek ships got
ready to sail to Troy, they
were blocked by
unfavorable winds sent by
Artemis. The goddess
demanded a human
sacrifice.
Since he was the
commander,
Agamemnon chose his
own daughter, Iphigeneia.
He got her to Aulis by
deception.
In some versions, she dies; in
others, Artemis substitutes a deer
at the last moment.
But Clytemnestra thinks her
daughter has been wantonly
murdered.
Sacrifice of Iphigeneia
Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis
shows Clytemnestra as a
concerned, though self-pitying,
mother, and Agamemnon as a
manipulative, uncaring father :
While you’re at war, what kind
of pain do you think my heart
will feel as I wander through the
rooms, and see her empty chair,
her empty room . . .
Is there anything I wouldn’t do
to save my child?
Obey, obey or a heavy doom
will crush me – but doom will
crush me once I kill my
daughter, the glory of my
house! Pain both ways and
which is worse? Desert the
fleets, fail the alliance? Law is
law! Let all go well.
But Aeschylus shows
Agamemnon wrestling
with his responsibility as a
king and making a tragic,
but justified, personal
sacrifice.
The Trojan War
While Agamemnon is away at
Troy, his wife Clytemnestra is
left alone – but not for long.
Aegisthus, Thyestes’ son (and
grandson), appears and soon
he and Clytemnestra are
ruling together.
Orestes, Agamemnon’s and
Clytemnestra’s son, is sent
away.
Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
plan to murder Agamemnon
when he returns.
When Aescylus’ Agamenon
opens, a watchman is waiting
for the signal fires
Clytemnestra has arranged to
warn her that Agamemnon is
on his way home.
Now I watch for the light, the
signal fire breaking out of
Troy . . . my thoughts go
groping through the night . . .
That woman [Clytemnestra] –
she maneuvers like a man.
Themes: light in darkness,
male & female role reversal . . .
The Murder of Agamemnon
When Agamemnon
returns, he expects a
hero’s welcome. In
Aeschylus, Clytemnestra
tempts him to walk into
the palace on a red carpet
– hubris in Greek eyes,
since such things are fit
only for the gods. He
objects, but gives in.
Cassandra (his new slave) prophesies the murder of Agamemnon
(though a bit incoherently) – no one understands. Inside,
Clytemnestra bathes Agamemnon, then murders him in the bath.
Other traditions show Aegisthus as the actual murderer.
The Children’s Revenge
Electra and Orestes, now almost adults,
side with their murdered father and
want revenge.
But Electra is a dependent young
female, and Orestes is in exile.
Electra tends her father’s tomb,
bringing offerings, a task her mother
neglects.
All three major playwrights, Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides, write plays
that tell of the sibling’s meeting and
their eventual revenge.
The Children’s Revenge
Orestes
returns, in
disguise, and
meets with
Electra at his
father’s tomb.
They
recognize
each other,
and plot the
murder of
Aegisthus
and
Clytemnestra.
The Children’s Revenge
In Sophocles’ version, the revenge is straightforward, just, and final.
Orestes kills
Aegisthus
first, then
kills
Clytemnestra
. (who is
coming after
him with an
ax here, an
established
feature of
the myth.)
The Children’s Revenge
Euripides paints Clytemnestra as a weak, self-justifying, but still
reasonably agreeable old woman who regrets the horrors of the
past. He portrays Electra as an embittered young woman who lures
Clytemnestra to her death by inviting her to see her new baby.
He also emphasizes
Orestes’ hardheartedness in
killing his own
mother.
Chorus: My heart
goes out to her:
killed by her own
children!
The Children’s Revenge
Aeschylus too
makes the
murder of
Clytemnestra
the focus of his
play – but his
Clytemnestra
is a fierce,
terrifying,
intelligent and
active enemy
of her own
children.
The Eumenides
While Sophocles ends
the story with the
revenge, though,
Aeschylus and
Euripides continue the
story – as the Furies
(called “The Kindly
Ones” or Eumenides, in
order to placate this
terrible band) descend
to punish Orestes for
murdering his own
mother.
Aeschylus’ Eumenides
Orestes, haunted and driven almost insane by the vengeful Furies,
flees to Delphi, assisted by his faithful companion Pylades. Apollo
had told him that he was to avenge his father by killing his
mother, and now Orestes needs Apollo’s help.
From Delphi,
Apollo sends him
to Athens, where
the court will try
him and decide if
he is guilty or not.
With Athena
casting the key
vote, he is
acquitted.
The Eumenides
Orestes is purified, and
can rejoin society. He
marries Hermione,
daughter of Helen and
Menelaus, and Electra
marries Pylades.
The Furies complain that
they have been
disrespected and that the
old traditions of justice
will lose their power.
But Athena assures that
they are incorporated
into Athenian cult.
The Eumenides
Aeschylus transforms the old story of crime and vengeance with
a version that explores the tensions inherent in human society:
Ancient chthonic powers of
blood justice (the Furies)
Modern, law-oriented
system of justice (the
Athenian court)
Feminine interests and values
(Clytemnestra avenging her
daughter’s sacrifice)
Masculine interests and
values (Agamemnon
sacrificing his daughter,
Orestes’ avenging his father)
The Oresteia ends in a great mutual victory. At last, as Athena
urged, there is no “brutal conquest” of light over darkness,
patriarchy over matriarchy, Olympians over the Titans and the
Earth. W. B. Stanford
The Oresteia
Zeus, great nameless
all in all, if that name
will gain his favor, I
will call him Zeus. I
have no words to do
him justice, all I have
is Zeus, Zeus . . . Lift
this weight, this
torment, from my
spirit! Cast it off once
and for all!
Zeus has led us on to
know, we must suffer,
suffer into truth.
The Oresteia is like a story of
creation, yet as the cosmic forces
grow creative they become more
human and humane. It is in our
progress from savagery to
democracy. . . that the gods may
find the balance which they lacked.
The Oresteia culminates in a union
of male and female strengths, a
healthy unisexuality of the spirit. It
seems that opposite of what
Clytemnestra was at first – a
terrifying hermaphrodite –yet the
final unions remind us of her
maternal powers too. W. B. Stanford
The Eumenides
Zeus is the air,
Zeus is the earth,
Zeus is the heaven,
and all that lies
beyond . . .
finis