UNIT 04
The Mask of Agamemnon
WORDS OF TRVTH
LEGEND
BY ITS VERY NATVRE
CONTAINS
A KERNEL OF
HISTORICAL FACT
The Mediterranean World, 600 BC
Final Exam Essay Questions
1. Compare the "adventure hero" as exemplified by Heracles with the
“civic hero” as exemplified by Oedipus or with the "Homeric hero" as
exemplified by Achilles. Pay particular attention to the hero's values
and the public affairs content of his stories.
2. Legend, by nature, often contains a kernel of historical fact. Prove
this by citing and commenting on one example each from the
Theban cycle, the Trojan War, and the Nostoi. How and why was
historical fact passed on in this manner?
The Hero and the City
“Action Heroes” = measured by HEROMETER
• Heracles (of Argos)
• Theseus (of Athens)
“Homeric Heroes” = measured by ARETE and KLEOS at WAR
• Agamemnon (of Mycenae/Argos)
• Hector (of Troy)
• Achilles (of Phthia)
“Civic Heroes” = we see them as kings or queens at HOME
• Clytemnestra (of Mycenae/Argos)
• Penelope and Odysseus (of Ithaca)
• Oedipus (of Thebes)
Map of Greece (detail)
Founding of Cadmeia (Thebes)
• Cadmus was the son of Agenor, king of Tyre.
• Searching for his sister Europa, whom Zeus, disguised as a bull,
had carried to Crete, Cadmus came to Delphi to ask Apollo for
advice.
• Apollo told him to follow a divinely sent cow until she lay down.
• Cadmus followed the cow to Boeotia, sacrificed her, and in the
process killed a serpent, child of Ares. Cadmus is told that he too will
become a serpent.
• Athena told Cadmus to sow the serpent's teeth. The men sprung
from the teeth fought one another until only 5 remained. The noble
families of Thebes were descended from these 5 "Spartoi," or
"sown men."
House of Cadmus
Cadmus and Harmonia
• After serving as slave to Ares for one year, Cadmus married
Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite.
• Cadmus and Harmonia introduce writing. This is logical, since he is
from Tyre and since the Greeks adopted their writing from the
Phoenicians.
• Eventually Cadmus and Harmonia were turned into serpents
Daughters of Cadmus and Harmonia:
• Ino: Married Athamas, plotted against Phrixus, eventually leapt into
the sea and became the goddess Leucothea.
• Semele: impregnated by Zeus, mother of Dionysus.
• Autonoe: mother of Actaeon, turned into a stag by Artemis
• Agave: mother of Pentheus.
House of Labdacus
• Labdacus founded a new dynasty: His son, Laius, was the father of
Oedipus.
• Lycus, descended from a Spartoi, reigned before Laius. Lycus'
brother, Nycteus, had a daughter, Antiope.
• Antiope bore twins to Zeus: Amphion and Zethus,
• Amphion married Niobe (of the 7 sons and 7 daughters) and built
the walls of Thebes.
• Zethus married Thebe, who gave her name to the newly walled
city.
• After the deaths of Zethus and Thebe, Laius returned from exile
• By abducting Pelops‘s son, Laius brought a curse on himself.
• Laius learned from the Delphic oracle that he would be killed by his
son
• Laius and his wife Jocasta had their son exposed on Mt. Cithaeron
after he was born
WORDS OF TRVTH
LEGEND
BY ITS VERY NATVRE
CONTAINS
A KERNEL OF
HISTORICAL FACT
The Oracle and the Riddle
Oeddie’s story (continued)
• Baby found by Corinthian shepherd; named “Swellfoot” (Oedipus)
• Raised as son of King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth
• Friends taunted him as a bastard, went to oracle which said "marry
his mother and kill his father.
• Decides never to return to Corinth
• Gets road rage and kills some random old chariot driver dude
Meanwhile in Thebes
• Sphinx sits on hill by Thebes posing riddle "what goes on 4 legs in
morning, 2 @ midday, and 3 in the evening?“
• Laius went to consult oracle, but gets killed en route
• Creon, brother of Laius’s widow Jocasta, announces that whoever
answers Sphinx’s riddle gets to marry Jocasta and become king
Oedipus Rex
• Oedipus and Jocasta had boys Polynices & Eteocles, girls
Antigone & Ismene.
• Oedipus rules for 20 years, loved by all. But a plague comes.
• Tiresias, blind prophet, tells truth but Oedipus alleges conspiracy.
• Old Corinthian messenger announces Polybus’s death
• Oedipus is relieved – thinks he has shaken off the oracle’s prophecy
• Old Corinthian messenger admits he personally discovered Baby
Swellfoot
• Jocasta hangs herself in bedroom; Oedipus blinds himself
• ARTI MANTHANO
Seven Against Thebes
Problems with the succession to Oedipus
• Eteocles rules first, for one year
• Polynices went to Argos and married king Adrastus' daughter.
• Eteocles refuses to step down
Polynices and the other Six of the Seven Against Thebes
• Adrastus, king of Argos
• Tydeus, friend of Polynices
• Capaneus, killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus.
• Hippomedon, fell in battle
• Parthenopaeus, fell in battle
• Amphiaraus, Polynices bribed his prophetess wife with the
necklace of Harmonia to convince her husband to join.
Sophocles’s Antigone
• In Sophocles‘s play Antigone, Creon, brother of Jocasta, ruled
Thebes after the death of Eteocles.
• Creon decreed that the body of Polyneices could not be buried or
given any funeral rites.
• His sister Antigone claimed that this was a sin against the gods and
defied Creon's law.
• Creon locked her in a tomb.
• Teiresias warned Creon to release her, but it was too late; she had
hanged herself.
• His son Haemon, who had been engaged to Antigone, killed himself,
as did Haemon's mother, when she learned of his death.
WORDS OF TRVTH
LEGEND
BY ITS VERY NATVRE
CONTAINS
A KERNEL OF
HISTORICAL FACT
Theban Saga – Rest of the Story
Sophocles‘s Oedipus at Colonus,
• Oedipus eventually took refuge in Athens, where he was received by
Theseus.
• At Colonus (suburb of Athens) Oeddie is received into the heavens
The Suppliant Women
• In Euripides’s play The Suppliant Women, the mothers of the
Seven against Thebes beg Theseus to help bury their sons.
• Eventually Theseus agreed, and Theseus returned from Thebes
with the bodies
Tiresias
• Weird sex change results in gift of prophecy
• Advises Odysseus (among others) even after his death
House of Atreus
• Pelops (son of Tantalus): last seen being served as soup to the
gods
• Wins wife Hippodamia in chariot race given by father King
Oenomaus of Pisa
• Pelops has Myrtilus take out wheel pins, causing the king’s death
• Myrtilus (a bastard son of Hermes) thought he got Hippodamia.
• Pelops pushes him down wall, incurring a mighty curse
• Myrtilus curses Pelops’ entire family.
• Sons of Pelops and Hippodamia = Atreus and Thyestes
Competition for Mycenae
• Golden ram from sky will be given to next king of Mycenae
(replacing Eurystheus)
• Zeus sends the ram to Atreus
• Atreus's wife Aerope lets his brother Thyestes have the ram while
Atreus was asleep.
• Next morning Thyestes shows off the ram; the sun rose and sat
backwards. (total eclipse of the Sun)
• Atreus serves Thyestes Thyestes’ own children for supper
• Thyestes marries his own daughter Pelopia and has a son
Aegistheus.
• Atreus marries Pelopia and takes Aegistheus as his own son.
• Later, Aegistheus finds out the truth and kills Atreus.
• Agamemnon and Menelaus (sons of Atreus and Aerope) flee to
Sparta.
House of Tyndareus
Leda and the Swan
• Leda, wife of Tyndareus of Sparta, raped by Zeus in form of a swan.
• Leda also has sex with Tyndareus the same night. Leda lays two
eggs.
• Mortal egg: Castor and Clytemnestra
• Immortal egg: Pollux and Helen
Children of Zeus and Leda
• Castor dies; Pollux can’t stand it, so they share Pollux’s immortality
• 1 day on Mt. Olympus, 1 day in Underworld.
• Clytemnestra and Agamemnon have three children- Orestes,
Electra, Iphigenia
• All Helen's suitors vow to honor her choice of husband = Menelaus.
Wedding of Peleus and Thetis
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All the deities invited except for Eris (discord)
Eris throws out golden apple inscribed "For the Fairest"
Hera, Athena, Aphrodite claim prize
Zeus is too smart to serve as judge
Prince Paris of Troy agrees to serve as judge; chooses Aphrodite;
Receives most beautiful woman in world, Helen as his prize
Helen is already married to King Menelaus of Sparta
Paris received as guest of Menelaus;
Helen is driven craaazy by Aphrodite; they steal treasures and flee.
ARETE and KLEOS
• kill daughter and obtain ARETE (virtue, manliness, measured in acts
you do) and KLEOS (fame, only thing left after you die)
Gathering of the Greeks
Gathering at Aulis (minus two draft dodgers)
• Odysseus, wife Penelope just had son Telemachus, fakes
madness by plowing fields w/salt
• Achilles, mom dresses him up as a girl, sends him to Island of
Nubile Young Girls
• Odysseus gets off boat and lays toys out
• Achilles caught because he is the only one who reached for guy toy
• Artemis holds winds back because of no sacrifice on her name.
Agamemnon’s Dilemma
• Agamemnon is told to sacrafice daughter Iphigenia by Calchas (the
sea): two alternatives
• Don’t kill daughter and be a loser, wimp
• Gets Iphigenia to show up by claiming she will marry Achilles - and
sacrifices her.
The Greek Team
• Agamemnon = king of Mycenae-killed by wife and lover when
returned home
• Menelaus = King of Sparta
• Odysseus = King of Ithaca
• Achilles = Greatest Greek hero, kills Hector, killed by Paris
• Diomedes = best fighter/ thinker; wounded both Ares and Aphrodite
in combat
• Nestor = wise old wind bag
• Idomeneus = King of Crete
• Philoctetes = Mighty Steerman/ Stinky foot
• Ajax the Greater
• Ajax the Lesser = raped Cassandra in Athena’s temple-- HUBRIS
• Neoptolemus (a/k/a Pyrrhus) = Achilles son,
The Trojan Team
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Paris (son of King Priam and Hecuba of Troy) = won Helen
Hector = brother of Paris, heir to throne, greatest Trojan hero,
Andromache = heroic wife of Hector, mother of Astyanax
Astyanax = son of Hector and Andromache; thrown to his death
from the walls of Troy after it fell
Aeneas = (son of Aphrodite and Anchises) eventually escaped from
Troy and founded Rome
Sarpedon = illegitimate son of Zeus whom even Zeus could not
save
Helenus = son of Priam; prophet; third Mr. Helen
Priam = aged king of Troy; hopes to leave it all to Hector
Cassandra = 100% accurate prophetess whom nobody ever
believes
The Divine Side
Deities on Greek Side
• Athena = still mad at losing Judgment of Paris
• Hera = still mad at losing Judgment of Paris
• Poseidon = had been stiffed by King Priam's father in a business
deal
Deities on Trojan Side
• Aphrodite = winner in Judgement of Paris
• Ares = no particular reason, just likes to fight
• Apollo = no particular reason, just likes to fight
Zeus
ILIAD = Th’ Wrath of Achilles
• Agamemnon takes Chryseis, daughter of Chryses (local priest of
Apollo), as booty
• Apollo sends Cholera plague on camp; Agamemnon must return
Chryseis
• If Agamemnon does not return her, the Greeks lose
• If Agamemnon hands over his girl, he will be deprived of KLEOS
and ARETE points.
• Achilles, tired of watching the plague, tells Agamemnon to give her
back.
• Agamemnon says okay but takes Achilles’ slave girl Briseis
• Achilles takes his men and retreats from war
• Achilles's mother Thetis gets Zeus to let the Greeks get womped
• Agamemnon and the Greeks spend next eight books getting
womped
ILIAD – Achilles’s Choice
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Agamemnon sends an embassy to persuade Achilles back
offers money, an apology, and his daughter’s hand
Phoenix, Ajax the Greater, and Odysseus all make speeches
Achilles explains that he has two fates to choose from
die young with ARETE
live long and die without ARETE (he picks this option)
ILIAD – Achilles vs. Hector
• Patroclus, friend of Achilles, allowed to borrow Achilles’ armor in
hopes to gain on Greeks side
• Warned not to get too close to the walls of Troy.
• Patroclus tries to go over wall (hubris)
• Patroclus killed by Hector, who strips off armor of Achilles
• Achilles enraged at the death of his friend and stolen armor by
Hector
• Thetis gets Hephaestus to make new armor with scenes of both
peace and war on it
• Achilles kills Hector, desecrates body by dragging it through town
(Hector pleaded for a proper burial).
ILIAD – Rest of the Story
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Zeus and Gods preserve Hector's body
Achilles gives body to Priam after shaking hands with him
Achilles knows he is going to die soon
Funeral games celebrated for Hector = anticipates Achilles's demise
Paris, assisted by Apollo, shot Achilles in heel. Ajax the Greater
brought body back.
• Achilles’ armor given to Odysseus instead of Ajax.
• Ajax the Greater driven mad, commits suicide.
• Trojans winning by pushing Greeks back to boat
ILIAD – The Trojan Horse
• Sinon talks Trojans into bringing in the wooden horse in
• Laocoon (priest of Apollo) disagrees but he and his sons are eaten
by snakes
• When all are asleep, Greeks get out and open gates and sack the
city
• Neoptolemus kills king Priam
• Helen keeps Menelaus from killing her by flashing her breasts at him
Nostos (pl. nostoi) = definition
NOSTOI: definition
• nostos = Ancient Greek for "return voyage"
• compare English word "nostalgia" (longing to go home)
• popular "sequels" to the Iliad
• also contain KERNELS OF HISTORICAL FACT
NOSTOI
• Menelaus = got Helen back, on the way home, blown to Egypt, but
made it back later.
• Nestor = Went over land--Homer probably could relate to him
because of old wind bag
WORDS OF TRVTH
LEGEND
BY ITS VERY NATVRE
CONTAINS
A KERNEL OF
HISTORICAL FACT
Legend by its very nature…
• Diomedes = returned to Argos, (wife unfaithful, not welcomed at
home) wanders around the Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy,
founds a few cities, worshipped as God after death.
• Idomeneus = hero of Crete. weather was bad, vows if saved will
sacrifice first thing that approaches him when he has landed—his
son. Miasma causes him to wander around the Mediterranean,
finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities, worshipped as God after
death.
• Philoctetes = not welcomed at home. founds Naples as he wanders
around the Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities,
worshipped as God after death.
• Aeneas = son of Aphrodite and Anchises, wanders around the
Mediterranean, finally ends in Italy, founds a few cities, worshipped
as God after death.
WORDS OF TRVTH
LEGEND
BY ITS VERY NATVRE
CONTAINS
A KERNEL OF
HISTORICAL FACT
Agamemnon’s Nostos
Agamemnon (first play)
• Agamemnon returns to Greece with his prize Cassandra.
• Cassandra tells Agamemnon that his wife will kill him, then her
• He walks into bath that Clytemnestra fixes for him, and gets killed
• Clytemnestra incurs miasma along with her lover Aegisthus, but
what is Orestes to do?
The Liberation Bearers
• Electra gets Orestes to kill Aegistheus and Clytemnestra
• Orestes is promptly driven mad by the Furies
The Kindly Ones (third play)
• Furies are prosecuting attorneys
• Apollo the defense attorney
• Jury tied, Athena rules for Orestes.
The Wanderings of Odysseus - I
• Island of the Ciconians = Sacked the city, taking booty, taking with
them 12 jars of red wine. Lost men from every ship when escaping
• Lotus Eaters = blown to this island where everyone consumes the
lotus-laced with drug
• Polyphemus Island = Ate herd of sheep, found Cyclops cave
containing fruit and delicacies, Cyclops trapped opening w/ boulder
and ate men every night. Odysseus got him drunk, blinded him, got
away
• Aeolus Island = God of winds feasted men and gave him special
bag containing deadly winds. Men jealous, open bag while asleep
and are blown back to Aeolus Island.
• The Laestrygonians = Cannibals that ate all ships except
Odysseus and his few crew. Quickly sailed away
• Circe = Daughter of Helius-turns men into pigs. He will sleep with
her but first make an oath not to castrate him. Circe changes men
back and they live on island for one year. He leaves with advice to
talk to Tiresias in underworld,
Wanderings of Odysseus - II
• Underworld – has a nice katabasis and visits Tiresias
• Sirens = beautiful women singing with enchanted voices. Entraps
sailors-they follow them and die on cliffs the women-birds perch on.
Odysseus manages to listen to them sweetly singing
• Scylla and Charybdis = blocking the narrow straight they must
pass through- on one side Scylla-monster w/ 12 feet, 6heads w/ 3
rows of teeth hidden in cave beneath sheer cliffs.
• Cattle of the Sun= Winds kept them from leaving-starving them to
eat fish. Odysseus falls asleep and wakes to the smell of burnt meat
• Calypso = Finally he washes up on Ogygia. Sea nymph wanting
him for herself promises him immortality-but he says no.
• Phaeacians = washes up on Scheria, found by Nausicaa, tells
them of his adventures, and is sent home by Queen Arete
• Ithaca = returned to his home island by the Phaeacians
ODYSSEY – The Big Return
• Goes to swineherd friend Eumaeus's house.
• Son Telemachus is there and says whats happening at home:
suitors, murder plots
• He disguises himself as beggar talks to Penelope saying her
husband is alive.
• She recognizes him and immediately tells of contest she will hold for
her hand
• whoever can string her husband’s old bow and shoot it thru 12
axeheads.
• No one can and he does-then turns on suitors and kills them.
• Penelope tells him to sleep on porch (test) on old bed-he gets mad,
she smiles and they go to bed.
WORDS OF TRVTH
LEGEND
BY ITS VERY NATVRE
CONTAINS
A KERNEL OF
HISTORICAL FACT
Where do we go from here?
Nov 18
Nov 20
Hour Exam 3 Returned
Blended Day
Nov 25
Nov 27
Introduction: Belief and Society (P 17; Oedipus Rex)
Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec 02
Dec 04
Blended Day
Legend By Its Very Nature… (P 19, 20; L 31-34)
Dec 09
Dec 11
Blended Day
Review and Wrap-Up (P 21; L 35-38)
Section 1 takes Hour Exam 4 at 11:00 am Thursday, Dec 18
Section 2 takes Hour Exam 4 at 11:00 am Tuesday, Dec 16