Name: ________________________ Block: ______ Date:_________ Agamemnon Reading Guide (25P)
1. Why does the Chorus describe Agamemnon and Menelaus as 'vultures'? Why do they invoke Zeus as
the 'god of guests'?
2. What is the omen which Calchas interprets as angering Artemis? Why is Artemis disturbed?
3. What is the gist of the chorus' invocation of Zeus in 160-182? What kind of god do they conceive him
to be?
4. How did Clytemnestra get the news of Troy's downfall overnight?
5. Why does the Chorus invoke 'Zeus god of guests' in this song, and what does this have to do with
Justice, and with Paris?
6. Why is the Chorus skeptical about the joy over the fire signal's message? What does this tell us about
their attitude towards women? (475-487) How does Clytemnestra react to this attitude (586-596)
7. What does Clytemnestra say about her own loyalty to Agamemnon? How much is true, and how much
is false?
8. Why did the Herald have no news of Menelaus?
9. Why is Helen compared with a domesticated lion cub? (717)
10. The Chorus admits what their true feelings were when Agamemnon went off to the Trojan War. What
were their feelings then, and how do they compare to their feelings now?
11. How does Clytemnestra explain to Agamemnon the absence of their son Orestes? Why is it
convenient to have him out of town?
21. Why is Agamemnon reluctant to step on the carpet? Why do you think that Clytemnestra urges him to
do so?
12. What can be ambiguous about Clytemnestra's evocation of the goddess 'Justice' at the end of her
speech of welcome to Agamemnon? What could be ambiguous about her saying 'cover his way with
crimson'?
23. How does Agamemnon respond to Clytemnestra's speech? What three criticisms of her does he make?
13. What is ambiguous about Clytemnestra's prayer to Zeus (973)?
14. This song (975-1034) is full of dread and foreboding. What do the Chorus sing about blood? What do
they say about fate? What myth involving Zeus do they mention?
15. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus that they do not understand at first? Who are the small children
wailing? What does the Chorus finally understand about it? (1242)
16. Why does Cassandra repeatedly mention a bath? (1108, 1127)
17. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus about her relationship with Apollo?
18. What issue does the Chorus debate with itself in this song, and what is the result of their debate?
(1331-1371)
19. How does Clytemnestra justify her murder of Agamemnon and what reference does she make to the
inactivity of the Chorus when Agamemnon committed his outrage at Aulis? (1414)
20. How does the Chorus speak of Helen, and how does Clytemnestra attempt to correct them?
21. What is the 'triple-gorged spirit' which Clytemnestra and the Chorus refer to? How is Zeus
involved?
22. Clytemnestra says that she was only an agent, but the real killer was something else. What does she
claim that it was? And what is the Chorus' response to her claim? (1500)
23. What kind of burial will the murdered Agamemnon have? Who will kiss him after he dies, according
to Clytemnestra? (1551)
24. What arguments does Aegisthus use to prove that the gods were in favor of Agamemnon's being
murdered, and that he was justly killed?
25. How does Aegisthus respond to the Chorus when they call him an effeminate draft-dodger? What
kind of personality does he have? (1625ff)
UARK.edu