Medusa Mythology Exam 2013
Agamemnon
Magister Vader
Agamemnon, Doomed by Dad or
Granddad or Great Granddad?
• Curse on the house of Atreus
– Tantalus telling men the mysteries of the gods and trying to give
them ambrosia
– Tantalus cut up his son Pelops and tried to feed him to the gods,
Demeter was the only one to eat some (the shoulder), but
Pelops brought back to life by gods (given ivory shoulder)
– Pelops betrayed his charioteer, Myrtilius, to whom he had
promised half a kingdom, for help defeating his prospective
father-in-law to win the hand of his future wife, and, whom he
killed; Myrtilius uttered a curse on his house
– Fighting with his brother, Thyestes, over the kingdom of
Mycenae, he cooked Thyestes’s sons and served them to
Thyestes and then banished Thyestes, later trying to kill him
– Thyestes convinced his son, Aegisthus, to kill Atreus
Agamemnon, King of Greek Kings
• After his uncle, Thyestes, died, Agamemnon took
the throne of Mycenae
• He married the eldest daughter of the king of
Sparta, Tyndareus, Clytemnestra, sister to Helen
– His brother, Menelaus married Helen
• Tyndareus could not easily choose a suitor for
Helen and made all swear an oath to defend the
chosen suitor for Helen against attackers
– Agamemnon, since he was already married to
Clytemnestra, was chosen as leader for the pact
Agamemnon at Aulis
• Because Artemis favored Troy, she prevented favorable
winds to take the Greeks there
– She asked through Calchas for a human sacrifice of Iphigenia,
daughter of Agamemnon
• To placate the goddess, Agamemnon summoned his
daughter and wife, telling them that Iphigenia would marry
Achilles
• Instead, Iphigenia was sacrificed for the favorable wind
– Some say that she died; others say that Iphigenia was saved by
Artemis at the last moment and replaced with a deer
– This angered Clytemnestra very much
• The fleet then was able to make it to Troy
Agamemnon in the Iliad
• Agamemnon takes as his prize, Chriseis, daughter of
Chrises, Trojan priest of Apollo
• Chrises asks for daughter back, warning of Apollo’s wrath
• Agamemnon refuses; Apollo sends plague against Greek
camp
– Greek leaders ask for Agamemnon to return Chriseis
– Agamemnon finally succumbs, but takes Achilles’s prize, Briseis,
in her place
• Achilles threatens to leave, but merely ends up not fighting
– After great losses without Achilles (due to immortal intervention
to make Achilles look even better), Agamemnon offers Briseis
and more, but Achilles refuses
Agamemnon after the War
• After the fall of Troy, Agamemnon takes Cassandra,
clairvoyant Trojan princess (who was never believed),
as his concubine
• Agamemnon returned to Mycenae with Cassandra,
where Clytemnestra had been carrying on an affair
with Agamemnon’s cousin Aegisthus
• Clytemnestra and Aegisthus killed Agamemnon and
Cassandra and became rulers
– Clytemnestra was angered by (1) killing of her former
husband and child, (2) sacrifice of her daughter, Iphigenia,
and (3) the arrival of a concubine
The Curse Ends?
• Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, saved Orestes, son of
Agamemnon, from Aegisthus, new ruler of Mycenae
• Orestes, when grown up, avenges his father’s death, by
killing his own mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, his
uncle, Aegisthus
– Haunted by Erinyes (Furies) for this crime
– Found his way to Tauris, where he was rid of the Erinyes
and found Iphigenia and took her back to Greece
– Orestes stood trial and was acquitted for his crime, then
ruled Mycenae
– Through all Electra awaited Orestes’s return and ended up
marrying his best friend