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According to Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae, one of the major civilizations in ancient Greece. Leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War, he is one of the central figures in the Iliad , Homer’s epic poem. Greek writers often portray Agamemnon as brave, but also arrogant and excessively proud, flaws that sometimes cause him misfortune and eventually lead to his death. For this reason, the story of Agamemnon is often seen as a warning about the dangers of arrogance.
doomed from birth
Many of the ancient writers focus on the fact that Agamemnon was doomed from birth due to his ancestry, which we break down below.
Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and his wife, Queen Aerope, which is why he was a descendant of Tantalus and Pelops. Tantalus, his great-grandmother, had served his son Pelops as food at a banquet for the gods, a misdeed for which Zeus sentenced him to spend eternity in Tartarus. Something similar happened with Atreus, the father of Agamemnon. King Atreus discovered that his own brother, Thyestes, had slept with Queen Aerope. As revenge, Atreus killed his nephews, the sons of Thyestes, and served them as food for his brother.
Now there was a blood feud. Aegisthus, another son of Thyestes, killed Atreus and placed Thyestes on the throne of Mycenae. These events caused Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, to be forced to flee from Mycenae.
Agamemnon is crowned king
Agamemnon and Menelaus ended up arriving at the Spartan court of King Tindáreo, who offered them refuge. During his stay in Sparta, Agamemnon began planning to recapture his father’s throne and found a “partner” at court, as he married Tyndareus’s daughter, Clytemnestra.
Menelaus also made alliances in Sparta, being the (successful) suitor of the other daughter of Tindáreo, Helena, renowned for her beauty. The main kings and princes of the Greek world of the time were Helen’s suitors, but it was Menelaus who won her hand. To avoid bloodshed and ill-feeling in Greece over the choice of the Spartan princess, all of Helen’s suitors took the Tyndarean Oath. Under this promise, the Greek monarchs had to defend the chosen suitor and attack whoever attempted against her union with Helena.
With the help of the Spartan forces, Agamemnon would retake the throne of Mycenae. Melenao remained in Sparta, where he inherited the throne from his mother-in-law.
As king, Agamemnon expanded the size and power of Mycenae through conquest. Very soon, the classical world recognized Agamemnon as the most powerful king of his day. As his kingdom grew, so did his home. With Clytemnestra, Agamemnon became the father of three daughters, Chrysothemis, Electra, and Iphigenia, as well as a son, Orestes.
Helen’s kidnapping
When everything seemed positive for Agamemnon, problems began to arise in Sparta, the kingdom of Menelaus. Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was kidnapped by Paris, a Trojan prince. According to myth, the goddess Aphrodite promised Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta, in exchange for him choosing her at the “Judgment of Paris.”
After the abduction a call to arms was made, and the Tyndarean oath was invoked on all Helen’s suitors. Although Agamemnon was not one of her suitors, he had a brotherly bond that still compelled him to take up arms, so he assembled a Mycenaean army to help win back Helen. This fact is recognized as the reason behind the Trojan War, when hundreds of fleets went to sea to fight to rescue Helen.
Iphigenia’s sacrifice
The fleet was ready to leave for Troy, but the wind refused to blow. Agamemnon was said to have infuriated Artemis when, during a hunt, he proclaimed that even the goddess herself could not have defeated her efforts.
The Greek prophet Calchas announced that the winds would only blow favorably again when Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia.
Agamemnon accepted the sacrifice, although the ancient sources are divided as to what his attitude was towards it. Some say that Agamemnon would have canceled the Trojan expedition rather than accept the sacrifice, while others maintain that Agamemnon willingly accepted the act because of his position as commander.
death of agamemnon
Agamemnon is arguably better known for the events that followed the fall of Troy than for those that preceded it, and the Mycenaean king is especially famous for the manner in which he died. Agamemnon’s death is mentioned briefly in Homer’s Odyssey ; however, it is recounted in much more detail in the Greek theater, specifically in Aeschylus’ Oresteia and in Sophocles’ Electra .
Agamemnon arrived at Mycenae with his war prizes, including his new concubine, Cassandra, a Trojan princess and prophetess. Cassandra warned Agamemnon of the dangers that awaited him; However, the Trojan princess fell under the curse that her prophecies were never believed, so her words had no relevance to Agamemnon.
In his absence, Clytemnestra had taken a lover, Aegisthus, son of Thyestes and cousin of Agamemnon. Aegisthus convinced Clytemnestra to kill her husband and her companions, which he did shortly after his arrival from Troy. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus justified her actions, since Agamemnon’s father had killed his half-brothers and Agamemnon had sacrificed Iphigenia.
Several years later, Aegisthus and Clytemnestra died at the hand of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, who was bound by blood law to kill his own mother.
Who speak of the life and death of Agamemnon
Of course, it is not known for certain whether ancient writers, including Homer, were writing about an actual king or whether Agamemnon was a purely mythological character. The Hittites mentioned a Greek king with a name similar to that of Agamemnon, but in Greece itself there is no physical evidence; and, of course, the “Mask of Agamemnon”, discovered by the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, has no relation to the king of Mycenae.
However, ancient writers wrote about the king of Mycenae. Homer wrote about Agamemnon in both the Iliad and the Odyssey , but Aeschylus also wrote a play called “Agamemnon” and Sophocles wrote about the king in “Electra.”
References
- Banuls, J. (2017). Homeric background of the tragic Agamemnon: characterization of the character and motives of the saga.
- Theater Collection. (2004). Aeschylus: The Oresteia.
- Stephen, A. (2014). Agamemnon, Medea and Trachinias : bloody portrait of three wives Heroines of Greek mythology V.
