He was one of the most important figures of Greek mythology: Who is Agamemnon?

Agamemnon, head of the Akhaoi kings in the Trojan Wars in Greek mythology, is the commander-in-chief. He led the Greek Armies in the Trojan War.

By Jane Dickens Published on 28 Ağustos 2023 : 22:58.
He was one of the most important figures of Greek mythology: Who is Agamemnon?

Descendant of Pelops and Tantalus from his father Atreus; daughter of the god Zeus and Europa's son Minos, from the arm of his mother Aerope; He is also the brother of King Menelaus of Sparta. He comes from an unfortunate lineage cursed by the gods.

Agamemnon's royal authority derives from Zeus. The fraternal enmity between his father Atreus and Thyestes has been the subject of many tragedies. In the Trojan Wars, his unwillingness to give back to Khryses, a prisoner of war, causes a rift between him and Achilles. While the fleet awaits departure, Agamemnon kills one of the Goddess Artemis' sacred beasts while hunting, and the goddess is swept away. Artemis is forced to sacrifice her daughter Iphigenia to make the wind blow. He showed many valor in the Trojan War. But he can never be an Achilles. At the end of the Trojan War, he returns to his country.

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.

Meanwhile, his wife Clytemnestra, who cannot accept the murder of her daughter Iphigeneia for the sake of her country, prepares a trap with her lover Aigisthos, with the passion of revenge on her husband. He warmly welcomes Agamemnon on his return to the palace. He seems to agree to bring Priam's daughter, the seer Kassandra, from Troy as a prisoner of war. Kassandra says that the first day she stayed in the palace, the floor was red with blood. A few days later, Agamemnon is found dead in his palace.

Agamemnon in Tragedy

Greek and Latin tragic poets dealing with this subject approach the event with different details; According to some, his wife, Clytaimnestra, according to others, his wife's lover Aigisthos was killed. It is mother's love, not forbidden love, that drives Clytemnestra to kill Agamemnon. Clytemnestra has two more children, Elektra and Orestes. But after Iphigeneia's death, their mother hates them too. When her father is killed, Elektra sees the incident and cannot accept that her mother is living as a man's mistress in the palace where her father was killed. Clytemnastra gives Elektra as a servant to a farmer. There, Elektra waits for her brother Orestes to avenge her father's death. Finally, Orestes returns to the palace. He kills his mother, Clytemnestra.

These rumors have been the subject of the tragedies Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Sophocles' Electra, Euripides' Electra, and Orestes.