Clytemnestra (klī'təmnĕs`trə), in Greek mythology, the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus.Homer described her as the noble-minded wife of Agamemnon, persuaded to infidelity by the tyrant Aegisthus. This Site Might Help You. Aegisthus is the extreme example of improper hospitality while a man is away at war. 5 years ago. After the murders, Aegisthus replaced Agamemnon as king … Clytemnestra greeted her … See Also: Agamemnon, Tyndareus, Leda, Castor, Polydeuces, Helen, Menelaus, Trojan War, Iphigenia, Aegisthus, Orestes, Cassandra. Clytemnestra klī˝təmnĕs´trə , in Greek mythology, the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus. She killed Agamemnon and was herself killed, along with her lover, Aegisthus, by Orestes. As Aegisthus and Clytemnestra enter into the palace together, the Chorus holds its ground and prays for Orestes to come to Argos and alleviate the suffering in the House of Atreus. Orestes slaying Aegisthus. Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra also adds to the complexity of the final revenge. Eventually, Aegisthus is killed to avenge the death of Agamemnon. According to Electra, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon so that she could be with Aegisthus. He was Clytemnestra's lover, though she was married to Agamemnon, and helped her kill him. Aegisthus and Agamemnon’s wife decide to kill Agamemnon so that they may continue their affair. Aegisthus saw his father Thyestes betrayed by Agamemnon's father Atreus (Aegisthus was conceived specifically to take revenge on that branch of the family). Clytemnestra, the Character. Agamemnon had sacrificed Iphigenia to appease the anger of the goddess Artemis. Devon. Homer described her as the noble-minded wife of Agamemnon, persuaded to infidelity by the tyrant Aegisthus. See more. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon when he returned from the war, and were in turn murdered by ORESTES and ELECTRA, Agamemnon’s children. Answer: Clytemnestra is of Greek literature but Dido is of Roman literature. According to some versions, Clytemnestra is driven to murder Agamemnon partly to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom Agamemnon had sacrificed for the sake of success in the war, partly because of her adulterous love for Aegisthus and partly as an agent for the curse on Agamemnon’s family, the House of Atreus. Clytemnestra plays only a passive role, permitting herself to be seduced, and permitting her husband to be murdered. Agamemnon eventually returns to Troy, with the Trojan princess Cassandra as his beloved. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus also slaughtered Cassandra. Dido led her people … Electra tells us that Clytemnestra is a cruel, pitiless, woman, a killer of her own husband who deserves to be punished for her actions. n. Greek Mythology The son of Thyestes and lover of Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra was enraged by Iphigenia's murder (and presumably the earlier murder of her first husband by Agamemnon, and her subsequent rape and forced marriage). Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes and his daughter, Pelopia. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, had taken Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, as a lover. Clytemnestra's dream clearly represents an omen of impending justice. Furthermore, in the ten years of Agamemnon's absence, Clytemnestra has entered into an adulterous relationship with Aegisthus, Agamemnon's cousin and the scion of a dispossessed branch of the family, who is determined to regain the throne he believes should rightfully belong to him. However, the Greek tragedians, most specifically Aeschylus, depicted her as remorseless and vengeful. Clytemnestra was not a great leader, but rather was a symbol of an old way of doing things. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra took the rule of Mycenae for seven years, until Orestes, the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, returned and killed his mother and her lover as revenge for his father's death. This ends the play Agamemnon. Clytemnestra was the daughter of King Tyndareus and Queen Leda of Sparta. Aegisthus and Thyestes thereafter ruled over Mycenae jointly, exiling Atreus' sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus to Sparta, where King Tyndareus gave the pair his daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen, to take as wives. Clytemnestra definition, the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, the wife of Agamemnon, and the mother of Orestes, Electra, and Iphigenia. Aegisthus definition, a cousin of Agamemnon who seduced Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, and was later killed by Orestes. By interesting, we don't mean likable – after all, technically speaking, she is a liar, a two-timer, and a murderer. According to some versions, Clytemnestra is driven to murder Agamemnon partly to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom Agamemnon had sacrificed for the sake of success in the war, partly because of her adulterous love for Aegisthus and partly as an agent for the curse on Agamemnon’s family, the House of Atreus. In this version, Aegisthus, as a man, is the driving force behind the story and behind Agamemnon’s death. She was angered because Agamemnon had hunted and killed one of her sacred stags before he planned to set sail to Troy. The image of the scepter is linked with authority, which has been unnaturally appropriated by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra with the murder of Agamemnon, the legitimate ruler of Mycenae. Ae•gis•thus [[t]iˈdʒɪs θəs[/t]] n. myt a cousin of Agamemnon who seduced Clytemnestra and was later killed by Orestes Even though Agamemnon gets a shout-out in the play's title, Clytemnestra may well be its most interesting character. During this period of Agamemnon's long absence, Clytemnestra began a love affair with Aegisthus, her husband's cousin. Isamu Noguchi designed a series of set pieces that transformed the Aegisthus marries Clytemnestra to become King but is no more than a puppet to Clytemnestra. 1434–36). See more. Clytemnestra took a lover, Aegisthus (the cousin of her husband), To avenge the death of Iphigenia, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus conspired to kill Agamemnon. Clytemnestra, choreographed in 1958, is the culminating piece of theater in Martha Graham’s Greek Cycle, a work of “giant stature,” according to New York Times critic John Martin. The Chorus dissociates itself from Clytemnestra, as choruses often do, by saying that it doesn’t honor an overheated hearth in its house (629), referring back to Clytemnestra’s claim that Aegisthus is lighting her hearth fire (Ag. Clytemnestra Q&A People seem to love hearing about seriously messed-up goings-on.) AEGISTHUS In Greek mythology, son of Pelopia and THYESTES. Commissioned by Bethsabée de Rothschild, Graham’s longtime benefactor, Clytemnestra has an original score by Halim El-Dabh. The bloody story of Orestes' revenge on his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, has been super popular for a super long time. 3 0. Archive 2009-03-01 In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale who murdered her husband, Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess Cassandra, whom he had taken as war prize following … Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter and, by the time Agamemnon was fighting in the Trojan War, she cheated on her husband with Agamemnon’s cousin, Aegisthus. The Funeral Procession of Agamemnon. The Trojan War lasted ten years. : for this Chorus, like that of the Agamemnon and like Orestes, accounts for Clytemnestra's conduct in terms of Aegisthus. One of the earliest mentions of Orestes' grisly deed pops up in Homer's Odyssey, where it's made out to be a good and honorable act of justice. RE: What is the story of Aegisthus, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and … However, the Greek tragedians, most specifically Aeschylus, depicted her as remorseless and vengeful. Aegisthus (/ ɪ ˈ dʒ ɪ s θ ə s /; Ancient Greek: Αἴγισθος; also transliterated as Aigisthos, [ǎi̯ɡistʰos]) was a figure in Greek mythology.Aegisthus is known from two primary sources of Greek mythology. Aegisthus threatens the Chorus with his soldiers, but Clytemnestra stops the moment from escalating into more violence. Aegisthus became the lover of CLYTEMNESTRA, the wife of King AGAMEMNON, after the king had gone off to the TROJAN WAR. Aegisthus and his father now took possession of their lawful inheritance from which they had been expelled by Atreus. Agamemnon was “killed by Aegisthus’ cunning—by his own wife” (Fagles 115). Clytemnestra learned of this event and grieved for her daughter. Clytemnestra, likewise, is portrayed as wicked because she violates her vows to Agamemnon by taking a lover in his absence. After a stormy voyage, Agamemnon and Cassandra either landed in Argolis, or were blown off course and landed in Aegisthus' country. 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