| Agamemnon | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Agamemnon |
|
First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
|
Created by |
Greek Myth |
Origin[]
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans 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's father, Atreus, murdered the sons of his twin brother Thyestes and fed them to Thyestes after discovering Thyestes' adultery with his wife Aerope. Thyestes fathered Aegisthus with his own daughter, Pelopia, and this son vowed gruesome revenge on Atreus' children. Aegisthus murdered Atreus, restored Thyestes to the throne, and took possession of the throne of Mycenae and jointly ruled with his father. During this period, Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta.
In Sparta, Agamemnon and Menelaus respectively married Tyndareus' daughters Clytemnestra and Helen. In some stories (such as Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides) Clytemnestra was already married to Tantalus, and Agamemnon murders him and the couple's infant son before marrying Clytemnestra. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brother's assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes to recover his father's kingdom. He extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece.
In the Trojan War, When Paris of Troy took Helen back to Troy with him, Menelaus sought Agamemnon's help in retrieving her. Agamemnon, who wanted to conqueror Troy, lead a coalition of Greek kingdoms to attack Troy.
Preparing for departure from Aulis, a port in Boeotia, Agamemnon's army incurred the wrath of the goddess Artemis. There are several reasons for this: Artemis is angry for the young men who will die at war in Troy, Artemis is angry due to Agamemnon slaying a sacred animal of Artemis, or that he boasted that he was equal in hunting. Plague and a lack of wind prevented his army from sailing. Eventually, the prophet Calchas says that the sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, will allow him to sail for Troy. Agamemnon, in some versions, willingly sacrifices his daughter and sets sail; whereas in other versions, prepares to sacrifice Iphigenia, but Artemis replaces her with a deer at the last minute. In the latter, she is said to have been whisked away to Taurus in Crimea where she became the goddess Hecate, according to the Greek writer Hesiod.
Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief of the Achaean (Greek) army during the Trojan War. The Iliad tells os the story of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the tenth and last year of the war. Agamemnon took an attractive slave, as a prize, Briseis, from Achilles. withdrew from battle in revenge and nearly cost the Greek armies the war. (Later however Achilles returned when Patroclus his friend had died wearing Achilles' armor.). Agamemnon was a representative of kingly authority. As commander-in-chief, he summoned the princes to the council and led the army in battle. He took the field himself, and performed many heroic deeds until he was wounded and forced to withdraw to his tent. After the capture of Troy, Cassandra, doomed prophetess and daughter of Priam, fell to Agamemnon's lot in the distribution of the prizes of war.
Agamemnon was afterwards slain by Clytaemnestra and her lover, Agisthos, in Argos after his grand return from Troy, in his house. He later was avenged by his son Orestês who, with the help of Electra, killed their mother and Aegisthus.
He appears later as a shade in the Land of the Dead where Odysseus comes to in the Odyssey, and warns Odysseus likewise to not create a big show on his own return to Ithaca, telling him that wives of the Achaeans can't be trusted, for fear that Penelopê his wife might have turned against Odysseus during the twenty years of him being gone at Troy and would slay him as Clytaemnestra did to Agamemnon.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Agamemnon from before January 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Oresteia
- Odyssey
- Troilus and Cressida
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Helena (1924)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Famous Funnies #34