Irlandos at 15:24, December 28, 2005

2005-12-28T15:24:32Z

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'''Clytemnestra''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Κλυταιμνήστρα ''Klytaimnéstra'', "praiseworthy wooing") was the wife of [[Agamemnon]], king of the Ancient [[Greece|Greek]] kingdom of [[Mycenae]] or [[Argos]]. She was the daughter of [[Tyndareus]] and [[Leda]] and mother of [[Iphigeneia]], [[Orestes]], [[Chrysothemis]] and [[Electra]]. In Greek mythology, she was also believed to have been born of a union between [[Zeus]] and Leda, the former having wooed the latter in the guise of a swan. According to legend, following her union with the Olympian, Leda laid two eggs, [[Castor and Polydeuces]] (the Dioscuri, also known as the constellation Gemini) were hatched from one and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] (later of Troy) and Clytemnestra from the other.

Agamemnon followed his brother [[Menelaus]] after Menelaus' wife [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] was stolen by [[Paris]], thus igniting the [[Trojan War]].

While Agamemnon was away, Clytemnestra weakened her resolve and began a torrid love affair with [[Aegisthus]], her husband's kinsman (daughter with Aegisthus: [[Erigone]]). She was bitter towards her absent husband for having sacrificed their daughter, [[Iphigeneia]], to [[Artemis]].

At the end of the war, Agamemnon returned to Mycenae where his kinsman, [[Aegisthus]], who in the interval had seduced his wife Clytemnestra, invited him to a banquet at which he was treacherously slain. Princess [[Cassandra]] of Troy, who had been taken by Agamemnon as a war trophy, was also put to death by Clytemnestra. According to the account given by [[Pindar]] and the tragedians, Agamemnon was slain by his wife alone in a bath, a piece of cloth or a net having first been thrown over him to prevent resistance. According to [[Aeschylus]], Clytemnestra placed a piece of purple cloth and asked the returning Agamemnon to step over it. He refused at first but then gave in, while [[Cassandra]], who had been endowed with the gift of prophecy but with the curse of no one believing her, waited outside, knowing doom awaited. She stayed outside until she heard Agamemnon scream as he died, then ran inside and was killed by Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra's wrath at the sacrifice of their daughter [[Iphigeneia]], and her jealousy of Cassandra, are said to have been the motives of her crime. The murder of Agamemnon was avenged by his son [[Orestes]].

According to some sources, Cassandra was not murdered along with Agamemnon. Some sources see her leaving Mycenae unharmed. We even have historical reason to believe that she survived: in an Athenian museum, we have a plate with an inscripted text, which speaks of the Zakynthian family, descendants since 30 generations of Cassandra of Troy.

The story of Orestes is told in Aeschylus's famous trilogy, the ''[[Oresteia]]'', in Sophocles's play ''[[Electra]]'', and in Euripides's play's Orestes and ''[[Electra]].''

[[Category:Greek mythological people]]

Clytemnestra - Revision history

Irlandos at 15:24, December 28, 2005