Classical Wisdom Litterae - April 2019

A gamemnon was the first of a trilogy of plays (the Oresteia ), performed back to back during the Great Dionysia of 458 BC; it focused on two generations of The Cursed House of Atreus. Regular readers will be well-aware of the bad blood flowing through, and often out of, the members of this unfortunate dynasty.

Aeschylus‘ trilogy begins three generations later. By its end, the family’s seemingly perpetual cycle of hubris and nemesis, sin and vengeance, betrayal and blood will have drawn to a close. However, there was plenty to get through before then, starting with the Agamemnon .

Agamemnon, (great-grandson of Tantalus) has returned from leading the Greeks to victory in the Trojan War and is greeted at the door by his ‘loving’ wife Clytemnestra.

“A ESCHYLUS ‘ TRILOGY BEGINS THREE GENERATIONS LATER . B Y ITS END , THE FAMILY ’ S SEEMINGLY PERPETUAL CYCLE OF HUBRIS AND NEMESIS , SIN AND VENGEANCE , BETRAYAL AND BLOOD WILL HAVE DRAWN TO A CLOSE .”

Tantalus (grandfather of Atreus) founded this woeful household of par r i c ide, infant icide, cannibal i sm, incest and hubris.

From this moment on we witness what has, for her, been years in the planning: the total destruction of Agamemnon. Describing Clytemnestra as ‘loving’ is not facetious. Her strength of hate is borne from her strength of love, what we know as philos-aphilos . Clytemnestra’s hate for Agamemnon overtook/replaced her love for him when

His sins that doomed his descendants? Not merely stealing from the gods, but also serving them his murdered son, Pelops, for dinner. His punishment? Eternal hunger and thirst in the darkest recesses of the underworld (Tartarus) and a bloodline with filth in its veins.

Mask of Agamemnon, found in a Mycenae tomb by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876

Theater adaption of The House of Atreus, by Aeschylus

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