Agamemnon (in Greek old Ἀγαμέμνων / Agamémnôn , “immutable, stubborn”), one of the hero of the Trojan War, wire of the king Atrée of Mycènes (or Argos) and of the queen Érope, and brother of Ménélas. Other sources make of them the son of Pléisthénès (the son or father of Atrée), which one says to have been the first husband of Érope.

Origin

Agamemnon is initially a qualifier of Zeus. Zeus Agamemnon interpreted like “Zeus with the great thought”. The historians agree to recognize in Agamemnon, the human and heroic double of Zeus.

Caption

Atrée having been assassinated by Égisthe and Thyeste, which takes possession of the throne of Argos, Agamemnon and Ménélas are constrained with the exile. They find refuge at Tyndare, king of Sparte, of which they marry the girls: respectively Clytemnestre and Helene. De Clytemnestre, Agamemnon will have three girls - Iphigénie (sometimes identified with another girl, Iphianassa), Chrysothémis and Laodicé (Electra is a late addition with the legend) - and a son, Oreste.

Ménélas having succeeded Tyndare, it helps Agamemnon to recover the kingdom of his/her father, by thus making the most powerful prince in Greece.

Following the removal of Helene by Pâris, and at the conclusion of protracted negotiations, Agamemnon was indicated to carry out forwarding against Troy. However, before the fleet of Agamemnon did not leave, the winds stopped suddenly, immobilizing the ships. Agamemnon had offended the goddess Artémis while claiming to have killed a hind with an address which the goddess even could not have equalized (it is said that he would have rather claimed to be better with hunting than the goddess). The soothsayer Calchas announced that the anger of the goddess could be alleviated only by the sacrifice of Iphigénie, girl of Agamemnon itself. Agamemnon agreed to it. Fortunately, little before the sacrifice, the anger of Artémis calmed down and it replaced Iphigénie by a hind. The fleet could then leave.

One knows little the history of Agamemnon until his quarrel with Achille. Agamemnon accepted like starts from honor of the spoils the prisoner Chryséis, girl of Chrysès, Trojan priest of Apollon. It will have of them a son, Chrysès II. He refused to return it against ransom to his father, and Apollo, to avenge the honor for his priest, struck the Greeks of a plague devastator. Calchas having explained the anger of the god, it had to return Chryséis, but as compensation, allotted Briséis, the share of honor of Achilles. The anger of Achilles containing himself in his tent forms the principal history of Iliade . After the catch of Troy, Agamemnon obtained Cassandre, the girl of Priam, at the time of the distribution of the spoils of war. Cassandre will give him two wire, Pélops II and Télédamos.

On its return, it was accommodated by Égisthe. This one, which in the interval had allured Clytemnestre, invited it to a banquet to which it killed it in an unfair way. Cassandre is put at died by Clytemnestre. According to Pindare and the tragic actors, Agamemnon was killed in its bath by his woman alone, after being immobilized of a rag or a net. She would have been thus avenged for the sacrifice of Iphigénie and left free course to her jealousy with respect to Cassandre. The murder of Agamemnon was avenged by his/her Oreste son.

In the account, Agamemnon represents the royal authority. As commander-in-chief (ἄναξ/ anax ), it calls the princes with the council and carries out the army in the battle. Its sceptre, forged by Héphaïstos, forwarded by Zeus, Hermes, Pélops, Atrée and Thyeste. It takes share with the engagements itself, killing in all eleven Troyens, and achieves many acts of heroism before being wounded and constrained to withdraw itself in its tent. By two recoveries however, it is plugged by the Até (the error sent by the gods), which leads it to insult Chrysès and Achille, thus bringing the disaster on the Greeks.

The destiny of its family, the Atride S, had been marked misfortune since the beginning. Its royalty came to him from Pélops by the stained hands of blood of Atrée and Thyeste.

Fortunes of Agamemnon formed the subject of many Tragédie S, antiques and modern, most famous being Orestie of Eschyle. In the legends of the Peloponnese, Agamemnon was regarded as the prototype of the powerful monarch and in Sparte one adored it under the title of Zeus Agamemnon. Its tomb is located at Mycènes and Amyclées.

Sources

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See too

• Mask of Agamemnon

Simple: Agamemnon

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