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AGAMEMNON

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 364 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AGAMEMNON , one of the most distinguished of the See also:

Greek heroes, was the son of See also:Atreus (See also:king of See also:Mycenae) and Aerope, See also:grandson of See also:Pelops, See also:great-grandson of See also:Tantalus and See also:brother of See also:Menelaus. Another See also:account makes him the son of Pleisthenes (the son or See also:father of Atreus), who is said to have been Aerope's first See also:husband. Atreus was murdered by See also:Aegisthus (q.v.), who took See also:possession of the See also:throne of Mycenae and ruled jointly with his father Thyestes. During this See also:period Agamemnon and Menelaus took See also:refuge with Tyndareus, king of See also:Sparta, whose daughters Clytaemnestra (more correctly Clytaemestra) and See also:Helen they respectively married. By Clytaemnestra, Agamemnon had three daughters, See also:Iphigeneia (Iphianassa), See also:Electra (Laodice), Chrysothemis, and a son, See also:Orestes. Menelaus succeededTyndareus, and Agamemnon,with his brother's assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes, and recovered his father's See also:kingdom. He extended his dominion by See also:conquest and became the most powerful See also:prince in See also:Greece. When See also:Paris (See also:Alexander), son of See also:Priam, had carried off his brother's wife, he went See also:round to the princes of the See also:country and called upon them to unite in a See also:war of revenge against the Trojans. He himself furnished See also:loo See also:ships, and was chosen See also:commander-inchief of the combined forces. The See also:fleet, numbering 1200 ships, assembled at the See also:port of See also:Aulis in See also:Boeotia. But Agamemnon had offended the goddess See also:Artemis by slaying a See also:hind sacred to her, and boasting himself a better See also:hunter. The See also:army was visited by a See also:plague, and the fleet was prevented from sailing by the See also:total See also:absence of See also:wind.

See also:

Calchas announced that the wrath of the goddess could only be appeased by the See also:sacrifice of Iphigeneia (q.v.). The fleet then set See also:sail. Little is heard of Agamemnon until his See also:quarrel with See also:Achilles (q.v.). After the See also:capture of See also:Troy, See also:Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, See also:fell to his See also:lot in the See also:distribution of the prizes of war. On his return, after a stormy voyage, he landed in Argolis. His kinsman, Aegisthus, who in the See also:interval had seduced his wife Clytaemnestra, invited him to a banquet at which he was treacherously slain, Cassandra also being put to See also:death by Clytaemnestra. According to the account given by See also:Pindar and the tragedians, Agamemnon was slain by his wife alone in a See also:bath, a piece of See also:cloth or a See also:net having first been thrown over him to prevent resistance. Her wrath at the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, and her See also:jealousy of Cassandra, are said to have been the motives of her See also:crime. The See also:murder of Agamemnon was avenged by his son Orestes (q.v.). Although not the equal of Achilles in bravery, Agamemnon is a dignified representative of kingly authority. As commander-in-See also:chief, he See also:summons the princes to the See also:council and leads the army in See also:battle. He takes the See also:field himself, and performs many heroic deeds until he is wounded and forced to withdraw to his See also:tent.

His chief See also:

fault is his overweening haughtiness, due to an over-exalted See also:opinion of his position, which leads him to insult Chryses and Achilles, thereby bringing great disaster upon the Greeks. But his See also:family had been marked out for misfortune from the outset. His kingly See also:office had come to him from Pelops through the See also:blood-stained hands of Atreus and Thyestes, and had brought with it a certain fatality which explained the hostile destiny which pursued him. The fortunes of Agamemnon have formed the subject of numerous tragedies, See also:ancient and See also:modern, the most famous being the Oresteia of See also:Aeschylus. In the legends of See also:Peloponnesus, Agamemnon was regarded as the highest type of a powerful monarch, and in Sparta he was worshipped under the See also:title of See also:Zeus Agamemnon. His See also:tomb was pointed out among the ruins of Mycenae and at Amyclae. In See also:works of See also:art there is considerable resemblance between the representations of Zeus, king of the gods, and Agamemnon, king of men. He is generally characterized by the See also:sceptre and diadem, the usual attributes of See also:kings. See articles in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie and See also:Roscher's Lexikon der MMthologie.

End of Article: AGAMEMNON

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