Editing Aerope (section)

==Family==
Aerope's father was Catreus, son of [[Minos]], and king of [[Crete]]. Catreus had two other daughters, Clymene and Apemosyne, and a son, Althaemenes.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA354 p. 354]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.2.1 3.2.1]. For Catreus as the son of Minos see also [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#60 4.60.4]. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]],  [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.53.4 8.53.4] says that, while the Cretans claim Catreus was the son of Minos, according to the [[Tegea]]ns, Catreus was the son of [[Tegeates]].</ref>

In most accounts, Aerope was the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus, fathered by [[Atreus]]. However, their father is occasionally named as [[Pleisthenes]].<ref>Gantz, p. 552; Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA355 355], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA508 508]; Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml p. 517]; [[Tzetzes]], ''Allegories of the Iliad'' Prolegomena 508&ndash;511. Sources which have Aerope as the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus include: (by Atreus) [[Euripides]], ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Hel.+390 390&ndash;392], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=57514F65526E804C8BAABD84924B4C06?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0116 16]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#97 97];  [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.3.12 E.3.12]; Scholia on ''[[Iliad]]'' 1.7  (citing "Homer" = [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137a Most]) and Scholia on [[Tzetzes]]' ''Exegesis in Iliadem'' 1.122 (citing "Homer" = [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137c Most]); and (by Pleisthenes) [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.2.2 3.2.2], [[Dictys Cretensis]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/DictysCretensis1.html 1.1]; (no father mentioned)  [[Sophocles]], [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Aj.+1290 1290&ndash;1297]. Without naming a father, fragmentary lines from the [[Hesiodic]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' ([[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.229.xml fr. 138 Most] = fr. 195 MW) seem to make Aerope the mother of three sons Agamemnon, Menelaus (and Anaxibios?), see Gantz, p. 552. See also Scholia on ''Iliad'' 1.7  (= [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137a Most]),  which says that, "according to Hesiod", Agamemnon was the son of Pleisthenes, with Aerope possibly implied as the mother (see below). Compare with [[Tzetzes]], ''Exegesis in Iliadem'' 1.122 (= [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137b Most]), which says that, "according to Hesiod, Aeschylus, and some others," Cleolla, the daughter of [[Dias (mythology)|Dias]], was the mother (by Pleisthenes) of Agamemnon and Menelaus.</ref> In other retellings, Aerope was instead the mother of Pleisthenes by Atreus. When Pleisthenes died young, his sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, were adopted by Atreus.<ref>Gantz, p. 552; Hard,  [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA508 p. 508]; [[Tzetzes]], ''Exegesis in Iliadem'' 1.122 (= [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137b Most]); Compare with Scholia on ''Iliad'' 2.249, which has Pleisthenes dying young and his sons raised by Atreus; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#86 86], which has Aerope as Atreus' wife and Pleisthenes as Atreus' son; Scholia on ''[[Iliad]]'' 1.7  (= [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137a Most]), which says that, according to Hesiod, Agamemnon was the son of Pleisthenes; and [[Dictys Cretensis]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/DictysCretensis1.html 1.1], which has Agamemnon and Menelaus, as the sons of Aerope and Pleisthenes, being adopted by Atreus.</ref> In others, Aerope was the wife of ''both'' Atreus and Pleisthenes, having married Atreus after Pleisthenes died, with Atreus adopting her children from the first marriage.<ref>Gantz, pp. 552&ndash;553. According to Webster, p. 38, Euripides' ''Cretan Women'' probably had "Pleisthenes die young and leave his sons (and his wife) to Atreus".</ref> Such accounts were perhaps attempts to reconcile separate traditions.<ref>Collard and Cropp 2008b, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.79.xml pp. 79&ndash;80]; Fowler, p. 435 n. 28; Grimal, s.v. Aerope.</ref>

According to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], Aerope was the mother of two sons, [[Tantalus (son of Thyestes)|Tantalus]] and [[Pleisthenes (son of Thyestes)|Pleisthenes]], fathered by Thyestes. He claims these were the children that Atreus famously fed to Thyestes.<ref>Gantz, pp. 546&ndash;547; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#88 88], [https://topostext.org/work/206#246 246]; For Atreus feeding the children of Thyestes to him, see [[Aeschylus]], [[Agamemnon (play)|''Agamemnon'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1219 1219&ndash;1222], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1590 1590 ff.]; Euripides, ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Orest.+15 15], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%20810 810 ff.], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%20995 995 ff.]; [[Sophocles]], [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Aj.+1293 1293&ndash;1294]; [[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=86AA2DB30BF3E6B6739755831DCDA974?doc=Plat.+Crat.+395b 395b]. Gantz, p. 547, suggests the possibility that Aerope was also the mother of these children in Euripides' lost ''Cretan Women''. See also Webster, p. 38.</ref> Additionally, Aerope has also been named as the mother of a daughter, Anaxibia.<ref>Parada, s.vv. Aerope, Anaxibia 3; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.29.4 2.29.4];  Compare with [[Tzetzes]], ''Exegesis in Iliadem'' 1.122 [= [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137b Most], which says that Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Anaxibia were the children of Pleisthenes and [[Cleolla]], the daughter of [[Dias (mythology)|Dias]], see Gantz, p. 552.</ref>