Editing Agamemnon (section)

== Ancestry and early life ==
[[File:Chryses Agamemnon Louvre K1.jpg|thumb|Fourth century BC depiction of [[Chryses (priest of Apollo)|Chryses]] attempting to ransom his daughter [[Chryseis]] from Agamemnon.]]

Agamemnon was a descendant of [[Pelops]], son of [[Tantalus]].<ref>For a discussion of the house of Tantalus see Gantz, pp. 531{{ndash}}556. For Agamemnon's genealogy see, Grimal, p. 526 Table 2, and p. 534 Table 13.</ref> According to the common story (as told in the ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'' of Homer), Agamemnon and his younger brother [[Menelaus]] were the sons of [[Atreus]], king of [[Mycenae]], and [[Aerope]], daughter of the [[Cretan]] king [[Catreus]].<ref>Grimal, s.v. Menelaus; Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA355 355], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA507 507], [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]; Gantz, p. 552; Parada, s.v. Agamemnon; [[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]). They are also the sons of Atreus, in the ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'', see for example ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+11.131 11.131], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://nlp.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Hom.+Od.+4.462 4.462], although Aerope is not mentioned (see Gantz, p. 522). See also [[Euripides]], ''[[Iphigenia in Tauris]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+It.+1 4{{ndash}}5], (Atreus as father, no mention of mother); Hesiod ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.229.xml fr. 138 Most] [= fr. 195 MW], and [[Sophocles]], ''[[Ajax (play)|Ajax]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Aj.+1295 1295{{ndash}}1297] (Aerope as mother, no mention of father).</ref> However, according to another tradition, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus' son [[Pleisthenes]], with their mother being Aerope, [[Cleolla]], or Eriphyle. In this tradition, Pleisthenes dies young, with Agamemnon and Menelaus being raised by Atreus.<ref>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]; Collard and Cropp 2008b, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.79.xml p. 79]; Gantz, pp. 552{{ndash}}553; Parada, s.v. Agamemnon. For Aerope as mother see: [[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]; Scholia on ''[[Iliad]]'' 1.7 (citing "Hesiod" = [[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 "Hesiod" = [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137c Most]). For Cleolla, see [[Tzetzes]], ''Exegesis in Iliadem'' 1.122 (citing "Hesiod, Aeschylus, and some others" = [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137b Most]). For Eriphyle see Gantz, p. 553 (citing Scholia on [[Euripides]] ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' 4).</ref> Agamemnon had a sister [[Anaxibia]] (or [[Astyoche]]) who married [[Strophius]], the son of [[Crisus]].<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA566 p. 566]; Gantz, p. 223; Parada, s.vv. Anaxibia 4, Astyoche 6. For Anaxibia as the sister's name see [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.29.4 2.29.4]; [[Dictys Cretensis]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/DictysCretensis1.html 1.1]; [[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]); Scholia on [[Tzetzes]]' ''Exegesis in Iliadem'' 1.122 (= [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.227.xml fr. 137c Most]). For Astyoche, as the sister's name, see [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#117 117].</ref>

Agamemnon's father, Atreus, murdered the sons of his twin brother [[Thyestes]] and fed them to Thyestes after discovering Thyestes' [[adultery]] with his wife Aerope. Thyestes fathered [[Aegisthus]] with his own daughter, [[Pelopia (daughter of Thyestes)|Pelopia]], and this son vowed gruesome revenge on Atreus' children. Aegisthus murdered Atreus, restored Thyestes to the throne, and took possession of the throne of Mycenae and jointly ruled with his father. During this period, Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus took refuge with [[Tyndareus]], King of [[Sparta]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In Sparta, Agamemnon and Menelaus respectively married Tyndareus' daughters [[Clytemnestra]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]]. In some stories (such as ''[[Iphigenia in Aulis|Iphigenia at Aulis]]'' by [[Euripides]]) Clytemnestra was already married to [[Tantalus, son of Thyestes|Tantalus]], and Agamemnon murders him and the couple's infant son before marrying Clytemnestra.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Euripides |title=Iphigenia in Aulis, lines 1148-1152 |url=https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Greek/Iphigeneia.php |website=poetryintranslation.com |publisher=Poetry in Translation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tzetzes |first=John |title=Chiliades 1.18 line 463-465 |url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#18 |website=theoi.com |publisher=Theoi Classical Texts Library}}</ref>

Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: one son, [[Orestes]], and three daughters, [[Iphigenia]], [[Electra]], and Chrysothemis. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brother's assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes to recover his father's kingdom. He extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Agamemnon's family history had been tarnished by [[murder]], [[incest]], and [[Betrayal|treachery]], consequences of the heinous crime perpetrated by his ancestor, [[Tantalus]], and then of a curse placed upon [[Pelops]], son of Tantalus, by [[Myrtilus]], whom he had murdered. Thus misfortune hounded successive generations of the [[House of Atreus]], until atoned by Orestes in a court of justice held jointly by humans and gods.