Editing Aerope

{{Short description|Princess from Greek mythology}}
{{For|the daughter of Cepheus|Aerope (daughter of Cepheus)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Aerope
| deity_of = Queen of [[Mycenae]]
| member_of = the [[Crete|Cretan]] Royal Family
| image = Nosadella Tiestes y Aérope.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = ''Tiestes and Aérope'' by [[Nosadella]]
| other_names = 
| affiliation = 
| cult_center = 
| abode = Crete then Mycenae
| consort = (1) [[Atreus]] or [[Pleisthenes]], (2) [[Thyestes]]
| parents = [[Catreus]]
| siblings = [[Althaemenes]], [[Apemosyne]] and [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]]
| offspring = (1) [[Agamemnon]], [[Menelaus]], (2) [[Tantalus, son of Thyestes|Tantalus]] and [[Pleisthenes]]
| predecessor = 
| successor = 
| Roman_equivalent = 
| Etruscan_equivalent = 
}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Aerope''' ([[Ancient Greek]]: Ἀερόπη)<ref>Smith, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=aerope-bio-1 s.v. Aerope].</ref> was a [[Crete|Cretan]] princess as the daughter of [[Catreus]], king of Crete. She was the sister of [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]], [[Apemosyne]] and [[Althaemenes]]. After an oracle said he would be killed by one of his children, Catreus gave Aerope to [[Nauplius (mythology)|Nauplius]] to be sold abroad.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hard |first=Robin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA355 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's Handbook of Greek Mythology |date=2003-10-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-44633-1 |edition=0 |pages=355 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9780203446331}}</ref> Nauplius spared her, and she became the wife of [[Atreus]] or [[Pleisthenes]] (or both). By most accounts, she is the mother of [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaus]]. While the wife of Atreus, she became the lover of his brother [[Thyestes]], and gave Thyestes the golden lamb that allowed him to become king of [[Mycenae]].<ref>Grimal, s.v. Aerope; Tripp, s.v. Aërope; Bell, pp. 9&ndash;10; Smith, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=aerope-bio-1 s.v. Aerope]; Parada, s.v. Aerope.</ref>

==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>

==Mythology==
===In Crete===
According to the tradition followed by [[Euripides]] in his lost play ''Cretan Women'' (''Kressai''), Catreus found Aerope in bed with a slave and handed her over to [[Nauplius (mythology)|Nauplius]] to be drowned. Instead, Nauplius spared Aerope's life and she married [[Pleisthenes]].<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA355 p. 355]; Gantz, p. 271. Euripides' treatment of the story is according to the Scholia on [[Sophocles]], [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] 1297, citing Euripides' ''Cretan Women'', see: Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.521.xml pp. 520, 521]; Webster, pp. 37&ndash;38; Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1295 1295 '''Κρήσσης'''].</ref> [[Sophocles]], in his play [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']], may also refer to Aerope's father finding her in bed with a man and handing her over to Nauplius to be drowned. However, the potentially corrupt text may instead refer to Aerope's husband Atreus finding her in bed with Thyestes, and having her drowned (see below).<ref>Gantz, pp. 554&ndash;555; Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1296 1296 '''ὁ φιτύσας πατήρ'''].  The possible Sophoclean reference is found in lines 1295&ndash;1297, spoken by [[Teucer]] to [[Agamemnon]]. Here, by way of insulting Agamemnon, Teucer malign's Agamemnon's mother Aerope as having been found in bed with a strange man, by a "father" who then has her drowned. The difficulty arises in knowing whose "father" is meant, Aerope's, or Agamemnon's. Compare [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg003.perseus-eng1:1290-1315 Jebb's]: "a Cretan mother, ''whose father'' (i.e. Catrues) found ... ",  with's [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-ajax/1994/pb_LCL020.149.xml Lloyd-Jones's]: "a Cretan mother, ''whom your father'' (i.e. Atreus), finding ...".</ref>

The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] followed a different tradition, with no mention of any sexual transgression. In his account, Catreus gave Aerope and her sister Clymene to Nauplius to be sold off in foreign lands after an oracle prophesied that he would be killed by one of his children. Aerope's brother Althaemenes also found out about the prophecy, and fearing that ''he'' would be the one to kill Catreus, fled to [[Rhodes]] with Apemosyne.<ref>Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml pp. 516&ndash;518]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.2 3.2].</ref> In this telling, Aerope eventually becomes the wife of Pleisthenes.

===In Mycenae===
From Crete, Aerope was taken to [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenae]]. There, while the wife of Atreus, she became the lover of Atreus' twin brother [[Thyestes]], involving herself in the brothers' power struggle for the kingship of Mycenae.<ref>Gantz, pp. 545&ndash; 556. For Aerope as lover of Thyestes, see Gantz, pp. 546&ndash;547; [[Aeschylus]], [[Agamemnon (play)|''Agamemnon'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1191 1191&ndash;1193]; Euripides, ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+El.+719 719&ndash;720], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%201009 1009&ndash;1010]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#86 86]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.35.xml 1.327&ndash;330], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.37.xml 1.341&ndash;342]. A small "correction" of the text would make [[Sophocles]], [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Aj.+1295 1295&ndash;1297] a reference to the adultery of Aerope with Thyestes, see Gantz, pp. 554&ndash; 555.</ref>

Atreus and Thyestes were the sons of [[Pelops]] and [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]], king and queen of [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]].<ref>Gantz, pp. 543&ndash;544. For Apollodorus' account of their story see [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10&ndash;12].</ref>  Their desire for their father's throne led to the murder of their half-brother [[Chrysippus (mythology)|Chrysippus]], for which they were banished, and sought refuge in Mycenae.<ref>Gantz, pp. 489, 544&ndash;545; [[Thucydides]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9 1.9]; [[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=86AA2DB30BF3E6B6739755831DCDA974?doc=Plat.+Crat.+395b 395b]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#85 85].</ref> According to Hyginus, the brothers were encouraged to commit the act by their mother Hippodamia, who killed herself upon being accused of doing so.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyginus |editor-last=Grant |editor-first=Mary |title=Fabulae |url=https://topostext.org/work/206#243 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website= |page=243 |language=en}}</ref> When the [[Perseid dynasty|Perseid]] dynasty came to an end, the Myceneans received a prophesy saying they should choose a son of Pelops as their king. Aerope stole the golden lamb (a portent linked to the kingship of Mycenae) from her husband Atreus and gave it to Thyestes, so that the Myceneans would choose Thyestes as their king.<ref>Gantz, p. 547; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA506 p. 506]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+El.+699 699&ndash;725], ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [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.]; [[Plato]], [[Statesman (dialogue)|''Statesman'']] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0172:text=Stat.:section=268e 268e]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10&ndash;11]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.18.1 2.18.1]. The golden lamb was perhaps included in Sophocles' ''Atreus'', and Euripides' ''Cretan Women'', see Gantz, p. 546, and, regarding ''Cretan Women'', Webster, p. 38. For a discussion of the golden lamb, with many other sources, see Frazer's note to Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.12 E.2.12].</ref>

From Byzantine period annotations to Euripides' ''Orestes,'' we learn that, in some unspecified Sophocles work, Atreus cast Aerope into the sea in revenge for her adultery and theft of the golden lamb.<ref>Byzantine scholia at ''Orestes'' line 812, see Gantz, pp. 548, 555 and Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1296 1296 '''ὁ φιτύσας πατήρ'''].</ref>

==Sources==
===Early===
Mentions of Aerope apparently occurred as early as "[[Homer]]" and "[[Hesiod]]".<ref>For a discussion on sources on Aerope's story see Gantz, pp. 545&ndash;550, 552&ndash;553.</ref> An ''[[Iliad]]'' [[scholium]] tells us that:
:According to Homer, Agamemnon was the son of Pelops’ son Atreus, and his mother was Aerope; but according to Hesiod he was the son of Pleisthenes [and Aerope?].<ref>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]). Compare with 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]), which says the same thing. That the scholiast means that Aerope was also the mother in Hesiod, is assumed by Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12], while Gantz, p. 552, simply says that according to the scholium, "while Homer makes Agamemnon the son of Atreus and Aerope ... in Hesiod he and his brother are the sons of Pleisthenes". Collard and Cropp 2008b, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.79.xml?rskey=eCbMAb&result=1&mainRsKey=ZJxzLz p. 79], says that in the Hesiodic tradition, "Pleisthenes and (probably) Aerope ... were the parents of Agamemnon and Menelaus".</ref>

Since Aerope is not in [[Homer]]'s Iliad or ''[[Odyssey]]'' (where Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus, with no mother mentioned),<ref>Gantz, p. 552. Although ''Atreides'', the standard Homeric epithet for Agamemnon or Menelaus, normally understood to mean "son of Atreus", can also mean simply "descendant of Atreus", in some places Homer specifically refers to Agamemnon or Menelaus as a "son" of Atreus ("Ἀτρέος υἱέ") e.g. ''[[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], see also ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+2.104 2.104 ff.].</ref> the scholiast is presumably taking the Homeric reference from somewhere in the [[Epic Cycle]], which was also attributed to Homer.<ref>Gantz, p. 552; Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12].</ref>

Fragmentary lines from the [[Hesiodic]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' seem to make Aerope, (without naming a father) the mother of three sons Agamemnon, Menelaus (and Anaxibios?).<ref>Gantz, p. 552; [[Hesiod]] ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.229.xml fr. 138 Most] = fr. 195 MW.</ref> While the [[Byzantine]] scholar [[John Tzetzes]] says that according to "Hesiod", Aerope was, by [[Atreus]], the mother of [[Pleisthenes]].<ref>Gantz, p. 552; [[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 also cites "Aeschylus, and some others".</ref>

===Fifth century BC===
The story of Aerope, Atreus and Thyestes, was popular in Greek tragedy, however no complete plays on the story survive.<ref>Gantz, pp. 546&ndash;547; Wright, pp. 83&ndash;84; Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12, with n. 40]. However, the story seems not to have been popular for the visual arts, and no representation of Aerope is found in the ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]]'', see Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12 n. 38].</ref> [[Aeschylus]]' play ''[[The Oresteia#Agamemnon|Agamemnon]]'' contains several obscure allusions to the story, which indicate that, by at least 458 BC, the story was well known.<ref>Gantz, p. 546; [[Aeschylus]], ''[[The Oresteia#Agamemnon|Agamemnon]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1191 1191&ndash;1193], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1219 1219&ndash;1222].</ref> In that play, [[Cassandra]] hints at Aerope's affair with Thyestes, where he is referred to as "the one who defiled" his "brother's bed".<ref>Gantz, p. 546; [[Aeschylus]], [[Agamemnon (play)|''Agamemnon'']] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aesch.+Ag.+1191 1191&ndash;1193] with Weir Smyth's note.</ref>

There are many references to Aerope in the plays of Euripides. She was apparently an important character in his lost tragedy ''Cretan Women''.<ref>Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml p. 516]. For discussions of the play, see Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml pp. 516&ndash;527] (including testimonies and fragments); Webster, pp. 37&ndash;39.</ref> The play told how Aerope was "secretly violated by a servant", and that when her father discovered this, he gave her to Nauplius to be drowned, but instead Nauplius gave her in marriage to Pleisthenes.<ref>Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml p. 516]; Webster, pp. 37&ndash;38; [[Euripides]], ''Cretan Women'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.521.xml test. iiia].</ref>  According to the scholiast on [[Aristophanes]]' ''[[Frogs (play)|Frogs]]'' 849, her behavior in the play was "like a whore's".<ref>Collard and Cropp 2008a, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.517.xml p. 516].</ref> This, along with Euripides treatment of other "profligate women" suggests that the play dealt with Aerope's seduction of Thyestes, rather than Thyestes' seduction of Aerope.<ref>Gantz, pp. 546, 547; Webster p. 38.</ref> Although she was given to Pleisthenes as his wife, in his ''Cretan Women'', in his plays [[Orestes (play)|''Orestes'']], and [[Helen (play)|''Helen'']], Euripides  has Agamemnon and Menelaus as the sons of Aerope and Atreus.<ref>[[Euripides]], [[Orestes (play)|''Orestes'']] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Orest.+16 16], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Hel.+390 390&ndash;392].</ref> Also in his ''Orestes'', he refers to the "treacherous love of Cretan Aerope in her treacherous marriage",<ref>[[Euripides]], [[Orestes (play)|''Orestes'']] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Orest.+1009 1009&ndash;1010].</ref> while in his [[Electra (Euripides play)|''Electra'']], he tells us that Thyestes, "persuaded Atreus' own wife to secret love, and carried off to his house the portent; coming before the assembly he declared that he had in his house the horned sheep with fleece of gold."<ref>[[Euripides]], [[Electra (Euripides play)|''Electra'']] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+El.+720 719&ndash;725].</ref> Euripides possibly also wrote a play ''Thyestes''.<ref>Gantz, p. 546; Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12, n. 40].</ref>

[[Sophocles]], in his play [[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']], refers to Aerope being found in bed with a lover, and ordered drowned by someone's "father". As the text stands, the "father" is Aerope's, and the reference is to Catreus giving her to Nauplius to be drowned, as in Euripides’ ''Cretan Women''.<ref>Gantz, pp. 554&ndash;556; [[Sophocles]], '[[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] 1295&ndash;1297, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Aj.+1295 (Jebb)]: [Teucer addressing Agamemnon] "you yourself were born from a Cretan mother, whose father found ..".</ref> However, a small "correction" to the text would make the father Agamemnon's, and the reference would then be to Atreus finding Aerope in bed with Thyestes.<ref>Gantz, p. 555;  Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1296 1296 '''ὁ φιτύσας πατήρ''']; [[Sophocles]], '[[Ajax (play)|''Ajax'']] 1295&ndash;1297, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-ajax/1994/pb_LCL020.149.xml (Lloyd-Jones)]: "you yourself are the son of a Cretan mother, whom your father, finding  ...". The Greek text has Aerope being found in bed with an ''epaktos'' ('alien'), which, as Gantz points out, "would more naturally refer to an adulterer".</ref> There were several other plays by Sophocles, all lost, which presumably also dealt with the story: ''Atreus'', ''Thyestes'' (possibly more than one), and ''Thyestes in Sicyon''.<ref>Gantz, p. 546; Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12, n. 40].</ref>  Byzantine scholia to Euripides' ''Orestes'' 812, possibly referring to the passage from the ''Ajax'' noted above, say that in some (unnamed) play by Sophocles, Atreus "revenged himself on his wife Aerope (both because of her adultery with Thyestes and because she gave away the lamb) by casting her into the sea".<ref>Gantz, pp. 548, 555; Jebb's note to ''Ajax'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0024:text=comm:commline=1296 1296 '''ὁ φιτύσας πατήρ'''].</ref>

[[Agathon]], wrote a play titled ''Aerope'' (and a ''Thyestes''), and perhaps so did the younger Carcinus.<ref>Gantz, pp. 546&ndash;547; Wright, pp. 83&ndash;85 110&ndash;111; Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 p. 12, n. 40].</ref> We are told that in some such play,  Alexander of Pherai was moved to tears by the performance of the actor Theodorus as Aerope, suggesting a sympathetic portrayal.<ref>Gantz, pp. 546&ndash;547.</ref>

===Late===
The Roman mythographer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] has Agamemnon as the son of Aerope and Atreus<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#97 97].</ref> and Tantalus and Plethenes as the sons of Aerope and Thyestes, with these being the children that Atreus fed to Thyestes.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#246 246].</ref>
 
In [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'', Aerope is given as one of several examples of "women's lust" being "keener" than men's and having "more of madness":<ref>Armstrong, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 112], [https://books.google.com/books?id=R2wTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 114&ndash;115]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.35.xml 1.327&ndash;330], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.37.xml 1.341&ndash;342].</ref>
:Had the Cretan woman abstained from love for Thyestes (and is it such a feat to be able to do without a particular man?), Phoebus had not broken off in mid-career, and wresting his car about turned round his steeds to face the dawn.

The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] gives the following account:
:Catreus, son of Minos, had three daughters, Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne, and a son, Althaemenes. When Catreus inquired of the oracle how his life should end, the god said that he would die by the hand of one of his children. ... And Catreus gave Aerope and Clymene to Nauplius to sell into foreign lands; and of these two Aerope became the wife of Plisthenes, who begat Agamemnon and Menelaus.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.2 3.2].</ref>

However elsewhere he says that Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Aerope and Atreus<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.3.12 E.3.12].</ref> and that
:the wife of Atreus was Aerope, daughter of Catreus, and she loved Thyestes. And Atreus once vowed to sacrifice to Artemis the finest of his flocks; but when a golden lamb appeared, they say that he neglected to perform his vow, and having choked the lamb, he deposited it in a box and kept it there, and Aerope gave it to Thyestes, by whom she had been debauched.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.Epit+E.2.10 E.2.10&ndash;11].</ref>

==Similarities with Auge and Danae==
Stories of Aerope share key elements with those of [[Auge]] and [[Danae]]. These elements include prophesies of death, daughters' sexual impurity, and punishment by their fathers by either being cast into the sea or given away to be sold overseas.<ref>For a discussion of these themes in Greek myth and literature, see McHardy (2008).</ref>

Auge was the daughter of [[Aleus]], king of [[Tegea]], and the mother of the hero [[Telephus]]. According to one version of the story, Aleus had received a prophesy that his sons would be killed by the son of Auge. In response, Aleus made Auge a priestess of Athena, a role which required her to remain a virgin. Nevertheless, she became pregnant by [[Heracles]].<ref>[[Alcidamas]], ''Odysseus'' 14-16 (Garagin and Woodruff,  p. 286); Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.9.1 3.9.1].</ref> Then, by various accounts, she was either cast into the sea<ref>Euripides, ''Auge'' (Webster, p. 238; Strabo, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+13.1.69 13.1.69]); Hecataeus ([[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.4.9 8.4.9]).</ref> or given to Nauplius to be either drowned<ref>[[Alcidamas]], ''Odysseus'' 15  (Garagin and Woodruff, p. 286); [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.48.7 8.48.7]. [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#33 4.33.8].</ref> or sold overseas.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.7.4 2.7.4].</ref> However, regardless of the telling, she ends up in [[Mysia]] as the wife of King [[Teuthras]].

Danae was the daughter of [[Acrisius]], king of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], and the mother of the hero [[Perseus]]. An oracle told Acrisius that he would be killed by the son of Danae, so he locked her away. Nevertheless, Danae became pregnant by [[Zeus]] and gave birth to their son Perseus. In response, Acrisius locked her and her son in a wooden chest and cast it into the sea, hoping to kill them without invoking the wrath of the gods. They survived through Zeus and Poseidon's intervention, and washed up on the shores of [[Serifos|Seriphos]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.1 2.4.1]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#63 63]. For Zeus being the father of  Perseus see, for example, Homer, ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134:book=14:card=312 14.312], [[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0186%3Acard%3D944 944] and [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#9 4.9.1] 4.9.1].</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
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* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aerope}}
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Cretans]]
[[Category:Mythology of Argos, Peloponnese]]