Thyestes - Thyestes in theatre, Spoken-word myths - audio files

In Greek mythology, a son of Pelops, who inherited the curse upon that house. His brother Atreus set before him a dish made of the flesh of Thyestes' children. Later, he became the father of Aegisthus.

In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Olympia, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their step-brother, Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia.

Atreus, (Thyestes' brother and King of Mycenae) vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis. She gave it to her lover, Thyestes (also Atreus' brother), who then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king.

Atreus retook the throne using advice he received from Hermes. Atreus retook the throne and banished Thyestes.

Atreus then learned of Thyestes' and Aerope's adultery and plotted revenge. He served Thyestes his own sons and then taunted him with their hands and feet.

An oracle then advised Thyestes that, if he had a son with his own daughter (Pelopia), that son would kill Atreus. Thyestes did so and the son, Aegisthus, did kill Atreus. Only as he entered adulthood did Thyestes reveal the truth to Aegisthus, that he was both father and grandfather to the boy and that Atreus was his uncle.

Aegisthus and Thyestes ruled over Mycenae jointly, exiling Atreus' sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus to Sparta, where King Tyndareus gave the pair their wives, his daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen. When Tyndareus died, he gave his throne to Menelaus, who then helped Agamemnon overthrow Aegisthus and Thyestes.

When Agamemnon left Mycenae for the Trojan War, Aegisthus seduced his wife, Clytemnestra, and the couple plotted to kill her husband upon his return.

Tired of the bloodshed, the gods exonerated Orestes and declared this the end of the curse on the house of Atreus, as described in The Eumenides.

Thyestes in theatre

In the 1st century Seneca the Younger wrote a tragedy called Thyestes.

In 1796 Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) wrote a tragedy called Tieste that was represented first in Venice one year later. Press release about the 2005 premiere of this opera in Brussels

Spoken-word myths - audio files

Thyestes myths as told by story tellers
1. Crime and banishment of Thyestes: the Laius and Chrysippus myth, read by Timothy Carter
Bibliography of reconstruction: Pindar, Olympian Ode, I (476 BCE);