King of Argos and commander of the Greek army in the Trojan War. In the Iliad, Homer calls him king of men. On his return home he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra.
Agamemnon (Greek: Ἀγαμέμνων) ("very resolute") is one of the most distinguished heroes of Greek mythology.
Early life
Agamemnon's father Atreus was murdered by Aegisthus, who took possession of the throne of Mycenae and ruled jointly with his father Thyestes. During this period Agamemnon and Menelaus took refuge with Tyndareus, king of Sparta. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had five children: four daughters, Iphigeneia, Electra , Chrysothemis, and Iphianissa and one son, Orestes.
Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brother's assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes to recover his father's kingdom.
However, Agamemnon's family history, dating back to legendary king Pelops, had been marred by pederastic rape, murder, incest, and treachery.
The Trojan War
Agamemnon gathered together the Greek forces to sail for Troy. Preparing to depart from Aulis which was a port in Boeotia, Agamemnon's army incurred the wrath of the goddess Artemis. There are several reasons throughout myth for such wrath: in Aeschylus' play Agamemnon, Artemis is angry for the young men who will die at Troy, whereas in Sophocles' Electra (Sophocles), Agamemnon has slain an animal sacred to Artemis, and subsequently boasted that he was Artemis' equal in hunting. finally, the prophet Calchas announced that the wrath of the goddess could only be propitiated by the sacrifice of Iphigeneia (daughter of Agamemnon). Classical dramatizations differ on how willing either father or daughter were to this fate, including such trickery as claiming she was to be married to Achilles, but Agamemnon did eventually sacrifice Iphigeneia. Other sources claim Agamemnon was prepared to kill his daughter, but Artemis accepted a deer in place of Iphigeneia, and whisked her to Taurus in Crimea.
Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the Trojan War. The Iliad tells the story of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the final year of the war. Agamemnon took an attractive slave and spoil of war Briseis from Achilles.
Although not the equal of Achilles in bravery, Agamemnon was a dignified representative of kingly authority.
Return to Greece
After a stormy voyage, Agamemnon and Cassandra landed in Argolis or were blown off course and landed in Aegisthus' country. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra then ruled Agamemnon's kingdom for a time, but the murder of Agamemnon was eventually avenged by his son Orestes (possibly with the help of Electra).
Other stories
Athenaeus tells a story of Argynnus, an eromenos of Agamemnon: "Agamemnon loved Argynnus, so the story goes, having seen him swimming in the Cephisus river;
The fortunes of Agamemnon have formed the subject of numerous tragedies, ancient and modern, the most famous being the Oresteia of Aeschylus.
In works of art there is considerable resemblance between the representations of Zeus, king of the gods, and Agamemnon, king of men.
Agamemnon in fiction
Writers of time travel and historical novels often attempt to show the Trojan War "as it really happened", based on the archeological evidence of Mycenaean civilization. Such authors frequently use Agamemnon as the archetypical Mycenaean king, bringing life to old artifacts by dressing a familiar face in them.
The name of Agamemnon was adopted by the ancient ancestor or relative of the noble family the Atreides of the classic science fiction series Dune by Frank Herbert (Note that the surname, Atreides is derived from Agamemnon's father's name, Atreus).
Agamemnon makes an appearance in the film Time Bandits, played by Sean Connery, although his depiction in the film seems more reminiscent of Odysseus. Masks very similar to the famous Mask of Agamemnon are also used in the film. in the case of Agamemnon, he is portrayed as power-mad, and is killed for his rapaciousness during the fall of Troy.
The phrase "Thus falls of the house of Agamemnon" was used in a delirious stupor by Steve Rhodes during an episode of Married with Children.
Agamemnon also appears in the Shakespearean play Troilus and Cressida.
Agamemnon appears in Microsoft Game Studios' Age of Mythology.
Agamemnon appears as a character in the novels Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons, in the future replaying of the Trojan War.
In his book Where Troy Once Stood, Dutch-born writer Iman Wilkens links Argos and Agamemnon with the Biblical Gog and Magog.
The folk band The Mountain Goats has a song titled "Against Agamemnon", although direct textual references to Agamemnon himself are rather vague.
Agamemnon was used as the name of the Earth Alliance Omega class destroyer, first captained by John Sheridan in Babylon 5, by J M Straczynski.
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