Agamemnon

Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων), a central figure of Greek mythology, was king of Mycenae and the commander of the Achaean forces during the Trojan War. A member of the ill-fated House of Atreus, he was the son or grandson of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes, Chrysothemis and—according to some sources—Iphianassa and Laodice. Ancient tradition alternates between naming him king of Mycenae or king of Argos, regions often treated as interchangeable in epic poetry. His story is dominated by themes of inherited guilt, divine wrath, family tragedy, and violent downfall, culminating in his murder upon returning home from Troy.

Etymology

The name Agamemnon has been interpreted in various ways. A widely accepted explanation treats it as a compound meaning “very steadfast”, “unbowed” or “resolute”, formed from elements meaning “very much” and “to stand fast” or “remain.” Another interpretation gives the meaning “very mindful,” linking the second element to a root meaning “to think of” or “provide for.” A further proposal connects it with a verb meaning “to strive eagerly,” producing “very eager to achieve.” Some linguists have drawn comparisons with Vedic Sanskrit Agni, suggesting older Indo-European associations.

Physical Description

In The Fall of Troy attributed to Dares Phrygius, Agamemnon is described as tall, strong and fair-skinned, eloquent, prudent and noble—a leader abundantly endowed with the qualities befitting a high king.

Ancestry and Early Life

Agamemnon descended from Pelops, son of Tantalus, whose arrogance and crimes brought a curse upon his descendants. According to the most familiar version from Homer, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus and Aerope, though alternative genealogies name Atreus’s son Pleisthenes as their father, with Aerope, Cleolla or Eriphyle as their mother. These traditions reflect the tangled and often contradictory mythic histories of the Atreid lineage.
A sister, named either Anaxibia or Astyoche, married Strophius of Phocis and became mother of Pylades.
The House of Atreus was notorious for its crimes. Atreus’s discovery of his brother Thyestes’ adultery with Aerope led him to murder Thyestes’s sons and serve them to their father in a feast. Thyestes later fathered Aegisthus with his own daughter Pelopia; Aegisthus eventually killed Atreus and restored Thyestes to power. Agamemnon and Menelaus fled to Tyndareus, king of Sparta, whom they later repaid by marrying his daughters: Agamemnon wed Clytemnestra, while Menelaus married Helen.
In several accounts Clytemnestra had previously been married to Tantalus, son of Thyestes, whom Agamemnon killed along with their infant son to secure the marriage. Regardless of the version, Agamemnon established his authority forcefully. With support from Menelaus, he expelled Thyestes and Aegisthus from Mycenae and became one of the most powerful rulers in Greece.
His children—Orestes, Iphigenia, Electra and Chrysothemis—figure prominently in later myth, especially in the cycle surrounding his murder and Orestes’s revenge.

The Trojan War

Gathering the Greek Forces

When Helen was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon assumed the role of commander-in-chief of the Greek coalition. Some heroes attempted to avoid the summons, most famously Odysseus, who feigned madness until Palamedes exposed him by threatening the life of the infant Telemachus.

The Wrath of Artemis and the Sacrifice of Iphigenia

At Aulis, where the fleet assembled, the winds fell still, interpreted as Artemis’s anger. Reasons vary: Agamemnon may have slain a sacred deer, boasted of being a better hunter, or incurred the goddess’s displeasure through the impending slaughter of young warriors. The seer Calchas declared that only the sacrifice of Iphigenia would appease Artemis.
Dramatic treatments differ in depicting the involvement and reluctance of both father and daughter. Some present Agamemnon tricking Iphigenia by promising her marriage to Achilles; others depict him torn by duty. In some versions Artemis substitutes a deer and conveys the girl to Tauris; in others she dies, sometimes becoming identified with the goddess Hecate.

The Death of Palamedes

Before the events of the Iliad, Odysseus avenged himself on Palamedes by planting forged evidence of treachery. Agamemnon ordered Palamedes to be stoned to death, an episode highlighting the darker dimensions of wartime leadership.

Agamemnon in the Iliad

The Iliad chiefly portrays the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles. After taking Chryseis as a war prize and refusing her father’s pleas for ransom, he brought a plague upon the Achaean camp through Apollo’s anger. Forced to return her, he compensated himself by seizing Briseis, the captive allotted to Achilles. This insult caused Achilles to withdraw from battle, imperilling the Greek cause.
Agamemnon later received a deceptive dream from Zeus encouraging him to attack the Trojans. Although his forces battled fiercely, they were driven back to their ships. Realising Achilles’s indispensable role, Agamemnon sent envoys offering reconciliation and lavish gifts. Achilles refused until the death of his companion Patroclus prompted his return. In Book 19, Agamemnon and Achilles formally settled their quarrel.

Return and Death

Agamemnon’s homecoming became one of Greek mythology’s most famous tragedies. After the sack of Troy, he returned to Mycenae accompanied by the captive prophetess Cassandra, whom he had taken as a concubine. In the version presented in Homer’s Odyssey, Aegisthus ambushed and killed him at a banquet.
In Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, the first play of the Oresteia, Clytemnestra murders him herself—either by casting a net over him in the bath or striking him as he steps onto a purple carpet—motivated by her hatred for the sacrifice of Iphigenia and her affair with Aegisthus.
His death triggers the vengeance cycle of the Atreids. Orestes, with the aid of Electra and Pylades, kills Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Pursued by the Erinyes, Orestes eventually receives absolution in a joint divine-human tribunal at Athens, symbolising the resolution of ancestral guilt.

Significance

Agamemnon’s narrative unites motifs of heroic authority, divine retribution, family catastrophe and moral ambiguity. As commander of the Greek expedition and a tragic figure undone by his own decisions and inherited curses, he stands at the heart of both Homeric epic and Athenian tragedy. His story, interpreted and reimagined across centuries, remains a powerful exploration of leadership, sacrifice, justice and the fraught inheritance of mythic royal houses.