In Greek mythology, Cassandra, also spelled Kassandra or Casandra, (;[Lycophron, Alexandra 30; Pausanias, 3.19, 3.26.] was a Troy dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies, but never be believed. Cassandra lived through the Trojan War and survived the sack of the city, but was murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus when Agamemnon brought her to Mycenae as a pallake.
In contemporary usage, her name is employed as a rhetorical device to indicate a person whose accurate predictions, generally of impending disaster, are not believed.
Etymology
Hjalmar Frisk (
Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, 1960–1970) notes "unexplained etymology", citing "various hypotheses" found in Wilhelm Schulze,
[Wilhelm Schulze, Kleine Schriften (1966), 698, J. B. Hoffmann, Glotta 28, 52] Edgar Howard Sturtevant,
[Edgar Howard Sturtevant, Class. Phil. 21, 248ff.] J. Davreux,
[J. Davreux, La légende de la prophétesse Cassandre (Paris, 1942) 90ff.] and
Albert Carnoy.
[Albert Carnoy, Les ét. class. 22, 344] R. S. P. Beekes
[R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 654] cites García Ramón's derivation of the name from the Proto-Indo-European root *
(s)kend- "raise". The Online Etymology Dictionary states "though the second element looks like a fem. form of Greek
andros "of man, male human being." Watkins suggests PIE
*(s)kand- "to shine" as source of second element. The name also has been connected to
kekasmai "to surpass, excel."
Description
Cassandra was described by the chronicler
Malalas in his account of the
Chronography as "shortish, round-faced, white, mannish figure, good nose, good eyes, dark pupils, blondish, curly, good neck, bulky breasts, small feet, calm, noble, priestly, an accurate prophet foreseeing everything, practicing hard, virgin".
[Malalas, Chronography 5.106 ] Meanwhile, in the account of Dares the Phrygian, she was illustrated as ". . .of moderate stature, round-mouthed, and
Auburn hair. Her eyes flashed. She knew the future."
[Dares Phrygius, History of the Fall of Troy 12 ] In the
Iliad,
Homer described Cassandra as the fairest of all Priam's daughters.
[Homer, Iliad, 13.361] Euripides wrote that she had light (
xanthous) hair and wore a crown of
Laurel wreath when prophesizing.
[Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, 751] Ibycus mentioned that she was light-eyed (
glaukopida), an epithet also used for
Athena.
[The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, γλαυκῶπις]
Gift of prophecy
Cassandra was given the gift of uttering true prophecies, but was cursed so that they would never be believed. Commonly, Cassandra incurred
Apollo wrath by refusing him sexual favours after promising herself to him in exchange for the gift of prophecy.
[Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.5]
In
Aeschylus Agamemnon, she bemoans her relationship with the god:
Apollo, Apollo!
God of all ways, but only Death's to me,
Once and again, O thou, Destroyer named,
Thou hast destroyed me, thou, my love of old!
And she acknowledges her fault:
I consented marriage to Loxias Apollo but broke my word. ... Ever since that fault I could persuade no one of anything.[Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1208–1212.]
Latin author Fabulae writes in his Fabulae:
However, other versions of the story have been given; Tzetzes wrote that Cassandra and her brother Helenus received their gifts of prophecy after being left overnight in the temple of Apollo, and in the morning they were found with serpents licking their ears.[Apollodorus, Library, 1.9 Note 20] Additionally, Euripides wrote that Apollo left Cassandra to be a virgin, and the god was angered when Agamemnon took her as a concubine.[Euripides, The Trojan Women, 1.40]
Her cursed gift became an endless pain and frustration to her. She was seen as a liar and a madwoman by her family and by the Trojan people. Because of this, her father, Priam, had locked her away in a chamber and guarded her like the madwoman she was believed to be.
Ancient sources
's
De mulieribus claris, printed by at Ulm ca. 1474.]]Cassandra appears in texts by
Homer,
Virgil,
Aeschylus and
Euripides. While details such as her parentage remain the same between accounts, each author depicts her prophetic powers differently.
Homer
Cassandra is mentioned in both the
Iliad and the
Odyssey. In the
Iliad, she is named as the comeliest daughter of King
Priam,
[Homer, Iliad, 13.361] and a "peer of golden
Aphrodite."
[Homer, Iliad, 24.677] When her brother Hector was killed, she announced his death to the Trojan people so they could mourn and see his body as it was brought back into the city.
In the Odyssey, Agamemnon Ghost informs Odysseus of his death at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra; Cassandra was murdered as she stood next to him.[Homer, Odyssey, 11.404]
Virgil
As the
Aeneid takes place after Cassandra's death, she is mentioned by multiple characters but does not appear herself. Cassandra is mentioned prophesizing the fall of Troy
[Virgil, Aeneid, 2.234] and Aeneas' journey to Italy.
[Virgil, Aeneid, 3.147] In one scene, when Trojan soldiers saw the Greeks had kidnapped Cassandra from
Minerva temple and bound her in chains, they attempted to free her, but were quickly defeated.
[Virgil, Aeneid, 2.402] Coroebus, who was in love with Cassandra, was the first to charge into battle. He died alongside
Rhipeus,
Dymas, and Hypanis.
Seneca the Younger
Likewise Seneca the Younger, in his play
Agamemnon, has her prophesy why Agamemnon deserves his recorded death:
Quid me vocatis sospitem solam e meis, umbrae meorum? te sequor, tota pater Troia sepulte; frater, auxilium Phrygum terrorque Danaum, non ego antiquum decus video aut calentes ratibus ambustis manus, sed lacera membra et saucios vinclo gravi illos lacertos. te sequor... (Ag. 741–747)
Why do you call me, the lone survivor of my family, My shades? I follow you, father buried with all of Troy; Brother, bulwark of Trojans, terroriser of Greeks, I do not see your beauty of old or hands warmed by burnt ships, But your lacerated limbs and those famous shoulders savaged By heavy chains. I follow you...
This behaviour is reflected in acts 4 and 5 as "her mantic vision" is "supplemented by a further (in)sight into what is going on inside the palace in act 5 when she becomes a quasi-messenger and provides a meticulous account of Agamemnon's murder in the bath: 'I see and I am there and I enjoy it, no false vision deceives my eyes: let's watch' (
video et intersum et fruor, / imago visus dubia non fallit meos: / spectemus.)."
Aeschylus
In Aeschylus'
Agamemnon, a play in the
Oresteia trilogy, Cassandra has been taken by
Agamemnon to
Mycenae, where they are welcomed home by
Clytemnestra and an entourage of servants. Agamemnon enters the palace after his wife but Cassandra remains outside in the chariot. There, Cassandra receives violent visions and prophesizes that Clytemnestra will murder Agamemnon; a crowd watches on, but is unable to comprehend what she says.
[Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 1107.]
In this version of the story, Clytemnestra waits until Agamemnon has gotten into the bath before she entangles him in a net and stabs him three times with a blade.[Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 1372.] Cassandra, accepting her fate, walks into her inevitable offstage murder with full knowledge of what is to befall her.[Bernard Knox Word and Action: Essays on the Ancient theatre (Baltimore and London: Penguin) 1979][Anne Lebeck, The Oresteia: A study in language and structure (Washington) 1971] Clytemnestra announces that she murdered Cassandra to avenge her honour as a wife, as she was insulted that Agamemnon took a concubine.[Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 1431.]
Mythology
Before the fall of Troy
Before the fall of Troy, Cassandra foresaw that if Paris went to
Sparta and brought Helen back as his wife, her arrival would spark the Trojan War and lead to the destruction of the city. Ignoring Cassandra's warning, Paris went to Sparta and returned with Helen. While the people of Troy rejoiced, Cassandra was enraged; she furiously snatched Helen's golden
veil off her head and tore at her hair.
, 1806]]
In the Aeneid, Cassandra warned the Trojans about the Greeks hiding inside the Trojan Horse, Agamemnon's death, her own demise at the hands of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, her mother Hecuba's fate, Odysseus's ten-year wanderings before returning home, and the murder of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra by the latter's children Electra and Orestes.
The sack of Troy
Coroebus and
Othronus came to the aid of Troy during the Trojan War out of love for Cassandra and in exchange for her hand in marriage, but both were killed.
According to one account, Priam offered Cassandra to
Telephus's son Eurypylus, in order to induce Eurypylus to fight on the side of the Trojans.
[Dictys Cretensis 4.14 (Frazer, p. 95).] Cassandra was also the first to see the body of her brother
Hector being brought back to the city. for revenge against Ajax, by Jerome-Martin Langlois, 1810–1838.]]In
The Fall of Troy by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Cassandra attempted to warn the Trojan people that Greek warriors were hiding in the Trojan Horse while they were celebrating their victory over the Greeks with feasting. Disbelieving Cassandra, the Trojans resorted to calling her names and hurling insults at her. Attempting to prove herself right, Cassandra took an axe in one hand and a burning torch in the other, and ran towards the Trojan Horse, intent on destroying the Greeks herself, but the Trojans stopped her. The Greeks hiding inside the Horse were relieved, but alarmed by how clearly she had divined their plan.
During the sack of the city, Cassandra sought shelter in the temple of
Athena. There, she embraced the wooden statue of Athena in supplication for her protection, but was abducted and brutally raped by Ajax the Lesser. Cassandra clung so tightly to the statue of the goddess that Ajax knocked it from its stand as he dragged her away. Ajax's actions amounted to
sacrilege, as he had defiled both the Athena's temple and a person under her protection.
In Pseudo-Apollodorus' Epitome, Ajax's death comes at the hands of both Athena and Poseidon. Athena threw a thunderbolt at his ship, destroying it. Ajax made his way to safety on a rock, and declared that he had been saved in spite of Athena's intentions. However, Poseidon then split the rock with his trident, casting Ajax to his death. Eventually his body washed upon the shores of Myconos, where he was buried by Thetis.
In some versions, Cassandra intentionally left a chest behind in Troy that would curse whichever Greek opened it first. Inside the chest was an image of Dionysus, made by Hephaestus and presented to the Trojans by Zeus. It was given to the Greek leader Eurypylus as a part of his share of the victory spoils of Troy. When he opened the chest and saw the image of the god, he went mad.
The aftermath of Troy and Cassandra's death
Once Troy had fallen, Cassandra was taken as a
pallake (concubine) by
King Agamemnon of
Mycenae. While he was away at war, Agamemnon's wife,
Clytemnestra, had taken
Aegisthus as her lover. When Cassandra and Agememnon returned to Mycenae, they were ambushed and murdered by Clytemnestra or Aegisthus.
[Euripides, Electra, 1.][Homer, Odyssey, 11.405-440.] In many tellings, Cassandra foresees her death and willingly accepts it.
[Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 1431.] Various sources state that Cassandra and Agamemnon had twin boys, Teledamus and Pelops, who were murdered by Aegisthus.
by the , c. 440–430 BC,
Louvre]]
The final resting place of Cassandra is either in Amyclae or Mycenae. Statues of Cassandra exist both in Amyclae and across the Peloponnese peninsula from Mycenae to Leuctra. In Mycenae, German businessman and pioneer archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann claimed to have discovered in Grave Circle A the graves of Cassandra and Agamemnon and telegraphed back to King George I of Greece:
With great joy I announce to Your Majesty that I have discovered the tombs which the tradition proclaimed by Pausanias indicates to be the graves of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon and their companions, all slain at a banquet by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthos.
However, it was later discovered that the graves predated the Trojan War by at least 300 years.
See also
Primary sources
Further reading
-
-
Clarke, Lindsay. The Return from Troy. HarperCollins (2005). .
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Marion Zimmer Bradley. The Firebrand.
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Patacsil, Par. Cassandra. In The Likhaan Book of Plays 1997–2003. Villanueva and Nadera, eds. University of the Philippines Press (2006).
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Passfield, John. John and Cassandra: Fair is Fair (Rock's Mills Press) Fiction.
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Ukrainka, Lesya. "Cassandra". Original Publication: Lesya Ukrainka. Life and work by Constantine Bida. Selected works, translated by Vera Rich. Toronto: Published for the Women's Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee by University of Toronto Press (1968). pp. 181–239
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Schapira, Laurie L. The Cassandra Complex: Living with Disbelief: A Modern Perspective on Hysteria. Toronto: Inner City Books (1988). .
