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Clytemnestra (, ; , ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta. In Aeschylus' Oresteia, she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess Cassandra, whom Agamemnon had taken as a war prize following the sack of Troy; however, in Homer's Odyssey, her role in Agamemnon's death is unclear and her character is significantly more subdued.
Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were in exile at the home of Tyndareus; in due time Agamemnon married Clytemnestra and Menelaus married Helen.
In the play Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, Clytemnestra says to Agamemnon, "It was not of my own free will but by force that thou didst take and wed me, after slaying Tantalus, my former husband, and dashing my babe on the ground alive, when thou hadst torn him from my breast with brutal violence." The "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology" (1867, p. 507) identifies this Tantalus as a son of Thyestes and a King of Pisa, while the website greeklegendsandmyths.com says it was the Tantalus who was a son of Broteas and a King of Lydia, like his father and grandfather before him. Both sources agree that Agamemnon killed Tantalus and Clytemnestra's infant child, then made Clytemnestra his wife.
The Trojan War lasted ten years. During this period of Agamemnon's long absence, Clytemnestra began a love affair with Aegisthus, her husband's cousin. Whether Clytemnestra was seduced into the affair or entered into it independently differs according to the version of the myth.
Nevertheless, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus began plotting Agamemnon's demise. Clytemnestra was enraged by Iphigenia's murder (and presumably the earlier murder of her first husband and son by Agamemnon, and her subsequent rape and forced marriage). Aegisthus saw his father Thyestes betrayed by Agamemnon's father Atreus (Aegisthus was conceived specifically to take revenge on that branch of the family).
In old versions of the story, on returning from Troy, Agamemnon is murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions, Clytemnestra helps him or does the killing herself in his own home. The best-known version is that of Aeschylus: Agamemnon, having arrived at his palace with his concubine, the Trojan princess Cassandra, in tow and being greeted by his wife, entered the palace for a banquet while Cassandra remained in the chariot. Clytemnestra waited until he was in the bath, and then entangled him in a cloth net and stabbed him. Trapped in the web, Agamemnon could neither escape nor resist his murderer. Meanwhile, Cassandra prophesied the murder of Agamemnon and herself.
Most versions of the myth attribute her prophetic power as being a gift from Apollo in exchange for sex, while some claim that serpents from the Thymbra flicked their tongues in her and her brother Helenus' ears, somehow giving the power of divination. In every version though, after refusing to have sex with the god, Cassandra is thereafter cursed by Apollo to be disbelieved, completely negating the utility of her prophecies."Cassandra." Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 109-111. Copyright © 1991 by Robert E. Bell.So, despite her ability to envisage both Agamemnon's murder and her own, her attempts to elicit help failed due to Apollo's curse—no one believed her. She realized she was fated to die, and resolutely walked into the palace to receive her death.
Some interpretations posit that despite the grudge Clytemnestra held against Agamemnon for sacrificing Iphigenia, she still harbored deep feelings for the Mycanaen King. Furthermore, it is suggested that she stayed faithful to Agamemnon until she was all but certain that he would never return. The Homeric template suggests that Clytemnestra only followed her suitor Aegithus home, rather than Aeschylus’ interpretation that she took him as a lover. This incident is actually not reflected in any of the Homeric prose, though it does relate to the general period surrounding the Trojan War. Aeschylus’ magnification of this segment of the mythology suits the tragic nature of his narrative, once again not reflected in the Homeric template. By extension, through this addition Aeschylus presents Clytemnestra’s choice to kill Agamemnon as driven by lust. Other interpretations argue that Clytemnestra has greater agency than being blinded by love. These sources point to her grief as a mother being the driving force behind her actions. Others sources argue that she bemoaned the obstacle to her love for Agememnon’s Cassandra of Troy presented. In Sophocles’ Electra the addition of Cassandra as part of the spoils Agamemnon brought back from war serves to be a leading motivation for Clytemnestra to murder her husband. Cassandra was a Trojan Princess that Agamemnon brought back with him after his victory in the Trojan War. While sources differ on whether Agamemnon viewed Cassandra as a lover, in most interpretations Clytemnestra viewed her as stealing away Agamemnon from her. The rationale displayed varies from jealousy to concern about the family and their relationship. In Sophocles’ writing, Clytemnestra is a jealous lover, and Cassandra is an unwilling point of conflict. In this version, Clytemnestra is also viewed as an adulterous mother whose anger at Agamemnon for taking another lover is seen as irrational. In other interpretations Clytemnestra felt that her love for Agamemnon was not requited. Some also argue that Clytemnestra worried about Agamenon turning his back on the family in favor of the younger Cassandra.Sex and sensuality in the ancient world. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Translated by George Staunton from the Italian Eros tiranno: sessualità e sensualità nel mondo antico (2003).
After the murders, Aegisthus replaced Agamemnon as king and ruled for seven years with Clytemnestra as his queen. In some traditions they have three children: a son Aletes, and daughters Erigone and Helen. Clytemnestra was eventually killed by Orestes, her son by Agamemnon. The infant Helen was also killed. Aletes and Erigone grow up at Mycenae, but when Aletes comes of age, Orestes returns from Sparta, kills his half-brother, and takes the throne. Orestes and Erigone are said to have had a son, Penthilus.
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