27:
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Agamemnon was forced to sacrifice his own daughter
Iphigenia in order to appease the gods before setting off for Ilium. While Agamemnon was away fighting in the Trojan War, Clytemnestra turned against her husband and took Aegisthus as a lover. Upon Agamemnon's return to Mycenae, Aegisthus and Clytemnestra worked together to kill Agamemnon with certain accounts recording Aegisthus committing the murder while others record Clytemnestra herself exacting revenge on Agamemnon for his murder of Iphigenia.
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251:. Atreus in his enmity towards his brother sent Aegisthus to kill him; but the sword which Aegisthus carried was the cause of the recognition between Thyestes and his son, and the latter returned and slew his uncle Atreus, while he was offering a sacrifice on the seacoast. Aegisthus and his father now took possession of their lawful inheritance from which they had been expelled by Atreus.
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he is killed quickly by
Orestes, who then struggles over having to kill his mother. Aegisthus is referred to as a "weak lion", plotting the murders but having his lover commit the deeds. According to Johanna Leah Braff, he "takes the traditional female role, as one who devises but is passive and does
409:
his voice is "a decidedly high-pitched tenor, punctuated by irrational upward leaps, that rises to high pitched squeals during his death colloquy with
Elektra." In the first production he was depicted as "an epicene...with long curly locks and rouged lips, half-cringing, half-posturing seductively."
352:
gives no information about
Aegisthus's antecedents. We learn from him only that, after the death of Thyestes, Aegisthus ruled as king at Mycenae and took no part in the Trojan expedition. While Agamemnon was absent on his expedition against Troy, Aegisthus seduced Clytemnestra, and was so wicked as
306:
After the death of
Tyndareus, Meneleaus became king of Sparta. He used the Spartan army to drive out Aegisthus and Thyestes from Mycenae and place Agamemnon on the throne. Agamemnon extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful ruler in Greece. After Helen's abduction to Troy,
353:
to offer up thanks to the gods for the success with which his criminal exertions were crowned. In order not to be surprised by the return of
Agamemnon, he sent out spies, and when Agamemnon came, Aegisthus invited him to a repast at which he had him treacherously murdered.
386:
Aeschylus's portrayal of
Aegisthus as a weak, implicitly feminised figure, influenced later writers and artists who often depict him as an effeminate or decadent individual, either manipulating or dominated by the more powerful Clytemnestra. He appears in
322:, the son of Agamemnon, returned to Mycenae and avenged the death of his father by killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. The impiety of matricide was such that Orestes was forced to flee from Mycenae, pursued by the
184:
took
Aegisthus as a lover. The couple killed Agamemnon upon the king's return, making Aegisthus king of Mycenae once more. Aegisthus ruled for seven more years before his death at the hands of Agamemnon's son
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173:. In another version, Aegisthus was the sole surviving son of Thyestes after Atreus killed his brother's children and served them to Thyestes in a meal.
214:. In revenge, Atreus killed Thyestes's sons and served them to him unknowingly. After realizing he had eaten his own sons' corpses, Thyestes asked an
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which she afterwards gave to
Aegisthus. When she discovered that the sword belonged to her own father, she realised that her son was the product of
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169:. Aegisthus murdered Atreus in order to restore his father to power, ruling jointly with him, only to be driven from power by Atreus's son
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Thyestes raped
Pelopia after she performed a sacrifice, hiding his identity from her. When Aegisthus was born, his mother
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how best to gain revenge. The advice was to father a son with his own daughter, Pelopia, and that son would kill Atreus.
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him, ashamed of his origin, and he was raised by shepherds and suckled by a goat, hence his name Aegisthus (from
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Following Agamemnon's death, Aegisthus reigned over Mycenae for seven years. He and Clytemnestra had a son,
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revealing him to be "cowardly, sly, weak, full of noisy threats - a typical 'tyrant figure' in embryo."
210:. The two battled back and forth several times. In addition, Thyestes had an affair with Atreus's wife,
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not act." Christopher Collard describes him as the foil to Clytemnestra, his brief speech in
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
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In the night in which Pelopia had been raped by her father, she had taken from him his
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129:, written in the 5th century BC. Aegisthus also features heavily in the action of
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528:. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 636–634.
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The Architecture of Ancient Greece: An Account of Its Historic Development
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318:(sometimes known as Helen). In the eighth year of his reign
109:. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is
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Animal Similes and Gender in the "Odyssey" and "Oresteia"
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An ancient tomb in Mycenae is fancifully known as the "
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Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
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366:, Aegisthus is a minor figure. In the first play,
145:420 BC), although his character remains offstage.
706:, University of California Press, 2004, pp.207-8.
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680:, University of Maryland, MA Thesis, 2008, p.64.
254:
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259:Aegisthus and Thyestes thereafter ruled over
719:, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 1950, p.29.
704:Opera and Modern Culture: Wagner and Strauss
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596:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
436:Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.
202:Thyestes felt he had been deprived of the
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19:For the opera by Francesco Cavalli, see
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1282:(1909, Strauss/von Hofmannsthal)
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1007:(1699, Desmarets and Campra)
971:The Killing of a Sacred Deer
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157:and Thyestes's own daughter
30:Aegisthus being murdered by
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570:, in Smith, William (ed.),
538:Photius, Bibliotheca 190.30
255:Power struggle over Mycenae
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16:Figure in Greek mythology
1377:Mourning Becomes Electra
1302:Mourning Becomes Electra
1180:Mourning Becomes Electra
1204:The Forgotten Pistolero
715:William Bell Dinsmoor,
525:Encyclopædia Britannica
291:, and three daughters,
1348:(c. 405 BC, Sophocles)
1340:(c. 408 BC, Euripides)
1332:(c. 413 BC, Euripides)
1220:The Travelling Players
964:Bash: Latter-Day Plays
921:The Songs of the Kings
346:
339:Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
247:rape. In despair, she
180:, his estranged queen
42:
401:Hugo von Hofmannsthal
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29:
1051:Iphigénie en Tauride
1036:Iphigénie en Tauride
1004:Iphigénie en Tauride
741:at Wikimedia Commons
676:Johanna Leah Braff,
376:The Libation Bearers
102:[ǎi̯ɡistʰos]
1402:Orestes and Electra
1324:(458 BC, Aeschylus)
1305:(1967, Levy/Butler)
1070:Iphigenia in Tauris
1028:Ifigenia in Tauride
1020:Ifigenia in Tauride
1012:Ifigenia in Tauride
987:Iphigenia in Tauris
946:Alcmaeon in Corinth
864:Iphigénie en Aulide
783:Iphigenia in Tauris
691:Oresteia: Aeschylus
847:Iphigenia in Aulis
777:Iphigenia in Aulis
347:
314:, and a daughter,
178:laid siege to Troy
165:for the throne of
105:) was a figure in
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1372:(1971, Wijesinha)
1356:(1937, Giraudoux)
1212:Electra, My Love
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637:iii. 263, &c.
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1286:discography
1043:discography
939:The Bacchae
568:"Aegisthus"
1418:Categories
1313:Literature
584:2007-10-19
421:References
403:'s opera,
330:In culture
245:incestuous
198:Early life
40:The Louvre
1361:The Flies
1156:Iphigenia
1152:(brother)
1144:Aegisthus
1132:Agamemnon
902:Iphigenia
883:Iphigénie
825:(brother)
817:Aegisthus
805:Agamemnon
798:'s family
796:Iphigenia
788:Euripides
739:Aegisthus
665:Pausanias
520:Agamemnon
393:Agamemnon
381:Agamemnon
372:Cassandra
368:Agamemnon
358:Aeschylus
293:Iphigenia
277:Tyndareus
265:Agamemnon
223:abandoned
193:Mythology
171:Agamemnon
131:Euripides
121:Aeschylus
97:Aigisthos
46:Aegisthus
1434:Atreidai
1321:Oresteia
1271:Oresteia
1263:Idomeneo
1255:Idoménée
1164:(sister)
1158:(sister)
1140:(mother)
1134:(father)
837:(sister)
831:(sister)
813:(mother)
807:(father)
592:citation
492:and 252.
363:Oresteia
269:Menelaus
204:Mycenean
155:Thyestes
126:Oresteia
89:Αἴγισθος
38: –
1384:Elektra
1369:Elektra
1353:Electra
1345:Electra
1337:Orestes
1329:Electra
1279:Elektra
1236:Electra
1188:Electra
1150:Orestes
1118:Electra
956:Related
931:Trilogy
829:Electra
823:Orestes
652:Odyssey
634:Odyssey
616:Odyssey
553:Odyssey
513::
486:Hyginus
476:xii. 42
458:87, 88;
456:Fabulae
452:Hyginus
406:Elektra
399:'s and
320:Orestes
316:Erigone
297:Electra
289:Orestes
261:Mycenae
187:Orestes
167:Mycenae
159:Pelopia
137:Electra
116:Odyssey
91:; also
36:Pylades
32:Orestes
1247:Operas
1239:(2010)
1231:(1984)
1223:(1975)
1215:(1974)
1207:(1969)
1199:(1965)
1196:Sandra
1191:(1962)
1183:(1947)
1125:Family
1073:(1779)
996:Operas
905:(1977)
886:(1674)
856:Operas
507:
468:Aelian
389:Seneca
324:Furies
312:Aletes
299:, and
273:Sparta
216:oracle
212:Aerope
208:Atreus
163:Atreus
149:Family
1228:Ellie
1172:Films
1062:Plays
913:Novel
875:Plays
647:Homer
629:Homer
611:Homer
548:Homer
350:Homer
285:Helen
241:sword
111:Homer
894:Film
780:and
598:link
490:l.c.
283:and
267:and
34:and
1394:Art
786:by
522:".
391:'s
360:'s
356:In
341:'s
271:to
228:αἴξ
133:'s
123:'s
113:'s
95:as
1420::
649:,
631:,
613:,
594:}}
590:{{
550:,
488:,
470:,
454:,
303:.
295:,
189:.
143:c.
99:,
87::
83:;
61:dʒ
1110:e
1103:t
1096:v
768:e
761:t
754:v
600:)
141:(
79:/
76:s
73:ə
70:θ
67:s
64:ɪ
58:ˈ
55:ɪ
52:/
48:(
23:.
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