Download House of Atreus

The Five Generations of the House of Atreus, and its Curse:
Tantalus (son of Zeus)
He thought he could outwit the gods by tricking them into eating human flesh (his own
son Pelops). Tantalus is punished for his arrogance for eternity in Hades: tortured by
thirst, he stands in water that reaches only to his chin; tortured by hunger, he must look at
but not touch boughs of fruit dangling in front of him. Thus the word "tantalizing"
describes something we want but cannot have. It is said that none of the gods ate of the
flesh except Demeter, who was preoccupied with thoughts of her missing daughter (the
tale of Hades abducting Persephone). When the child was reassembled (gods can do that),
the shoulder eaten by Demeter was replaced by one of ivory.
Pelops (son of Tantalus)
Once grown, Pelops decided to vie for the hand of the beautiful Hippodamia. According
to rules set by her father, Oenomaus, hopeful suitors had to stake their life on beating him
in a chariot race. Pelops cheated with the help of Myrtilus, Oenomaus' charioteer. They
replaced the wooden pin holding his front wheel on with one of wax. Several laps into the
race, the wax was melted by the friction of the wheel and fell off, causing a crash in
which Oenomaus was killed. In exchange for "rigging" the race, Pelops had promised
Myrtilus that he could sleep with Hippodamia first, but he refused to honor the agreement
after he won the girl. Myrtilus tried to rape Hippodamia and as Pelops threw him off a
cliff, Myrtilus levied a curse against his house. This story is told in the pedimental
sculpture of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Pictures soon. As its mythical founder,
Pelops gives his name to the southern part of Greece, the Peloponnesus ("island of
Pelops").
Atreus and Thyestes (sons of Pelops)
In addition to other friction between them (they had vied for the throne of Mycenae),
Thyestes had an affair with Atreus' wife, Aerope. In response, Atreus killed and cooked
Thyestes' children and served them to him at a banquet (under the pretense of friendly
reconciliation). Thyestes asked the Oracle of Delphi (Temple of Apollo) advice on how
to even the score. He was told that he could only wreak vengeance on his brother through
a son born of his own daughter. He disguised himself and raped his Pelopia, his daughter.
She bore Aegisthus. Aegisthus killed Atreus and restored Thyestes to the throne of
Mycenae. (In his telling of this tale, Aeschylus uses a different version - he says that
Thyestes escaped from Atreus' feast with the infant Aegisthus tucked under his arm, and
this infant grew up to avenge his father's mistreatment by killing Atreus' son,
Agamemnon.)
Agamemnon and Menelaus (sons of Atreus)
Hustled out of Mycenae as children, they escaped Thyestes' wrath, came back later when
they were grown and with the help of Tyndareus King of Sparta, expelled Thyestes. Each
married a daughter of Tyndareus (Agamemnon = Clytemnestra; Menelaus = Helen).
Agamemnon became King of Mycenae; Menelaus, Sparta. The unified Greek forces
declared war against Troy because their prince, Paris, abducted Helen. Agamemnon,
leader of the Greek forces, sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess
Artemis, so that the fleet could sail to Troy. While Agamemnon is away, Clytemnestra
invites Aegisthus to rule Argos with her. Upon Agamemnon's triumphant return from
Troy, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murder him for his various crimes against them.
Orestes and Electra (children of Agamemnon)
They murder Aegisthus and their mother, Clytemnestra, for the crime of murdering their
father, Agamemnon. We will see how this cycle of blood-guilt and vengeance ends in the
Oresteia.