Download The Curse of the House of Atreus

GUIDE TO THE ANCIENT WORLD
The Curse of the House of Atreus
Standing shoulder-to shoulder with the incestuous brood of Oedipus is the House of Atreus, the ancient royal family of Mycenae in Greece. Arguably the most important family in western literature, the
descendants of Atreus suffered from an ancestral crime, variously described,
that caused disastrous cycle of murder and revenge until finally Athena
interceded and broke the cycle of murder and revenge.
Tantalus, the son of Zeus, wanted to prove that he was cleverer than the
gods and attempted to trick them into eating the flesh of his own son Pelops.
It is said that none of the gods succumbed to the ruse except Demeter, who
was preoccupied with thoughts of her missing daughter Persephone. When
Pelops was reassembled, the shoulder eaten by Demeter was replaced by
one of ivory. Tantalus was cast into Tartarus, the pit beneath the underworld.
There he was tortured by thirst, standing in water that reached only to his
chin, and ravished by hunger, as the boughs of fruit dangling in front of him
receded from his touch.
Once grown, Pelops decided to vie for the hand of the beautiful Hippodamia. According to rules set by
her father, Oenomaus, proposals of marriage would only be expected if suitors staked their lives on
beating him in a chariot race. With the help of Myrtilus, Oenomaus' charioteer, Pelops replaced the
wooden pin securing Oenomaus' front wheel with one of wax. Several laps into the race, friction
caused the wax to melt and the wheel fell off, causing a crash that killed Oenomaus. In exchange for
"rigging" the race, Pelops had promised Myrtilus that he could sleep with Hippodamia, but Pelops refused to honor the agreement. As a result, Myrtilus abduct Hippodamia. Pelops tracked down the pair
and threw Myrtilus off a cliff, who levied a curse against Pelop’s house. As its mythical founder,
Pelops gives his name to the southern part of Greece, the Peloponnesus ("island of Pelops").
Myrtilus’ curse fell Pelops’ sons, Atreus and Thyestes, who turned their murderous natures against one
another. In addition to other disagreements, Thyestes had an affair with Atreus' wife, Aerope. In response, Atreus summoned Thyestes to a reconciliation banquet, but cooked Thyestes' children and
served them to him. The Delphic Oracle revealed that Thyestes could only exact his vengeance on his
brother through a son born of his own daughter. Therefore, he disguised
himself and raped his daughter Pelopia, who bore Aegisthus. Aegisthus
killed Atreus and restored Thyestes to the throne of Mycenae. An alternative
version relates that Thyestes escaped from Atreus' feast with the infant
Aegisthus tucked under his arm, and this infant grew up to avenge his father.
Hustled out of Mycenae as children, Agamemnon and Menelaus, the sons of
Atreus, returned when they were grown and, with the help of Tyndareus the
King of Sparta, expelled Thyestes. Each married a daughter of Tyndareus
(Agamemnon married Clytemnestra; Menelaus married Helen). Agamemnon became King of Mycenae; Menelaus, King of Sparta. When the Trojan prince Paris abducted
Helen, the unified Greek forces declared war against Troy. Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces,
was forced to sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess Artemis before the fleet
could sail to Troy. While Agamemnon was at war, Clytemnestra invited Aegisthus to rule Argos with
her. Upon Agamemnon's triumphant return from Troy, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered him.
They intended to slay Agamemnon’s son Orestes, who was still a child, but his elder sister Electra
saved his life by sending him to his uncle Stophius, King of Phocis.
Orestes was raised in the palace of Stophius with the king’s son Pylades and the two became the closest of friends. Electra frequently reminded her brother by messenger of his duty to avenge his father’s
death. When Orestes was grown, he consulted the Delphic oracle, which confirmed that it was his destiny to avenge his father.
Orestes returned to Argos under disguise, pretending to be a messenger from Stophius announcing the
death of Orestes. After visiting his father’s tomb, he revealed himself to Electra. With the help of Pylades and Electra, he succeeded by killing Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus. This revolting act,
the slaughter of a mother by a son brought the wrath of the Furies down upon Orestes. Driving him
mad, the Furies pursued Orestes from land to land. In answer to a second appeal to the Delphic oracle,
Orestes was directed to go to Tauris in Scythia and to bring from there a statue of Artemis that was
believed to have fallen from heaven. When Orestes and Pylades arrived in Tauris they were seized by
the barbaric inhabitants of the town who were accustomed to sacrifice any strangers who fell into their
hands. The two friends were brought to the temple where Iphigenia, who had been snatched away from
the altar in Aulis at the moment Agamemnon was about to sacrifice her, recognized her brother and the
three made their escape with the statue of the goddess.
Orestes, however, was not free of the vengeance of the Furies who continued to pursue him relentlessly. Eventually, Orestes took refuge in the Temple of Athena in Athens. Athena established a court
in Athens to judge between the competing claims of the Furies, the guardians of bloodguilt, and
Apollo, whose oracles had driven Orestes to his murderous act. When the Athenian citizens returned a
split verdict, Athena broke the tie by siding with Orestes. Finally the cycle of violence had been broken. Some versions relate that Orestes underwent a second trial at the hands of Tyndareus but eventually he was acquitted and married Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen.