Agamemnon (Αγαμέμνονας), one of the main heroes of the ancient Greek national epic, son of the Mycenaean king Atreus and Aeropa, leader of the Greek army during the Trojan War. After the murder of Atreus by Aegisthus, Agamemnon and Menelaus were forced to flee to Aetolia, but the king of Sparta Tyndareus, going on a campaign against Mycenae, forced Thyestes to cede power to the sons of Atreus. Agamemnon reigned in Mycenae (he later expanded his domain and became the most powerful ruler in all of Greece) and married Tyndareus’ daughter Clytemestra. From this marriage Agamemnon had three daughters and a son, Orestes. When Paris kidnapped Helen and all her former suitors united in a campaign against Troy, Agamemnon, as the elder brother of Menelaus and the most powerful of the Greek kings, was elected head of the entire army.

Ambassadors of Agamemnon in Achilles' tent, 1801,
artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

Agamemnon, Cassandra, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus,
National School of Fine Arts, Paris

The Iliad portrays Agamemnon as a valiant warrior (a description of his exploits is given in the 11th book), but does not hide his arrogance and intransigence; It is these qualities of Agamemnon’s character that are the cause of many disasters for the Greeks. Having once killed a doe while hunting, Agamemnon boasted that Artemis would have been jealous of such a shot; the goddess became angry and deprived the Greek fleet of a fair wind. The Greeks could not leave Aulis for a long time (until Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess; with this fact, Greek tradition explains Clytaemestra’s enmity towards her husband) (Apollodorus, Episodes, III 21). Having captured Chryseis during one of the raids on the outskirts of Troy, Agamemnon refuses to return her for a large ransom to Father Chris, the priest of Apollo, and the god, heeding the pleas of Chris, sends a pestilence to the Greek army. When the true cause of the disaster becomes clear and Achilles demands that Agamemnon return Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon takes away his captive Chryseis from Achilles, which leads to the long-term withdrawal of the offended Achilles from battles and to severe defeats for the Greeks (Homer, Iliad, I 8-427; IX 9- 692).

artist Roger Payne

The further fate of Agamemnon was narrated in the epic poem “Returns” (7th century BC) and “Oresteia” by Stesichorus, which have not reached us. Evil fate haunted the entire family of Agamemnon, starting with the ancestor Tantalus and ending with Agamemnon himself and his children - Iphigenia and Orestes. After the capture of Troy, Agamemnon, having received huge booty and Cassandra, returned to his homeland, where death awaited him in his own home; according to an older version of the myth, he fell during a feast at the hands of Aegisthus, who managed to seduce Clytaemestra during Agamemnon’s absence (Homer, Odyssey, III 248-275; IV 524-537). Beginning in the mid-6th century BC, a version came to the fore that Agamemnon was treacherously killed by his own wife, Clytemnestra: having greeted Agamemnon with hypocritical joy, she then threw a heavy blanket over him in the bath and dealt three fatal blows.

Agamemnon's fabulous wealth and his prominence among the Greek leaders spoken of in the myth reflect the rise of historical Mycenae in the 14th to 12th centuries BC and their dominant role among the early states of the Peloponnese. The surviving ritual epithet "Zeus-Agamemnon" shows that Agamemnon was probably originally one of those semi-divine hero-patrons of his tribe, whose functions were transferred to Zeus with the formation of the Olympian pantheon.

The sad fate and fatal end of Agamemnon in particular was a favorite theme of ancient tragedies. Besides Iphigenia, Agamemnon had three more daughters. His burial place is called Mycenae and Amycle. In Sparta, Agamemnon was given divine honors. In Chaeronea, his scepter, the work of Hephaestus, was kept as a shrine.

Of the dramatic works of antiquity dedicated to the murder of Agamemnon, the tragedies “Agamemnon” by Aeschylus (the first part of the “Oresteia” trilogy) and Seneca have been preserved. The plot has been developed in European drama since the 16th century (G. Sachs, T. Dekker, etc.). Interest in myth awoke again in the second half of the 18th century (the tragedies of V. Alfieri, L. J. N. Lemercier, etc.). In the 19th and 20th centuries, the plot formed the basis of about thirty tragedies, the dramatic tetralogy of G. Hauptmann ("Iphigenia at Delphi", "Iphigenia at Aulis", "The Death of Agamemnon", "Electra").

In ancient fine art, Agamemnon is a minor character in multi-figure compositions (metopes of the northern side of the Parthenon, etc.). The murder of Agamemnon is embodied in the painting of a number of Greek vases and in the reliefs of several Etruscan funeral urns. In European musical and dramatic art, the plot of the death of Agamemnon formed the basis for the libretto of a number of operas of the 18th-20th centuries.

Agamemnon was born in Mycenae, where his father Atreus came to power after the death of King Eurystheus, who left no descendants. The childhood of Agamemnon and his younger brother Menelaus was spent in an atmosphere of power struggle and intrigue between Atreus and his brother Thyestes.

When Agamemnon was a child, his father killed the sons of Thyestes - Plisthenes and Tantalus, and later another son of Thyestes - Aegisthus killed Atreus.

After the murder of his father, Agamemnon, along with his brother Menelaus, fled to Sparta, where he sought refuge with the Spartan king Tyndareus. Here the brothers married the daughters of Tyndareus, Agamemnon to Clytemnestra, Menelaus to Helen. After the death of Tyndareus, the throne passed to Menelaus. With the help of his brother, Agamemnon, having killed Thyestes, became king of Mycenae, as the rightful heir of Atreus.

Subsequently, he significantly expanded his possessions and became the most powerful ruler in all of Greece. His residence was described only as “gold-abundant Mycenae.”

He was also a happy husband and father. His children: son Orestes and daughters Iphigenia, Electra and Chrysothemis.

Trojan War

Everything was fine until the moment when the Trojan prince Paris kidnapped his wife from Menelaus. And not just a wife, but also the most beautiful of all mortal women, whose father was Zeus himself. The worst thing was that Paris kidnapped her while he was a guest of Sparta, and at the same time took the treasures of Menelaus.

This was both a gross violation of hospitality and a grave insult to a spouse, a king, a man. There was no way such a crime could go unpunished.

Menelaus asked Agamemnon to help him return Helen. Agamemnon advised his brother, with some experienced mediator, best of all, with the king of Ithaca Odysseus, to go to Troy and there, for justice, turn to the father of Paris, the Trojan king Priam, who, of course, would settle the whole matter. But Menelaus achieved nothing in a good way. Paris agreed to return the stolen treasures, but he categorically did not want to give up Helen, and Priam supported his son.

The issue could only be resolved by war.

Agamemnon sent envoys to all the Achaean kings, urging them to help Menelaus. He stood at the head of the Achaean army. The campaign promised the participants fame and rich booty. 1186 ships and 100 thousand soldiers gathered in the harbor of Aulis, ready to march against Troy. Before the war, Agamemnon visited the oracle at Delphi.

Agamemnon was a valiant warrior, but had an arrogant and unyielding character, which caused many disasters for the Greeks.

Why were the Greek ships unable to leave Aulis for a long time? Yes, because Agamemnon angered the goddess Artemis. Having once killed a doe while hunting, he boasted that Artemis could envy such a shot; the goddess became angry and deprived the Greek fleet of a fair wind. And until Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess, the Achaeans could not set off. With this fact, Greek tradition explains the enmity towards the husband of Clytaemestra, who did not know that Iphigenia was saved at the last moment by Artemis.

The Achaean fleet, after a dangerous voyage full of unforeseen obstacles, finally landed on the shores of Troy. A powerful army, led by Priam’s eldest son Hector, was already waiting for them, but the Achaeans were still able to land in Troas. But the Greeks failed to take the high walls of Troy by storm.

Then Agamemnon ordered to set up a fortified camp and from there he launched new and new attacks on Troy - for nine whole years, but all in vain!

In the tenth year, long-accumulated discontent openly manifested itself in the Achaean army. The commanders lost hope of loot and glory, and the warriors simply dreamed of returning home. When disappointment with the hopeless war reached its limit, a dispute arose between Agamemnon and the leader of the Myrmidons, the best Achaean fighter Achilles.

During one of the raids, having captured Chryseis in the vicinity of Troy, Agamemnon refused, even for a large ransom, to return her to her father Chryses, the priest of Apollo, and, heeding the pleas of Chryses, God sent a pestilence to the Greek army. When the true cause of the disaster became clear, and Achilles demanded that Agamemnon return Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon took away his captive Briseis from Achilles, which led to a long withdrawal from the battles of the offended Achilles and to heavy defeats for the Greeks.

The Trojans, being confident that Achilles, who terrified them, was not fighting the Achaeans, made a sortie from the city, forced the Greeks to retreat and began to prepare for a crushing assault on their camp.

During this assault, the Trojans pressed the Achaeans close to the sea. As befits a leader, Agamemnon fought bravely in the front ranks, but when, due to injury and loss of blood, he had to leave the battlefield, he suggested that the rest of the Achaean leaders abandon further fighting and flee to save the lives of the soldiers. However, the warriors continued to fight courageously, and with them all the leaders.

When Hector had already begun to set fire to the Achaean ships, Achilles allowed his friend Patroclus to enter the battle at the head of the Myrmidons and lent him his armor. The Trojans decided that Achilles himself had opposed them, and they fled in fear.

Patroclus managed to save the ships and the camp of the Achaeans, but he himself did not return from the battle; he died in a duel with Hector, who was helped by the god Apollo.

To avenge his friend, Achilles decided to join the battle. He fought under the walls of Troy until his heroic death.

In the end, the Achaeans took Troy by cunning. They built a huge wooden horse, and the bravest warriors hid inside it. Then Agamemnon ordered the camp to be set on fire, the army was put on ships and the entire fleet sailed west. The Trojans decided that he had sailed to Greece, while the Greeks took refuge behind Cape Tenedos and, with the onset of darkness, returned with the entire army.

Only the Greek warrior Sinon remained on the shore, who was given the appropriate instructions. Sinon told the Trojans that the giant wooden horse was dedicated by the Achaeans to the goddess Athena and could serve as protection for the city.

The Trojans believed Sinon’s story too easily. They brought the horse into the city, and even for this they dismantled part of the city wall, since the gate was too narrow. At night, the hidden warriors got out of the horse, overpowered the unsuspecting guards, and Sinon gave the agreed sign to Agamemnon, who invaded the city with an army through a hole in the wall. The next morning, only smoking ruins reminded of the once glorious Troy.

Death of Agamemnon

Agamemnon returned in triumph to Mycenae, his ships were overloaded with silver, gold, bronze, and slaves. He also carried the daughter of the king of Troy, Cassandra, as a prisoner. But his wife was not happy about his return. While Agamemnon was fighting at the walls of Troy, his cousin Aegisthus appeared in Mycenae and seduced his wife. They had already jointly developed a plan to get rid of Agamemnon.

The meeting in Mycenae was solemn, and after a while the residents of the city learned about the death of Agamemnon. According to a more ancient version of the myth, he fell during a feast at the hands of Aegisthus. Beginning in the mid-6th century BC, another version came to the fore, according to which Agamemnon was killed by his own wife, Clytemnestra: who greeted her husband with hypocritical joy, and then threw a heavy blanket over him in the bath and dealt three fatal blows. Cassandra suffered the same fate. Those who returned with him from Ilion were killed by Aegisthus at the feast.

Odysseus later meets him in Hades. His soul after death chose the life of an eagle.

His sad fate and especially his fatal end were a favorite theme of ancient tragedies.

The asteroid (911) Agamemnon, discovered in 1919, is named after Agamemnon.

The myth of the murder of Agamemnon

When King Agamemnon set off on a campaign near Troy, Aegisthus, after a long exile, returned to Argos and announced that he recognized the supremacy of the mighty Agamemnon, and was ready to reconcile with him and submit to his authority. It seemed to all the Argovians that this reconciliation of close relatives should put an end to the ancient bloody enmity between the two branches of the Pelopids; Agamemnon himself thought so and, having taken command of the Achaean army, calmly set out on a campaign. But while the heroes of Hellas fought under the walls of Troy, the cunning Aegisthus, who remained in Argos, plotted against Agamemnon and plotted his death. He became close to Clytemnestra and, having captured her heart, assumed power over Argos, ruled the house of Agamemnon, judged and commanded the people, as if he were the legitimate king of the country. Both of them - Aegisthus and Clytemnestra - hoped that Agamemnon would not return from Troy; and if, contrary to their expectations, he managed to return to Argos alive, they were ready to do anything to prevent Aegisthus’s terrible rival from taking over his rights.

Before leaving, Agamemnon promised Clytemnestra that as soon as Troy was taken, he would immediately let Argos know about it. He wanted to send messengers ahead and order them to light fires on the tops of all the mountains lying on the way from Ida to Argos itself; These lights were supposed to serve as a sign of victory over Ilion and the imminent return of the Achaean army to their native shores. Every night Clytemnestra sent one of her servants to the tower: the watchman stayed awake all night and vigilantly looked into the distance to see if a conventional fire would appear somewhere. For many years the watchman carried out his hard service and waited impatiently for him to be relieved of that service, when he would no longer need to spend nights without sleep, standing alone on a high tower and vainly looking out and waiting for the sign of victory to appear. And then one day, at dawn, he sees: a fire has appeared on the top of a distant mountain. The conventional sign was transmitted from the multi-hill Ida to the rock of Hermes, to Lemnos, from here to Athos, then, through the tops of the coastal mountains, to Kiferon and further to the Gulf of Skaro, to the top of Arachneon, close to Argos. The guard exclaimed loudly and enthusiastically when he saw the long-awaited flame, and hurried with the good news to the palace of his mistress.

As soon as Clytemnestra listened to him, she immediately called the servants and went with them to the square to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the gods. The good news quickly spread throughout the city, and people gathered in crowds to the royal palace; in the square in front of the palace, the citizens wanted to wait for the arrival of the king. The elders of the people, talking among themselves, recalled how the war began, how the treacherous Paris, having insulted divine and human rights, kidnapped Helen from the house of King Menelaus and took her with him to Troy to the death of himself and all the people of Priam: angry as eagles , whose chicks were stolen from the nest, Atreida rushed to Troy with a huge army of spearmen and took revenge on the people of Priam, who took the criminal Paris under their protection. Crowned with glory, the Achaeans are now returning to their native land. But how many heroes have fallen in bloody, destructive battles, how many houses in Argos will be filled with sobs and cries! Atrid Agamemnon gained great fame for himself, an enviable lot befell him, now the entire Achaean people glorify him, calling him a great hero, winner and destroyer of enemy strongholds. But the happiness of a mortal husband is fragile, and loud glory often gives birth to death; Atris must not forget the great sacrifice made in Aulis; he must not forget his Iphigenia, who fell under the sacrificial knife of the priest! No, the lot of the greats of the earth is not enviable; Let our lot be modest, but let our hearts be pure, and let our days pass in peace.

This was the interpretation of the people who had gathered in front of the royal palace, near the altar, at which the servants of Clytemnestra were serving sacrificial libations. The queen herself, cold and proud, tried to assume a joyful appearance, but from the few words that she exchanged with the elders of the people, it was clear that she had something unkind on her mind. When a noise was heard in the crowd and the people began to doubt the justice of the news of the king’s arrival, Clytemnestra stood up proudly, responded with contempt to the speeches of the crowd and pointed to the messenger approaching the people with an olive branch in his hands and an olive crown on his head. The messenger joyfully greeted his native land, the altars of the gods and the crowds of people, then he approached the queen and conveyed to her the news of the victory over Troy and the return of the Achaean army. Clytemnestra accepted the news with feigned joy and instructed the messenger to tell her master that her wife was waiting impatiently for him and asked him to hurry up with his arrival in the city. Following this, the queen quickly retired to the palace - then, as if to prepare for the meeting of her royal husband.

A little later, in the distance, along the road from the sea to the city, King Agamemnon himself appeared with all his army. Armed warriors, decorated with green branches, walked ahead; they were followed by mules laden with rich booty, chariots with captive Trojan women, and at the end of the entire procession, a luxuriously decorated royal chariot drawn by white horses. On that chariot sat King Agamemnon, dressed in a purple robe, with a golden scepter in his hands and a crown of victory on his forehead; The captive daughter of King Priam, the prophetic maiden Cassandra, was placed near the king. The people greeted the winners with joyful shouts. When the royal chariot approached the palace and Agamemnon was ready to enter the gates of his home, Clytemnestra, accompanied by a crowd of magnificently dressed attendants, hurriedly came out to meet her husband, joyfully greeted him and began to talk about how much grief she had suffered in his absence, how many tears she had shed in her inconsolable and helpless loneliness, how she was tormented and sad when bad news came from near Troy. “But the difficult time has passed, the years of sorrow and tears: after the winter storms, the clear sun of a peaceful, blooming spring has risen. I greet you, the joy and stronghold of the family, the anchor of salvation for the entire Argive people!” So spoke Clytemnestra and ordered the maids to cover the entire path from the chariot to the gates of the palace with purple fabrics, so that the dust of the earth would not touch the feet of her husband, the glorious destroyer of the Ilion strongholds. Agamemnon did not want to accept honors suitable only for immortals: Clytemnestra, however, managed to persuade him, convince him with flattering words, and he finally agreed. But in order not to attract the wrath of the gods with his arrogance, the king took off his shoes and walked with bare feet to the door of his home. Clytemnestra followed him and loudly thanked the gods for the happy return of her husband; Having crossed the threshold of the palace, she suddenly stopped and exclaimed: “Now, O Zeus, fulfill my prayer, give help and accomplish what I have planned!”

The people were still crowding in front of the royal palace; The elders stood silently in front, despondent, tormented by a premonition of some unknown but imminent disaster. Suddenly Clytemnestra returns from the palace and hurriedly approaches the chariot on which Cassandra was; approaching the captive, the queen spoke sternly to her and ordered her to go to the inner chambers of the palace. The prophetic maiden remained motionless, as if she had not heard the queen’s orders. Clytemnestra became embittered and, threatening the captive, hastily retreated inside the palace. With deep sympathy, the elders of the people then approached Cassandra, and as soon as they approached, the seer quickly rose from her seat and, shuddering, prophetically exclaimed: “Woe, woe! Oh, Apollo, oh, destroyer, what destruction you have prepared for me! Hateful race.” to the gods, criminal, stained with blood! How many atrocities have you committed: babies cry when they see the murderous knife; their bodies are roasted at the stake and offered to their father for food! strikes him - he falls, bleeds! Woe to me, poor thing: destruction awaits me, and I will accept death from the same hand! Thus exclaimed the prophetic maiden, and the elders listened to her in horror. They advised her to escape from death by flight, but Cassandra rejected their advice, threw off her veil, tore off the sacred crown from her head, broke the rod given to her by Apollo, and went to the doors of the palace, behind which her death awaited. In fear, she stopped for a moment in front of the gates of the royal dwelling, but she took courage again and fearlessly entered the abode of death and crime. One hope consoled Priam's daughter: she foresaw that the atrocities of Clytemnestra and her accomplice would not go unpunished, that Orestes would one day take revenge on both of them.

Overwhelmed by fear, the people stood in silence in front of the house of King Agamemnon. Suddenly, groans and screams were heard from the palace. Sensing trouble in their hearts, the people's elders drew their swords and wanted to rush to the aid of the king, but at that very moment Clytemnestra appeared at the door of the palace. Her forehead and clothes were stained with blood; she held a bloody sword on her shoulder, and behind her were carried the corpses of Agamemnon and Cassandra. In the bathhouse prepared for the king who had returned from a long journey, Clytemnestra struck him with a sword, and after that she killed Cassandra. The elders, outraged by the crime, showered the queen with reproaches; She looked at them with contempt and boasted of her deed as a matter of righteous revenge: “He, returning home, drank the cup filled with him. Here he lies, killed by my hand, the villain who took my daughter from me; to soften the Thracian winds , he did not spare his daughter, he handed her over to the slaughter. And here, next to him, lies his faithful friend: and she fell by my hand, singing a prophetic swan song before her death.” The elders retreated from the criminal in horror, and reproaches and threats rained down on her again. Little by little, the queen herself began to feel embarrassed and timid. At first she boasted of the blood stains that covered her forehead, boldly and proudly answered the people to their accusations and threats; but as the consciousness of guilt awakened more and more strongly in her, her self-confidence disappeared, she no longer justified her deed as revenge for the death of her daughter, but attributed it to the action of an evil demon, whose power had loomed over the Pelopidae family from time immemorial.

Rejected by the people and frightened by their anger, full of shame and despair, the murderer stood silently, still holding the sword on her shoulder and not wiping the blood from her forehead or clothes. Suddenly Aegisthus appeared at the gates of the palace with a crowd of armed slaves: dressed in royal purple, with a scepter in his hands, he went out to the people, boasting of his accomplished deed and threatening the disobedient with his anger. Here the people could not stand it - they rushed with weapons at the hated villain and would have torn him to pieces if Clytemnestra had not given him help. Having protected Aegisthus with herself, she tried to soften the rage of the crowd and said: “Do not enter into battle, Argive men, do not stain your swords with blood: a lot of blood has been shed without you! Go in peace to your homes, elders; would you not repent, if you do not obey my word. Yes, if grief befalls anyone, he will have to endure a lot; we have suffered many troubles, many severe wounds were inflicted on us by the angry demon who rules over the destinies of the Pelopids.” The crowd died down, began to thin out and disperse. Aegisthus, relying on his squires, remained for a long time in the square, magnifying himself and raging in front of the few assembled Argovians; Taking the madman by the hand, Clytemnestra dragged him into the inner chambers of the palace.

Agamemnon, king-leader of the Achaeans in the Trojan War

Agamemnon- a character in Greek myths and Homer's Iliad, son of Atreus and Aeropa, Mycenaean king, leader of the united Achaean troops in the Trojan War.

Proud and domineering, a powerful and brave warrior and at the same time a suspicious egoist, lost in difficult situations - this is how Agamemnon appears in Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, in the novels and plays of modern authors; his character both attracts and repels us, and his tragic fate evokes compassion.

Agamemnon was born in Mycenae, where his father, Atreus, came to power after the death of King Eurystheus, who left no descendants. The childhood of Agamemnon and his younger brother Menelaus was spent in an atmosphere of intrigue and power struggle between Atreus and his brother Thyestes.

As a child, Agamemnon witnessed the heinous crime of his father, who killed Plisthenes and Tantalus, the sons of Thyestes; Later, in front of Agamemnon, Atreus was killed by Aegisthus, the son of Thyestes.

When Thyestes came to power in Mycenae, Agamemnon and Menelaus fled to Sparta, under the protection of King Tyndareus. However, at the first opportunity, Agamemnon returned to avenge his father's death. Having killed Thyestes, Agamemnon became king of Mycenae, as the rightful heir of Atreus.

Agamemnon became one of the most powerful and richest Achaean rulers. He lived in friendship with all the kings and even made peace with his father's murderer, Aegisthus. His residence was described only as “gold-abundant Mycenae.” He was also a happy husband and father.

When his brother Menelaus took Helen (the Beautiful) as his wife, Agamemnon married her half-sister Clytaemestra, who bore him a son Orestes and daughters Chrysothemis, Electra and Iphigenia (in older sources, Laodice is named instead of Electra, and Iphianassa instead of Iphigenia).

Agamemnon lived in his palace calmly and happily, enjoying universal respect, and only one thing threatened him: that he would go down in myth without any glory.

But then alarming news came to Mycenae: the Trojan prince Paris kidnapped his wife from Menelaus, who after the death of Tyndareus became king of Sparta. Soon Menelaus himself arrived in Mycenae and asked Agamemnon to help return Helen to him. After all, she was the most beautiful of all mortal women, her father was Zeus himself, and the treacherous Paris kidnapped her while he was a guest of Sparta. And not only that: at the same time he grabbed the treasures of Menelaus.

This was a gross violation of hospitality, a grave insult to the king, spouse, man. Such treachery could not go unpunished.

Agamemnon advised his brother to go with some experienced mediator, preferably the king of Ithaca Odysseus, to Troy and there seek justice from the father of Paris, the Trojan king Priam, who, of course, would settle the whole matter. Menelaus did so, but achieved nothing. Paris was ready to return the stolen treasures, but he did not want to talk about the return of Elena.

Then Menelaus and Odysseus threatened the Trojans with war, but Paris stood his ground, and Priam supported him. Having learned about this, Agamemnon sent envoys to all the Achaean kings, urging them to help Menelaus and punish Paris.

The campaign, led by Agamemnon, promised the participants glory and rich booty. 1186 ships and 100 thousand soldiers gathered in the harbor of Aulis, ready to march against Troy.

The article uses footage from the 2004 film “Troy”. Actor Brian Cox plays Agamemnon.

Conscious of his responsibility as commander-in-chief, Agamemnon was ready for any sacrifice, as long as the gods were favorable to the campaign. He sacrificed his own daughter Iphigenia to Artemis to atone for the insult he had once inflicted on the goddess.

After a dangerous voyage, full of unforeseen obstacles, the Achaean fleet finally landed on the shores of Troy. Although a powerful army was waiting for them there, led by Priam's eldest son Hector, the Achaeans managed to land in Troas. However, the Greeks were unable to storm the high walls of Troy and rolled away from them like waves from an indestructible dam. Then Agamemnon ordered a fortified camp to be set up and from there he launched more and more attacks on Troy - for nine whole years, but all in vain!

In the tenth year, long-accumulated discontent openly manifested itself in the Achaean army. The warriors dreamed of returning home, and the commanders lost hope of booty and glory. In addition, when disappointment with the hopeless war reached its limit, a dispute arose between Agamemnon and the best Achaean fighter Achilles, the leader of the Myrmidons.

The reason was a woman: during one of the military expeditions to the kingdoms neighboring Troy, Achilles took possession of several captives, including the daughter of Chris, a priest of Apollo; when dividing the spoils, Chryseis went to Agamemnon.

Soon her father came to the camp and asked Agamemnon to return his daughter to him for a rich ransom. But Agamemnon did not agree, because he liked the girl, and he expelled her father in shame. Then Chris turned to Apollo with a plea for vengeance. Apollo, offended by his priest, descended from Olympus and, with the help of his arrows fired from a silver bow, dispelled the destructive pestilence in the camp of the Achaeans.

Since Agamemnon did nothing to appease Apollo, Achilles intervened. He called a people's assembly to decide what they should do. Agamemnon was offended by this, since he believed that the right to convene an assembly belonged to him alone. He came to the meeting, but with anger in his soul and with the intention of demonstrating his power and strength to Achilles. At a meeting of the Achaean warriors, the army soothsayer Kalkhant said that Apollo could be appeased only if the daughter of Chryses was returned to her father, but without any ransom and with an apology.

Agamemnon attacked Kalkhant, and when Achilles stood up, Agamemnon shouted at him and rudely insulted him. After a sharp exchange in which neither one nor the other chose their words, Agamemnon finally declared that in the interests of the army he was refusing Chryseis, but in return would take another captive from one of the leaders - and chose Briseis, Achilles’ concubine. Achilles obeyed the decision of the commander-in-chief, no matter how rash and unfair it was, but drew his own conclusions from it. He declared that he would not participate in the war until Agamemnon and all the Achaeans who had not come out in his defense asked for his forgiveness and removed the dishonor from him.

The other leaders tried in vain to persuade Achilles, especially the king of Pylos, the old man Nestor, the brave Diomedes from Argos and the cunning Odysseus from Ithaca. He stood his ground and thereby brought disaster upon the army: when the Trojans learned that Achilles, who terrified them, would not fight them, they made a sortie from the city, forced the Achaeans to retreat and began to prepare for a crushing assault on their camp.

Agamemnon sent envoys to Achilles with an apology and an offer to make peace. He promised to return Briseis to him with seven other captives in addition and with rich gifts. However, Achilles could not forget the insult and rejected both the peace offer and the gifts. The Achaeans had to fight without Achilles and his army.

Despite stubborn resistance, the Trojans pressed the Greeks right to the sea. Agamemnon fought bravely in the front ranks, as befits a leader, but when, due to injury and loss of blood, he had to leave the battlefield, he invited the rest of the Achaean leaders to abandon further fighting and save the lives of the soldiers by fleeing. However, the warriors continued to fight courageously, and with them all the leaders.

Finally, they waited for a new turn of events: seeing that Hector had already begun to set fire to the Achaean ships, Achilles allowed his friend Patroclus to enter the battle at the head of the Myrmidons and lent him his armor. The Trojans decided that Achilles himself had come against them, and they ran away in fear.

But Patroclus, who had thus saved the ships and the camp of the Achaeans, did not return from the battle; he died in single combat with Hector, who was helped by the god Apollo. Then Achilles decided to join the battle to avenge his friend. He accepted Agamemnon's offer of reconciliation and fought under the walls of Troy until his heroic death.

We know that the Achaeans eventually took Troy by cunning. At the suggestion of Odysseus, they built a huge wooden horse, inside which the bravest warriors hid. Then Agamemnon ordered the camp to be set on fire, put the army on ships and sailed with the entire fleet to the west. However, he did not sail to Greece, as the Trojans believed, but took refuge behind Cape Tenedos and, with the onset of darkness, returned with the entire army.

Meanwhile, the Trojans brought the horse into the city - and even dismantled part of the city wall for this, since the gates were too narrow. The Trojans too easily believed the story of the Greek warrior Sinon, whom Odysseus left on the shore, providing him with the appropriate instructions. Sinon said that the giant wooden horse was dedicated by the Achaeans to the goddess Athena and could serve as protection for the city.

At night, the hidden warriors got out of the horse, overpowered the unsuspecting guards, and Sinon gave the agreed sign to Agamemnon, who invaded the city with an army through a hole in the wall. The next morning, only the smoking ruins reminded of the once glorious Troy.

The victorious Agamemnon returned to Mycenae, his ships were overloaded with gold, silver, bronze, and slaves. Having entered his native land, he kissed her touchingly and made a grateful sacrifice to the gods. Then Agamemnon ordered a huge fire to be lit on a coastal mountain - before leaving for war, he promised his wife to notify her in this way about his return. Clytaemestra was looking forward to the agreed signal, but she was not waiting for it alone.

While Agamemnon was fighting at the walls of Troy, his cousin Aegisthus appeared in Mycenae and seduced his wife. True, at first she resisted, but then she succumbed to his flattery, and now they had jointly developed a plan to get rid of Agamemnon.

Aegisthus solemnly greeted him, led him into the feast hall, and when the feast was in full swing, Aegisthus gave a sign to the hidden warriors, and they killed Agamemnon along with all his comrades (as Homer said: “And, having treated him, he killed him, as one slaughters a bull near manger"). Then Aegisthus ordered Agamemnon to be hastily buried outside the city walls, married Clytaemestra and proclaimed himself king of Mycenae.

The story about Agamemnon does not end there. The last word was said in 1876 by the German archaeologist G. Schliemann. In the photo: the so-called “mask of Agamemnon” made of forged gold, made in the 14th century BC. The golden mask was discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 in Mycenae. Now kept in the National Museum, Athens.

After in 1871-1873. Schliemann excavated the ruins of Troy, the existence of which was doubted by most scientists of that time, and he went to Mycenae in search of the tomb of Agamemnon. At the same time, Schliemann relied on information from Homer’s Iliad, Aeschylus’s Oresteia, Euripides’ Electra and Pausanias’s Description of Hellas, who visited Mycenae in the 2nd century. BC e.

And indeed, in a fenced area near the fortress walls, at a depth of about 8 meters, Schliemann found five tombs with the remains of fifteen people, literally strewn with gold and jewelry. Their decorations and weapons matched Homer's description. The faces of the dead were covered with golden masks that reproduced their features; Schliemann could be convinced of this, because under one of the masks he discovered the intact, naturally mummified face of the Mycenaean ruler.

The enthusiastic archaeologist decided that this was Agamemnon himself: “I discovered the tombs that Pausanias, based on tradition, considers to be the tombs of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon and their friends, killed by the treacherous Aegisthus and the treacherous Clytamestra.”

However, later studies showed that the people whose remains Schliemann discovered in Mycenae lived approximately two and a half centuries before the destruction of Troy, and therefore before the death of Agamemnon.

True, in order for Agamemnon to die, he first had to live - however, we have no direct evidence of his existence, so even after Schliemann’s discoveries, Agamemnon remains a hero from myths.

The Mycenaean treasures are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. They occupy almost the entire introductory hall there, and their radiance indicates that it was not in vain that Homer spoke about the “golden rich Mycenae.” The name Agamemnon is mentioned there at every turn, in particular in front of the golden mask that Schliemann attributed to him.

In addition to the Attic tragedies of the 5th century mentioned above. BC e. Seneca's tragedy "Agamemnon" is dedicated to him.

In modern times, the fate of Agamemnon formed the basis of dozens of different works; Let us mention only the tragic tetralogy of G. Hauptmann and the opera-trilogy “Oresteia” by S. I. Taneyev.

At A.S. Pushkin in the poem “It was time: our holiday is young...” (1836) Agamemnon - Emperor Alexander I:

"Do you remember how our Agamemnon
He came rushing to us from captured Paris.”

Kozlova Natalya

Agamemnon

Summary of the myth

Agamemnon - in Greek mythology, the son of Atreus and Aerope, leader of the Greek army during the Trojan War. After the murder of Atreus by Aegisthus, Agamemnon and Menelaus were forced to flee to Aetolia, but the king of Sparta Tyndareus, going on a campaign against Mycenae, forced Thyestes to cede power to the sons of Atreus. Agamemnon became king of Mycenae (which ancient tradition often identifies with neighboring Argos) and married Tyndareus' daughter Clytaemestra. From this marriage Agamemnon had three daughters and a son, Orestes. When Paris kidnapped Helen and all her former suitors united in a campaign against Troy, Agamemnon, as the elder brother of Menelaus and the most powerful of the Greek kings, was elected head of the entire army.

Murder of Agamemnon
Red-figure crater, 5th century. BC

After the capture of Troy, Agamemnon, having received huge booty and Cassandra, returned to his homeland, where death awaited him in his own home; according to an older version of the myth, he fell during a feast at the hands of Aegisthus, who managed to seduce Clytaemestra during Agamemnon’s absence. Since the middle of the 6th century. BC e. Clytaemestra herself came first: having met Agamemnon with hypocritical joy, she then threw a heavy blanket over him in the bath and dealt three fatal blows.

Golden death mask
Agamemnon, found during excavations
in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann.

Having once killed a doe while hunting, Agamemnon boasted that Artemis would have been jealous of such a shot; the goddess became angry and deprived the Greek fleet of a fair wind. The Greeks could not leave Aulis for a long time (until Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess; with this fact, Greek tradition explains Clytaemestra’s enmity towards her husband.

Quarrel between Achilles and
Agamemnon
Peter Paul Rubens

Having captured Chryseis during one of the raids on the outskirts of Troy, Agamemnon refuses to return her for a large ransom to Father Chryses, a priest of Apollo, and God, heeding Chryses’ pleas. sends a pestilence to the Greek army. When the true cause of the disaster becomes clear and Achilles demands that Agamemnon return Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon takes away his captive Briseis from Achilles, which leads to the long-term withdrawal of the offended Achilles from battles and to heavy defeats for the Greeks. The further fate of Agamemnon was narrated in the epic poem “Returns” (7th century BC) and “Oresteia” by Stesichorus, which have not reached us.

Images and symbols of myth

The fabulous wealth of Agamemnon and his prominence among the Greek leaders spoken of in the myth reflect the rise of historical Mycenae in the 14th to 12th centuries. BC e. and their dominant role among the early states of the Peloponnese. The surviving ritual epithet "Zeus-Agamemnon" shows that Agamemnon was probably originally one of those semi-divine hero-patrons of his tribe, whose functions passed to Zeus with the formation of the Olympian pantheon.

Kassandra is the heroine of the Greek epic. Daughter of the Trojan king Priam and Hecuba. Already in the cyclical poems, Cassandra appeared as a prophetess whose predictions no one believed.

In the historical era, in a number of places in the Peloponnese (in Amykla, Mycenae, Leuctra), the tomb and temple of Cassandra, identified with the local deity Alexandra, was indicated.

Clytemnestra kills Cassandra
Red-figure pottery, 430 AD. BC

The tragic image of Cassandra, broadcasting terrible visions of the future in prophetic ecstasy, is captured in Agamemnon by Aeschylus and The Trojan Women by Euripides

Clytemnestra, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, wife of Agamemnon. Most often, she herself is portrayed as the direct killer of her husband, covering up the true cause of the crime (treason with Aegisthus) with revenge for her daughter Iphigenia.

Sacrifice of Iphigenia
engraving, Jean-Michel Moreau

He was famous for his courage and wealth, but at the same time he was distinguished by his authority and arrogance. In Sparta he was given divine honors.

In Chaeronea, his scepter, the work of Hephaestus, was kept as a shrine.

"The Mask of Agamemnon" is a golden funerary mask from the mid-second millennium BC, found in 1876 in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann. It got its name from the legendary King Agamemnon, since Schliemann was sure that he had found his grave. However, in terms of the time of creation, the mask is more ancient.

The mask depicts the face of an elderly bearded man with a thin nose, close-set eyes and a large mouth. The face corresponds to the Indo-European type. The tips of the mustache are raised upward in the shape of a crescent, and sideburns are visible near the ears. The mask has holes for the thread with which it was attached to the face of the deceased.

All the artifacts found in the tombs, including the mask of Agamemnon, are on display at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. A replica of the mask is on display at the Mycenae Archaeological Museum.

Communicative means of creating images and symbols

Agamemnon was widely known among the ancient Greeks, as evidenced by the large number of references to him in various sources. That is why there are many options for the culmination of the myth of Agamemnon, how his life ended, and where he ended up after death.

Of the dramatic works of antiquity dedicated to the murder of Agamemnon, the tragedies “Agamemnon” by Aeschylus (the first part of the “Oresteia” trilogy) and Seneca have been preserved. The plot has been developed in European drama since the 16th century. (G. Sachs, T. Dekker, etc.). Interest in the myth arose again in the 2nd half of the 18th century. (tragedies “A.” by V. Alfieri, L. J. N. Lemercier, etc.). In the 19th-20th centuries. the plot formed the basis of about 30 tragedies, a dramatic tetralogy by G. Hauptmann (“Iphigenia at Delphi”, “Iphigenia at Aulis”, “The Death of Agamemnon”, “Electra”).

F.I. Chaliapin as Agamemnon

The protagonist of the tragedies of Aeschylus “Agamemnon”, Sophocles “Eantes”, Euripides “Iphigenia in Aulis” and “Hecabe”, Ion of Chios and the unknown author “Agamemnon”, Seneca “The Trojan Women” and “Agamemnon”, Racine “Iphigenia”.

In ancient fine art, Agamemnon is a minor character in multi-figure compositions (metopes of the northern side of the Parthenon, etc.). The murder of Agamemnon was embodied in the painting of a number of Greek vases and in the reliefs of several Etruscan funeral urns.

In European musical and dramatic art, the plot of the death of Agamemnon formed the basis for the libretto of a number of operas of the 18th–20th centuries. (“Clytamestra” by N. Piccini; “Clytamestra” by N. Zingarelli; “A.” by D. Treves; opera trilogy “Oresteia” by S.I. Taneyev; “Oresteia” by F. Weingartner; “Oresteia” by D. Milhaud;

“Clytaemestra” by R. Prochazka; "A." D. Kuklina; “Clytamestra” by I. Pizzetti and others) and cantatas (“Clytamestra” by L. Cherubini and others).

This powerful and self-sufficient hero shows cruelty and arrogance towards everything around him.

Social significance of the myth

It is worth noting the decisive importance of myth in the transmission of social experience from generation to generation, the establishment of behavioral paradigms in a social group and the organization of the foundations of social consciousness. Through the consistent study of legends, the individual becomes familiar with the origins of the history of a particular society and is inspired by the supernatural deeds of its gods and heroes. Thus, a person’s self-identification in relation to the family, state, and nation took place subconsciously.

Agamemnon appears to us as powerful, rich, self-sufficient, arrogant, and cruel. And nowadays there are a lot of people with such character traits. The myth of Agamemnon presents us with the behavior of such people and gives us reason to think about the possible consequences of their activities.

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Franco Agamenone was born on Apr 15, 1993 (26) in Rio Cuarto, Argentina; currently residing in Buenos Aires. Agamenone F. is a Right-handed player and is currently ranked 1131 in the ITF Men ranking with 6 points. Franco Agamenone's total earnings this year are 1.2k €, but he has only earned 57.7k € in his career. Please note that total earnings are calculated only from tournament prize money, income from sponsors is not included in this amount.

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