The Mycenaean Saga:

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The Mycenaean Saga

• Fires, Snares,
• and Family Bloodshed

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Pelops and Tantalus
Pelops has a fascinating childhood, since he was
killed by his father, served to the gods in a
stew, then reconstituted (except for a shoulder
blade which had been eaten by Demeter it was
replaced with an ivory substitute).
Like Europa, Pelops came to Greece from Asia. In
a common folktale motif, he sought the hand of a
princess through a contest which had already cost
12 other princes their lives. The contest was
chariot racing against the girls father.
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Pelops
Win, you get married lose, you get killed.
Pelops cheated by bribing the fathers charioteer
to sabotage the chariot. His future father in
law was killed in the ensuing accident, and
Pelops won. He then killed the charioteer. Pelops
lived happily ever after, became the eponymous
hero of the Peloponnese (central Greece), and was
celebrated as a hero in rituals at Olympia. But
his family was cursed.
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Atreus and Thyestes
The god Pan brought the ram to Atreus, who was
already celebrating his kingship When Thyestes
showed up with the ram. He had gotten it by
seducing Atreus wife, who then gave him the
ram. Thyestes was king for a while, till Atreus
expelled him. Then Atreus invited him over for a
yummy reconciliation dinner.
A prophecy had awarded the kingdom of Mycenae to
whichever of Pelops sons, Atreus or Thyestes,
had a golden-fleeced ram.
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Atreus and Thyestes
Then Thyestes produced another son, Aegisthus, by
impregnating his own daughter. Atreus had two
sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus. Menelaus was chosen
to marry the beautiful Helen of Sparta (a.k.a.
Helen of Troy). Agamemnon had to make do with
Helens sister, Clytemnestra. When Helen was
kidnapped, Agamemnon led the mission to get her
back.
Atreus had cut up Thyestes young sons, and
served them up to their father. When Thyestes
discovered this, he was overcome by horror and
went into exile. Thyestes was haunted by
pollution, miasma, which infects you if you have
done something awful, even if it was not your
fault. He cursed his brother.
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Sources
Homer (c. 700 BCE) tells about the Trojan war in
the Iliad, and alludes to several of the events
leading up to it. In the Odyssey, he tells of
what happened right after the war. In 458 BCE
Aeschylus wrote the Oresteia, a trilogy of plays,
about the murder of Agamemnon and its aftermath.
It is the only extant trilogy. It is rare for
all three plays in a trilogy to be on the same
theme. The three pays are Agamemnon, The
Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. Sophocles
wrote Electra (exact date unknown), showing a
heroic account of the revenge of Orestes and
Electra. Euripides wrote an Electra (416 BCE?)
and an Orestes (?), both of which treat the two
in a very uncomplimentary way.
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Sources
The three Greek playwrights and Homer show a wide
range of attitudes toward the story, and toward
who is to blame for the slaughter within the
family. Through these plays we see a range of
the cultures ideas about family rights and
responsibilities. Seneca (Roman, 1st c. CE) wrote
a very gory play, Thyestes, about that aspect of
the story
Many other sources make reference to the myths in
passing. Art illustrates various scenes in ways
which show different traditions of the stories.
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Levi-Strauss and Structuralism
These versions show that the Greeks saw many
complex meanings in this myth. it changed over
time, and from author to author, and maybe even
from person to person. Claude Levi-Strauss, in
his theory of structuralism, argues that all of
the different versions of the story constitute
The Story. Myth is a mode of communication.
The relationship between the elements of the
story provide the structure of the myth. The
basic structure of human thought is binary that
is, dealing with opposites. Therefore myths
explore vital oppositions life/death,
primitive/new, light/darkness, chaotic/civilized,
male/female. Through these oppositions, as played
out in myth, we get an idea of the complex
meanings of myth relative to that societys
issues.
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In some versions, she dies in others, Artemis
substitutes a deer at the last moment. But
Clytemnestra thinks her daughter has been
wantonly murdered.
Sacrifice of Iphigeneia
As the Greek ships got ready to sail to Troy,
they were blocked by unfavorable winds sent by
Artemis. The goddess demanded a human
sacrifice. Since he was the commander, Agamemnon
chose his own daughter, Iphigeneia. He got her to
Aulis by deception.
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Sacrifice of Iphigeneia
Obey, obey or a heavy doom will crush me but
doom will crush me once I kill my daughter, the
glory of my house! Pain both ways and which is
worse? Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?
Law is law! Let all go well.
Euripides Iphigeneia at Aulis shows Clytemnestra
as a concerned, though self-pitying, mother, and
Agamemnon as a manipulative, uncaring father
While youre at war, what kind of pain do you
think my heart will feel as I wander through the
rooms, and see her empty chair, her empty room .
. . Is there anything I wouldnt do to save my
child?
But Aeschylus shows Agamemnon wrestling with his
responsibility as a king and making a tragic, but
justified, personal sacrifice.
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The Trojan War
When Aescylus Agamenon opens, a watchman is
waiting for the signal fires Clytemnestra has
arranged to warn her that Agamemnon is on his way
home.
While Agamemnon is away at Troy, his wife
Clytemnestra is left alone but not for long.
Aegisthus, Thyestes son (and grandson), appears
and soon he and Clytemnestra are ruling
together. Orestes, Agamemnons and Clytemnestras
son, is sent away. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
plan to murder Agamemnon when he returns.
Now I watch for the light, the signal fire
breaking out of Troy . . . my thoughts go groping
through the night . . . That woman Clytemnestra
she maneuvers like a man.
Themes light in darkness, male female role
reversal . . .
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The Murder of Agamemnon
When Agamemnon returns, he expects a heros
welcome. In Aeschylus, Clytemnestra tempts him
to walk into the palace on a red carpet hubris
in Greek eyes, since such things are fit only for
the gods. He objects, but gives in.
Cassandra (his new slave) prophesies the murder
of Agamemnon (though a bit incoherently) no one
understands. Inside, Clytemnestra bathes
Agamemnon, then murders him in the bath. Other
traditions show Aegisthus as the actual murderer.
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The Childrens Revenge
Electra and Orestes, now almost adults, side with
their murdered father and want revenge. But
Electra is a dependent young female, and Orestes
is in exile. Electra tends her fathers tomb,
bringing offerings, a task her mother
neglects. All three major playwrights, Aeschylus,
Sophocles and Euripides, write plays that tell of
the siblings meeting and their eventual revenge.
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The Childrens Revenge
Orestes returns, in disguise, and meets with
Electra at his fathers tomb. They recognize
each other, and plot the murder of Aegisthus and
Clytemnestra.
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The Childrens Revenge
In Sophocles version, the revenge is
straightforward, just, and final.
Orestes kills Aegisthus first, then kills
Clytemnestra. (who is coming after him with an
ax here, an established feature of the myth.)
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The Childrens Revenge
Euripides paints Clytemnestra as a weak,
self-justifying, but still reasonably agreeable
old woman who regrets the horrors of the past. He
portrays Electra as an embittered young woman who
lures Clytemnestra to her death by inviting her
to see her new baby.
He also emphasizes Orestes hard-heartedness in
killing his own mother.
Chorus My heart goes out to her killed by her
own children!
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The Childrens Revenge
Aeschylus too makes the murder of Clytemnestra
the focus of his play but his Clytemnestra is a
fierce, terrifying, intelligent and active enemy
of her own children.
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The Eumenides
While Sophocles ends the story with the revenge,
though, Aeschylus and Euripides continue the
story as the Furies (called The Kindly Ones
or Eumenides, in order to placate this terrible
band) descend to punish Orestes for murdering his
own mother.
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Aeschylus Eumenides
Orestes, haunted and driven almost insane by the
vengeful Furies, flees to Delphi, assisted by his
faithful companion Pylades. Apollo had told him
that he was to avenge his father by killing his
mother, and now Orestes needs Apollos help.
From Delphi, Apollo sends him to Athens, where
the court will try him and decide if he is guilty
or not. With Athena casting the key vote, he is
acquitted.
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The Eumenides
Orestes is purified, and can rejoin society. He
marries Hermione, daughter of Helen and Menelaus,
and Electra marries Pylades. The Furies complain
that they have been disrespected and that the old
traditions of justice will lose their power. But
Athena assures that they are incorporated into
Athenian cult.
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The Eumenides
Aeschylus transforms the old story of crime and
vengeance with a version that explores the
tensions inherent in human society
Modern, law-oriented system of justice (the
Athenian court)
Ancient chthonic powers of blood justice (the
Furies)
Masculine interests and values (Agamemnon
sacrificing his daughter, Orestes avenging his
father)
Feminine interests and values (Clytemnestra
avenging her daughters sacrifice)
The Oresteia ends in a great mutual victory. At
last, as Athena urged, there is no brutal
conquest of light over darkness, patriarchy over
matriarchy, Olympians over the Titans and the
Earth. W. B. Stanford
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The Oresteia
The Oresteia is like a story of creation, yet as
the cosmic forces grow creative they become more
human and humane. It is in our progress from
savagery to democracy. . . that the gods may find
the balance which they lacked. The Oresteia
culminates in a union of male and female
strengths, a healthy unisexuality of the spirit.
It seems that opposite of what Clytemnestra was
at first a terrifying hermaphrodite yet the
final unions remind us of her maternal powers
too. W. B. Stanford
Zeus, great nameless all in all, if that name
will gain his favor, I will call him Zeus. I
have no words to do him justice, all I have is
Zeus, Zeus . . . Lift this weight, this torment,
from my spirit! Cast it off once and for
all! Zeus has led us on to know, we must suffer,
suffer into truth.
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The Eumenides
Zeus is the air, Zeus is the earth, Zeus is the
heaven, and all that lies beyond . . .
finis