The Story Of Agamemnon King Agamemnon Was A Great King

The Story of Agamemnon King Agamemnon was a great king who ruled over the kingdom of Mycenae. His father, Atreus, had two sons. Atreus was murdered by his own brother. Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, ran away to the city-state of Sparta. The king of Sparta took them in and they were trained by Spartan warriors. The king of Sparta at that time was Tyndareos. He gave Menelaus and Agamemnon his two of his daughters as a gift. The daughter that he gave to Agamemnon was Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra was actually already married to Tantalus, so Agamemnon killed Tantalus in order to marry her. Menelaus took her sister, Helen for his wife. She was only a young teenage girl at the time. According to legend, Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world. Agamemnon went back to his home in Mycenae and murdered his uncle in order to become the new king. His wife, Clytemnestra had three daughters and one son. His daughters were Chrysothemis, Electra and Iphigenia, and his son was Orestes. Menelaus became the king of Sparta when his father-inlaw died. The Trojan War Meanwhile, the great city of Troy (unknown location) was the envy of all of Greece. The king of Troy was Priam, a great a kind king. His youngest son, Paris, went to visit Menelaus in Sparta and was treated as an important guest in Sparta. While he was there, he met the legendary beautiful Helen and fell in love with her. When he left Sparta, he stole her away on his ship before Menelaus discovered. Because Helen was so beautiful, all the Greek rulers had sworn to fight for her. Menelaus insisted that they attack Troy and rescue Helen and return her to Sparta. His brother, Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek army that sailed to attack Troy. The large fleet of Greek ships set out for Troy, but because Agamemnon had offended the goddess Artemis, the Greek ships had no wind with which to sail. Agamemnon agreed to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, in order to please the gods again. The Greeks and Trojans fought a ten year battle. The last year of the battle is the story told in Homer's Iliad. The Trojans worshipped Apollo, the sun god. Apollo was the son of Zeus and the twin brother of Artemis. He was also the god of music. In one battle, Agamemnon took a female prisoner that was the daughter of one of Apollo's priests. The priest was Chryses and his daughter stolen by Apollo was Chryseis. Chryses begged Agamemnon to return his daughter, but the Greek king refused and showed no mercy. Apollo was angered and sent a plague against the Greeks (Apollo was also the god of plagues). The Greek fleet had sailed with their great hero and warrior, Achilles. Achilles had been dipped in the river Styx at birth and it was impossible to harm him. His mother, however, had held him by the heel while dipping him and he had one vulnerable spot on his heel. Achilles had sailed to fight with Agamemnon, but the two did not like each other. Achilles demanded that Agamemnon give back the girl, Chryseis. Agamemnon did not want to, but finally said he would do this only if Achilles gave back the slave girl he had taken. Her name was Briseis and Achilles had grown attached to her and wanted to keep her. Achilles became furious at Agamemnon and refused to fight for the Greeks any more. Without Achilles, the Greeks began to lose the war. Achilles returned to the battle only after learning of the death of his close friend, Patroclus. When he rejoined the Greek forces, the tide of battle turned. The Greeks drove off the Trojans, killed the great Trojan warrior Hector, and went on to defeat the people of Troy and destroy their city. After the war, Agamemnon took the Trojan princess Cassandra back home as a prize. Homer's epic poem the Odyssey tells the story of Agamemnon's return to Mycenae.

The Death of Agamemnon While Agamemnon was away fighting the Trojans, his wife, Clytemnestra, took a lover named Aegisthus. As Agamemnon sailed home from Troy, Clytemnestra was plotting to kill him in revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia. In the meantime, Cassandra, who had the power to foretell the future, warned Agamemnon that his wife would kill him. However, the gods had put a curse on Cassandra: although she would make accurate predictions, no one would believe them. True to the curse, Agamemnon ignored Cassandra's warning. When Agamemnon returned home, Clytemnestra welcomed him by preparing a bath in which he could purify himself. As the king stepped out of the bath, however, Clytemnestra wrapped him in a garment or a net that bound his arms so that he could not move. Aegisthus then stabbed Agamemnon to death while Clytemnestra killed Cassandra. It is also said that Clytemnestra herself slew Agamemnon with an ax. Agamemnon's son Orestes eventually avenged the murder by murdering both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus with the help of his sister Electra. The Greeks told many stories about humans trying to be like gods. Greek myths taught lessons about this. In myths, humans had fatal flaws that doomed them to fail. The Greeks were warning against what they called hubris, excessive pride.The Greeks believed that individuals must face their fate with pride and dignity, gaining as much fame as possible. People—such as Agamemnon—who believed they could change fate by their own actions were guilty of hubris. They would eventually be punished by Nemesis, the vengeance of the gods.