Clytemnestra (, ; , ), in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, was the wife of

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

, king of

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; ; or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines, Greece, Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos; and sou ...

, and the half-sister of

Helen of Sparta Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda or Nemesis, ...

. In

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' ''

Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House ...

'', she murders Agamemnon – said by

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess

Cassandra Cassandra or Kassandra (; , , sometimes referred to as Alexandra; ) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecy, prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is e ...

, whom Agamemnon had taken as a war prize following the sack of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

; however, in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', her role in Agamemnon's death is unclear and her character is significantly more subdued.

Name

Her Greek name ''Klytaimnḗstra'' is also sometimes Latinized as Clytaemnestra. It is commonly glossed as "famed for her suitors". However, this form is a later misreading motivated by an erroneous etymological connection to the verb ''mnáomai'' (, "woo, court"). The original name form is believed to have been ''Klytaimḗstra'' () without the ''-n-''. The present form of the name does not appear before the middle

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period. Homeric poetry shows an awareness of both etymologies. Aeschylus, in certain

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...

s on her name, appears to assume an etymological link with the verb ''mḗdomai'' (, "scheme, contrive"). Thus given the derivation from κλῠτός (''klutós'' "celebrated") and μήδομαι (''mḗdomai'' "to plan, be cunning"), this would result in the quite descriptive "famous plotter".

Background

Clytemnestra was the daughter of

Tyndareus In Greek mythology, Tyndareus (; Ancient Greek: Τυνδάρεος, ''Tundáreos''; Attic Greek, Attic: Τυνδάρεως, ''Tundáreōs''; ) was a Spartan king. Family Tyndareus was the son of Oebalus (or Perieres (king of Messenia), Perieres ...

and Leda, the King and Queen of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

, making her a Spartan Princess. According to the myth, Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a swan, seducing and impregnating her. Leda produced four offspring from two eggs: Castor and Clytemnestra from one egg, and Helen and Polydeuces (Pollux) from the other. Therefore, Castor and Clytemnestra were fathered by Tyndareus, whereas Helen and Polydeuces were fathered by

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

. Her other sisters were

Philonoe In Greek mythology, there were two women known as Philonoe () or Phylonoe (): *Philonoe, a Spartan princess as the daughter of King Tyndareus and Leda, daughter of King Thestius of Pleuron. She was the sister of Castor and Pollux, Helen, Clyte ...

, Phoebe and Timandra. Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus were in exile at the home of Tyndareus; in due time Agamemnon married Clytemnestra and Menelaus married Helen. In the play '' Iphigenia at Aulis'' by Euripides, Clytemnestra says to Agamemnon, "It was not of my own free will but by force that thou didst take and wed me, after slaying Tantalus, my former husband, and dashing my babe on the ground alive, when thou hadst torn him from my breast with brutal violence." The "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology" (1867, p. 507) identifies this Tantalus as a son of

Thyestes In Greek mythology, Thyestes (pronounced , , ) was a king of Olympia. Thyestes and his brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus, in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge ...

and a King of

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, while the websit
greeklegendsandmyths.com
says it was the Tantalus who was a son of

Broteas In Greek mythology, Broteas (Ancient Greek: Βροτέας), a hunter, was the son of Tantalus (by Dione, Euryanassa or Eurythemista), whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. Broteas was also one of the Lapiths, killed at the battle of the L ...

and a King of

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

, like his father and grandfather before him. Both sources agree that Agamemnon killed Tantalus and Clytemnestra's infant child, then made Clytemnestra his wife.

Mythology

After Helen was taken from Sparta to

, her husband,

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central ...

, asked his brother Agamemnon for help. Greek forces gathered at Aulis. However, consistently weak winds prevented the fleet from sailing on the ocean. Through a subplot involving the gods and omens, the priest

Calchas Calchas (; , ''Kalkhas'') is an Argive mantis, or " seer," dated to the Age of Legend, which is an aspect of Greek mythology. Calchas appears in the opening scenes of the ''Iliad'', which is believed to have been based on a war conducted by t ...

said the winds would be favorable if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter

Iphigenia In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (; , ) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting and killing one of Artem ...

to the goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

. Agamemnon persuaded Clytemnestra to send Iphigenia to him, telling her he was going to marry her to

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

. When Iphigenia arrived at Aulis, she was sacrificed, the winds turned, and the troops set sail for Troy. The

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

lasted ten years. During this period of Agamemnon's long absence, Clytemnestra began a love affair with

Aegisthus Aegisthus (; ; also transliterated as Aigisthos, ) was a figure in Greek mythology. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is Homer's ''Odyssey'', believed to have been first written down by Homer at the end of the 8th century BC ...

, her husband's cousin. Whether Clytemnestra was seduced into the affair or entered into it independently differs according to the version of the myth. Nevertheless, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus began plotting Agamemnon's demise. Clytemnestra was enraged by Iphigenia's murder (and presumably the earlier murder of her first husband and son by Agamemnon, and her subsequent rape and forced marriage). Aegisthus saw his father Thyestes betrayed by Agamemnon's father

Atreus In Greek mythology, Atreus (, ) was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus), Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. His descendants became known collectively as the Atreidae ...

(Aegisthus was conceived specifically to take revenge on that branch of the family). In old versions of the story, on returning from Troy, Agamemnon is murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions Clytemnestra helps him or does the killing herself in his own home. The best-known version is that of Aeschylus: Agamemnon, having arrived at his palace with his concubine, the Trojan princess

, in tow and being greeted by his wife, entered the palace for a banquet while Cassandra remained in the chariot. Clytemnestra waited until he was in the bath, and then entangled him in a cloth net and stabbed him. Trapped in the web, Agamemnon could neither escape nor resist his murderer. Meanwhile, Cassandra prophesied the murder of Agamemnon and herself.

Most versions of the myth attribute her prophetic power as being a gift from Apollo in exchange for sex, while some claim that serpents from the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo flicked their tongues in her and her brother Helenus' ears, somehow giving the power of divination. In every version though, after refusing to have sex with the god, Cassandra is thereafter cursed by Apollo to be disbelieved, completely negating the utility of her prophecies.

So, despite her ability to envisage both Agamemnon's murder and her own, her attempts to elicit help failed due to Apollo's curse - no one believed her. She realized she was fated to die, and resolutely walked into the palace to receive her death. Some interpretations posit that despite the grudge Clytemnestra held against Agamemnon for sacrificing Iphigenia, she still harbored deep feelings for the Mycanaen King. Furthermore, it is suggested that she stayed faithful to Agamemnon until she was all but certain that he would never return. The Homeric template suggests that Clytemnestra only followed her suitor Aegithus home, rather than Aeschylus’ interpretation that she took him as a lover. This incident is actually not reflected in any of the Homeric prose, though it does relate to the general period surrounding the Trojan War. Aeschylus’ magnification of this segment of the mythology suits the tragic nature of his narrative, once again not reflected in the Homeric template. By extension, through this addition Aeschylus present’s Clytemnestra’s choice to kill Agamemnon as driven by lust. Other interpretations argue that Clytemnestra has greater agency than being blinded by love. These sources point to her grief as a mother being the driving force behind her actions. Others sources argue that she bemoaned the obstacle to her love for Agememnon’s Cassandra of Troy presented. In Sophocles’ Electra the addition of Cassandra as part of the spoils Agamemnon brought back from war serves to be a leading motivation for Clytemnestra to murder her husband. Cassandra was a Trojan Princess that Agamemnon brought back with him after his victory in the Trojan War. While sources differ on whether Agamemnon viewed Cassandra as a lover, in most interpretations Clytemnestra viewed her as stealing away Agamemnon from her. The rationale displayed varies from jealousy to concern about the family and their relationship. In Sophocles’ writing Clytemnestra is a jealous lover, and Cassandra is an unwilling point of conflict. In this version Clytemnestra is also viewed as an adulterous mother whose anger at Agamemnon for taking another lover is seen as irrational. In other interpretations Clytemnestra felt that her love for Agamemnon was not requited. Some also argue that Clytemnestra worried about Agamenon turning his back on the family in favor of the younger Cassandra. After the murders, Aegisthus replaced Agamemnon as king and ruled for seven years with Clytemnestra as his queen. In some traditions they have three children: a son Aletes, and daughters Erigone and Helen. Clytemnestra was eventually killed by Orestes, her son by Agamemnon. The infant Helen was also killed. Aletes and Erigone grow up at Mycenae, but when Aletes comes of age, Orestes returns from Sparta, kills his half-brother, and takes the throne. Orestes and Erigone are said to have had a son, Penthilus.

Appearance in later works

Clytemnestra appears in numerous works from ancient to modern times, sometimes as a

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

and sometimes as a sympathetic

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...

. Author and classicist Madeline Miller wrote " ter

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...

, Queen Clytemnestra is probably the most notorious woman in Greek mythology". * Clytemnestra is one of the main characters in

's ''

'', and is central to the plot of all three parts. She murders Agamemnon in the first play, and is murdered herself in the second. Her death then leads to the trial of Orestes by a jury composed of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

and 12 Athenians in the final play. Her role is the largest in any surviving Greek tragedy. * In ''

Mourning Becomes Electra ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932, starring Lee Ba ...

'',

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...

's retelling of the ''Oresteia'' by Aeschylus, Clytemnestra is renamed Christine Mannon. * In

Ferdinando Baldi Ferdinando Baldi (19 May 1927 – 12 November 2007) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Throughout his career he used a number of pseudonyms, including Ted Kaplan, Ferdy Baldwin and Sam Livingstone. Biography Baldi was born in ...

's ''

The Forgotten Pistolero ''The Forgotten Pistolero'' ( Italian: ''Il pistolero dell'Ave Maria'', lit. "The Gunman of Hail Mary") is a 1969 Italian Spaghetti Western film co-written and directed by Ferdinando Baldi. The film is a western adaptation of the Greek myth of O ...

'', a

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

adaptation of the ''Oresteia'', Clytemnestra is named Anna Carrasco and is portrayed by Luciana Paluzzi. * The American modern dancer and choreographer

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over s ...

created a two-hour ballet, ''

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (, ; , ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the half-sister of Helen of Sparta. In Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan p ...

'' (1958), about the queen. * The Aeschylus work was also adapted by South African

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Cromwell Everson into the first

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, ''Klutaimnestra'', in 1967. In four acts, the opera premiered on November 7, 1967, in Biesenbach Hall,

Worcester, Western Cape Worcester ( ) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is the third-largest city in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is located north-east of Cape Town on the N1 road (South Africa), N1 highway north to Johannesburg. Bein ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. *

John Eaton John Eaton may refer to: * John Eaton (divine) (born 1575), English divine * John Eaton (pirate) (fl. 1683–1686), English buccaneer *Sir John Craig Eaton (1876–1922), Canadian businessman * John Craig Eaton II (born 1937), Canadian businessman ...

composed an

in one act entitled ''The Cry of Clytemnestra'' recounting the events leading up to and including Clytemnestra's murder of Agamemnon. * In the 1977 film adaptation ''

'', Clytemnestra is portrayed by the Greek actress

Irene Papas Irene Papas or Irene Pappas (, ; born Eirini Lelekou (); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She gained international recognition through ...

. * In the 2003 miniseries ''

Helen of Troy Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...

'', Clytemnestra is played by Katie Blake. * Clytemnestra appears as an extremely abusive mother in the play ''Molora'', Yaël Farber's 2007 rewriting of the ''Oresteia'' set in post-apartheid South Africa and its

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

hearings. * The 2017 novel '' House of Names'' by

Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín ( , ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, ''The South (novel), The South'', was published in 1990. ''The Blackwater Lightship'' was short ...

is a retelling of the Oresteia, with divine elements largely removed. There are three narrators: Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra. * Clytemnestra is one of several narrators of '' A Thousand Ships'' (2019) by

Natalie Haynes Natalie Louise Haynes (born 1974) is an English writer, broadcaster, Classics, classicist, and comedian. Early life Haynes was born in Birmingham, where she attended the private King Edward VI High School for Girls. She grew up in Bournville. ...

, which retells the Trojan War from the perspective of the women involved. * Clytemnestra is the protagonist of the eponymous novel
Clytemnestra
' (2023) by Costanza Casati. * An asteroid 179 Klytaemnestra is named after Clytemnestra. *

Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Amondi Nyong'o ( , , ; born 1 March 1983) is an actress who has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, a ...

is expected to portray Clytemnestra in a 2026 film adaptation of the ''Odyssey''.

References

Citations

Sources

Servius Servius may refer to: * Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic * Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian * Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator * Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...

. ''In Aeneida'', xi.267.

External links

* {{Authority control Princesses in Greek mythology Queens in Greek mythology Mythological Laconians Greek regicides Divine twins Women of the Trojan war Children of Leda (mythology) Mariticides Atreidai