Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra (also spelled "Clytaemnestra") is the daughter of Leda and the Spartan King Tyndareus and she is the sister of Helen of Troy and Timandra. Because her father had neglected a certain sacrifice to Aphrodite the goddess cursed him, saying all three daughters would be adulteresses. Clytemnestra was initially married to Thyestes' son Tantalus. Either Atreus or Agamemnon killed him soon after there wedding. With her second husband Agamemnon Clytemnestra had two sons, Orestes and Chrysothemis, and two daughters, Electra and Iphigenia. Clytemnestra's importance in Greek mythology comes from her marriage to Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother. Agamemnon leaves for Troy, to help to avenge his brother Menelaus. He appoints Aegisthus to guard his wife Clytemnestra. As the years passed, and there was no word that the war was anywhere near an end, Clytemnestra weakened and welcomed the sensuous advances of Aegisthus. They had an affair and when Agamemnon does return, Aegisthus (the son of Atreus) and Clytemnestra plotted to kill him. They tricked him on to an island where they left him to rot. Aegisthus then took Clytemnestra and ruled Mycenane for seven years. Orestes, Agamemnon's and Clytemnestra's son kills Aegisthus to avenge his father's death. Clytemnestra disappears or is killed but Homer does not go into to much detail about her.

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Article created on 03 March 1997; last modified on 16 May 1999. © MCMXCV - MMV Encyclopedia Mythica. All rights reserved.

by Mia Gibson

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