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Clytemnestra (Κλυταιμήστρην) was the daughter of King Tyndareus of Sparta and his wife Leda. She was thus the sister of Helen of Troy and Castor and Pollux. She eventually became the wife of Agamemnon, the ruler of Mycenae and the leading general of the Achaeans during the Trojan War.
She is mentioned just once in the Iliad of Homer: Agamemnon states in Book I "the daughter of Chryses. I have set my heart on keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form and feature, in understanding and accomplishments."
In the Odyssey there is more: Nestor explains to Telemachus "...but we were over there, fighting hard at Troy, and Aegisthus who was taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos, cajoled Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra with incessant flattery." (Book III)
Later, when Odysseus visits the house of the dead Agamemnon reveals what happened to him:" 'Ulysses,' he answered, 'noble son of Laertes, was not lost at sea in any storm of Neptune's raising, nor did my foes dispatch me upon the mainland, but Aegisthus and my wicked wife were the death of me between them. He asked me to his house, feasted me, and then butchered me most miserably as though I were a fat beast in a slaughter house, while all around me my comrades were slain like sheep or pigs for the wedding breakfast, or picnic, or gorgeous banquet of some great nobleman. You must have seen numbers of men killed either in a general engagement, or in single combat, but you never saw anything so truly pitiable as the way in which we fell in that cloister, with the mixing-bowl and the loaded tables lying all about, and the ground reeking with our-blood. I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her close beside me. I lay dying upon the earth with the sword in my body, and raised my hands to kill the slut of a murderess, but she slipped away from me; she would not even close my lips nor my eyes when I was dying, for there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was. Fancy murdering her own husband! I thought I was going to be welcomed home by my children and my servants, but her abominable crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after- even on the good ones.'
"And I said, 'In truth Jove has hated the house of Atreus from first to last in the matter of their women's counsels. See how many of us fell for Helen's sake, and now it seems that Clytemnestra hatched mischief against too during your absence.'
In the Catalog of Women, by Hesiod more is stated: "Leda ... bore ... cow eyed Clytemnestra...." and "Because of her beauty Agamemnon, lord of men, married Tyndareus' daughter, dark- eyed Clytemnestra" Then he states "As the last one in the halls, dark-eyed Clytemnestra, overpowered by Agamemnon, bore godly Orestes, who when he reached puberty took vengeance on his father's murderer, and he killed his own man-destroying mother with the pitiless bronze."
The name 'Clytemnestra' seems to have Indo-European roots in "kleu-" to hear "tem-" to cut. If the name means famous cutter then it is a name that applies to what she did to Agamemnon. No doubt she had another name before the myths. The other possibility is Nemesis. Some accounts claim that she was deified a Nemesis. The name 'Nemesis' also has Indo European roots. It is from 'nem-2', 'to assign, allot, also to take.' Perhaps she is the same as Phylonoe, her sister, who had no real existence. Artemis rendered her immortal.
Clytemnestra had to suffer through three husbands:
We do not have that much literature from Mycenae. Mycenae was abandoned before the classical period. Homer does speak of Mycenae and so it is part of the mythological literature. In fact he gives details about Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon and Queen of Mycenae. Clytemnestra is a powerful woman and a powerful character in Greek plays of the Classical period. The women of Mycenae were probably more like the women of the Minoan culture since the archeology of Mycenae is quite similar to that of Crete at the same time.
To ask a question about this topic note the topic (Clytemnestra) and Click here
Question: Who is Clytemnestra and what was her role as a Trojan woman?
Answer: She was the wife of Agamemnon who fought opposite the Trojans. Ultimately she killed one of the Trojan women, Cassandra.
Question: How were women in Antigone's time treated in society?
Answer: Antigone's time was about the time of the Trojan War. What is in Homer is more valid than Sophocles because Homer was an older story teller and Homer was in the tradition of the Bards who passed down stories to one another for centuries. But such traditions were not known for their historical accuracy. Both Archeology and Ancient Sources suggest that only a short time before Antigone, the culture of Greece was involved in the overthrow of a Goddess based religion by the religion that we know of ancient Greece with Zeus as its head god. Things had to change for women because in the old religion women were the primary object of religious devotion. Women were worshipped. Later the goddesses were still worshipped, but everyone understood their submission to Zeus. The old forms of culture were not immediately destroyed by this revolution, but there are glimpses of the change. One good example is that Penelope is not desirable just because she is a sexy woman, or even that her husband, if dead, left her a wealthy widow. Whoever married her would be a king because kingship was determined matrilineally during the reign of the goddess. The situation of Clytemnestra is the same. Agamemnon had a lot of gall picking up Cassandra to be his mate when he was king by virtue of Clytemnestra. She had every right as queen to see his behavior as a threat to the throne and to kill him. She went too far when she killed Cassandra though. This was a sacrilege as Cassandra was a priestess of Athena. She was also motivated by the death, at the hands of Agamemnon, of her daughter, Iphigenia. When Orestes kills his mother Clytemnestra, and is later exonerated, then this marks the end of the matrilineal determination of kingship everywhere in Greece. Women like Penelope and Clytemnestra were queens with the powere to make or break a king. There were no women with this power later.
Women continued to serve as priestesses like Cassandra though their power and influence lessened in later times. The fact that Ajax would rape her while she was clutching the statue of Athena was a grave sacrilege, but it also showed a lessening of respect for the goddess.
Some women were treated as warriors. In fact the Amazons were plainly feared.
Other women were treated like, well, slaves. Homer demonstrates plainly that the Greek warriors liked to sack a town and take women to be sex slaves or servants. Slavery was acceptable, and slavery meant that you must do what is requested. Slave owners had life and death control over their slaves. A slave owner could not deal with an aggressive slave so that person would be killed. Slaves tended to be pretty passive and obedient.
All the women tended to be secluded, even in Antigone's times and there were special tasks for women, such as weaving and baking of bread. These were not assigned by the head of the household, but rather by their religion. Certain agricultural tasks were assigned, such as planting seeds, because of women's ability to be fertile. But women were freer to walk about and shop than they were later when the man of the house would even go to the market.
Question: From the period of the Bronze Age to the Classical Age, is it possi ble to say that,the society of the Ancient Greece was Patriarchal society?
Answer: The death of Clytemnestra ended any matriarchal component of Greek society and it became entirely patriarchal until the Roman period. The Romans were not as patriarchal as the Greeks. Clytemnestra was killed after the Trojan War just as Greece was leaving the Bronze Age. This means that during the Minoan and Mycenaean periods there were some matriarchal components to government in Greece. During the Homeric Age, the Archaic Greek Age, The Golden Age, and the Hellenistic Age, Greece was patriarchal.
Question: Clytemnestra and Dido are two of the most memorable characters in t he "masterpieces" of classical Greek liturature, even more remarkable because they are female. As women, they both challenge the roles to which female characters are ordinarily assigned. How would you compair or contrast these two characters
Answer: Clytemnestra is of Greek literature but Dido is of Roman literature. Clytemnestra was a Greek queen, while Dido was a Phoenician princess. Clytemnestra was not a great leader, but rather was a symbol of an old way of doing things. Dido led her people into North Africa and founded the city of Carthage.
Question: What are some ways that I could compare and contrast Clytemnestra a nd Iokaste
Answer: Clytemnestra is a character in the following plays:
Jocasta is a character in the Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.
Note that both women were queens of a territory and their husbands became king because they both killed the former king. Jocasta did not know this, however. Orestes killed his mother, Clytemnestra, because she had killed his father. Jocasta killed herself because her husband was her son who had killed his father.
Question: where is earliest source Clytemnestra appears? Oresteia?
Answer: Clytemnestra appears in both the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Question: Where else do the Furies appear between Hesiod and Aeshcylus' Oresteia?
Answer: Pausanias says: "Hard by is a sanctuary of the goddesses which the Athenians call the August, but Hesiod in the Theogony4 calls them Erinyes (Furies). It was Aeschylus who first represented them with snakes in their hair. But on the images neither of these nor of any of the under-world deities is there anything terrible."
The Erinyes are also mentioned in the Iliad.
A recent picture of the furies is at: The Murderer by Franz von Stuck
Question: How do Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides each portray the woman in a different light?
Answer: This is probably a good dissertation topic and will take me a while.
Question: Ok, I just sent a request about daily life for Clytemnestra both before and after Agamemnon left - I am interested in her specifically. I hope you can help me. I am looking at the Daily life part of this website, some is valuable to me, but if I could find anything more specific to Clytemnestra, it would be wonderful. Plus, if you could dig up any pictures of Clytemnestra it would be wonderful!! Thank you in advance for your time!
Pictures of Clytemnestra follow:
In the Odyssey there is this passage about Clytemnestra: (Book III) Telemon asks: "Nestor, son of Neleus, now tell me true: how died the son of Atreus, Agamemnon of the wide domain? Where was Menelaus? What death did crafty Aegisthus plan for him, in that he killed a man more valiant far than he? Or was Menelaus not in Argos of Achaia but wandering elsewhere among men, and that other took heart and slew Agamemnon?'
Then Nestor of Gerenia, lord of chariots, answered him: 'Yea now, my child, I will tell thee the whole truth. Verily thou guessest aright even of thyself how things would have fallen out, if Menelaus of the fair hair, the son of Atreus, when he came back from Troy, had found Aegisthus yet alive in the halls. Then even in his death would they not have heaped the piled earth over him, but dogs and fowls of the air would have devoured him as he lay on the plain far from the town. {*} Nor would any of the Achaean women have bewailed him; so dread was the deed he contrived. Now we sat in leaguer there, achieving many adventures; but he the while in peace in the heart of Argos, the pastureland of horses, spake ofttimes, tempting her, to the wife of Agamemnon. Verily at the first she would none of the foul deed, the fair Clytemnestra, for she had a good understanding. Moreover there was with her a minstrel, whom the son of Atreus straitly charged as he went to Troy to have a care of his wife. But when at last the doom of the gods bound her to her ruin, then did Aegisthus carry the minstrel to a lonely isle, and left him there to be the prey and spoil of birds; while as for her, he led her to his house, a willing lover with a willing lady. And he burnt many thigh slices upon the holy altars of the gods, and hung up many offerings, woven-work and gold, seeing that he had accomplished a great deed, beyond all hope.
Now we, I say, were sailing together on our way from Troy, the son of Atreus and I, as loving friends. But when we had reached holy Sunium, the headland of Athens, there Phoebus Apollo slew the pilot of Menelaus with the visitation of his gentle shafts, as he held between his hands the rudder of the running ship, even Phrontis, son of Onetor, who excelled the tribes of men in piloting a ship, whenso the storm-winds were hurrying by. Thus was Menelaus holden there, though eager for the way, till he might bury his friend and pay the last rites over him. But when he in his turn, faring over the wine-dark sea in hollow ships, reached in swift course the steep mount of Malea, then it was that Zeus of the far-borne voice devised a hateful path, and shed upon them the breath of the shrill winds, and great swelling waves arose like unto mountains. There sundered he the fleet in twain, and part thereof he brought nigh to Crete, where the Cydonians dwelt about the streams of Iardanus. Now there is a certain cliff, smooth and sheer towards the sea, on the border of Gortyn, in the misty deep, where the South-West Wind drives a great wave against the left headland, towards Phaestus, and a little rock keeps back the mighty water. Thither came one part of the fleet, and the men scarce escaped destruction, but the ships were broken by the waves against the rock; while those other five dark-prowed ships the wind and the water bare and brought nigh to Egypt. Thus Menelaus, gathering much livelihood and gold, was wandering there with his ships among men of strange speech, and even then Aegisthus planned that pitiful work at home. And for seven years he ruled over Mycenae, rich in gold, after he slew the son of Atreus, and the people were subdued unto him. But in the eighth year came upon him goodly Orestes back from Athens to be his bane, and slew the slayer of his father, guileful Aegisthus, who killed his famous sire. Now when he had slain him, he made a funeral feast to the Argives over his hateful mother, and over the craven Aegisthus. And on the selfsame day there came to him Menelaus of the loud war-cry, bringing much treasure, even all the freight of his ships. So thou, my friend, wander not long far away from home, leaving thy substance behind thee and men in thy house so wanton, lest they divide and utterly devour all thy wealth, and thou shalt have gone on a vain journey. Rather I bid and command thee to go to Menelaus, for he hath lately come from a strange country, from the land of men whence none would hope in his heart to return, whom once the storms have driven wandering into so wide a sea. Thence not even the birds can make their way in the space of one year, so great a sea it is and terrible. But go now with thy ship and with thy company, or if thou hast a mind to fare by land, I have a chariot and horses at thy service, yea and my sons to do thy will, who will be thy guides to goodly Lacedaemon, where is Menelaus of the fair hair."
Later in the Odyssey, there is this: (Book 11) "'So spake I, and straightway he answered, and said unto me: "Son of Laertes, of the seed of Zeus, Odysseus of many devices, it was not Poseidon that smote me in my ships, and raised the dolorous blast of contrary winds, nor did unfriendly men do me hurt upon the land, but Aegisthus it was that wrought me death and doom and slew me, with the aid of my accursed wife, as one slays an ox at the stall, after he had bidden me to his house, and entertained me at a feast. Even so I died by a death most pitiful, and round me my company likewise were slain without ceasing, like swine with glittering tusks which are slaughtered in the house of a rich and mighty man, whether at a wedding banquet or a joint-feast or a rich clan-drinking. Ere now hast thou been at the slaying of many a man, killed in single fight or in strong battle, yet thou wouldst have sorrowed the most at this sight, how we lay in the hall round the mixing-bowl and the laden boards, and the floor all ran with blood. And most pitiful of all that I heard was the voice of the daughter of Priam, of Cassandra, whom hard by me the crafty Clytemnestra slew. Then I strove to raise my hands as I was dying upon the sword, but to earth they fell. And that shameless one turned her back upon me, and had not the heart to draw down my eyelids with her fingers nor to close my mouth. So surely is there naught more terrible and shameless than a woman who imagines such evil in her heart, even as she too planned a foul deed, fashioning death for her wedded lord. Verily I had thought to come home most welcome to my children and my thralls; but she, out of the depth of her evil knowledge, hath shed shame on herself and on all womankind, which shall be for ever, even on the upright."
In the Iliad Agamemnon says: "I have set my heart on keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form and feature, in understanding and accomplishments."(Book I)
Question: was clytemnestra justified in murdering agamemnon?
Answer: Probably, but her act was still revenged.
Question: How did clytemnestra killed agamemnon?? and why did she kill him?? what happend after she killed him??
Answer: Homer tells the following: "And straightway Aegisthus contrived a cunning treason. He chose out twenty of the best men in the township, and set an ambush, and on the further side of the hall he commanded to prepare a feast. Then with chariot and horses he went to bid to the feast Agamemnon, shepherd of the people; but caitiff thoughts were in his heart. He brought him up to his house, all unwitting of his doom, and when he had feasted him slew him, as one slayeth an ox at the stall. And none of the company of Atreides that were of his following were left, nor any of the men of Aegisthus, but they were all killed in the halls."
Aegisthus and Clytmnestra were lovers. Agamemnon killed Clytemnestra's first husband, then he sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia, to help defeat the Trojans. Finally, he brought home a mistress, Cassandra, one of the most beautiful and intelligent women in the world. He obviously was going to dump Clytemnestra. After Agamemnon was killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus ruled Mycenae for many years. Then Orestes came and killed them both.
Question: can you please tell me how the character of Clytemnestra differs from the play of Oresteia by Aeschylus, and Euripides in Electra or Iphigenia at Aulis?
Answer: This would make a good thesis topic.
Question: Can you contrast, in a deeper sense, of what makes Clytmnestra a "bad" woman in Greek society compared to Penelope who was considered a "good" woman?
Answer: Clytemnestra was not passive, but dealt with men on their own level. Since she was queen she thought she should have her way. To get back at her husband she had him murdered. Penelope was just doing what Odysseus wanted her to do. To help her husband she conspired to preserve his home even though the wooers wanted to take it for themselves.
Question: Does she have any pictures of herself or her family
Answer: When Heinrich Schlieman excavated the Mycenaean Civilization at Mycenae in Greece he found a gold mask on a burial. He declared this to be the face of Agamemnon, but this observation has never been confirmed. Had this been true we would have had, at least, the image of one of the husbands of Clytemnestra. The art from Mycenae is quite scarce and no other images of Clytemnestra or her family have been discovered. What we have are images from about 800 years later of what people then thought Clytemnestra looked like. You can click on the links above to see these images.
Question: Was she considered a temptress?
Answer: Homer refers to her as fair and crafty, so she was probable not a temptress.
Question: is clytemnestra a sympathetic character?
Answer: We are not allowed to see this.
Question: what happen with clytemnestra and agamemnon that started the trojan war?
Answer: Clytemnestra's sister Helen ran off with Paris instead of staying married to Agamemnon's brother Menelaus.
Question: How has Clytemnestra been portrayed as the "enemy of the state"?
Answer: This quote, from Homer (Odyssey Book XI), is pretty close: "And most pitiful of all that I heard was the voice of the daughter of Priam, of Cassandra, whom hard by me the crafty Clytemnestra slew. Then I strove to raise my hands as I was dying upon the sword, but to earth they fell. And that shameless one turned her back upon me, and had not the heart to draw down my eyelids with her fingers nor to close my mouth. So surely is there naught more terrible and shameless than a woman who imagines such evil in her heart, even as she too planned a foul deed, fashioning death for her wedded lord. Verily I had thought to come home most welcome to my children and my thralls; but she, out of the depth of her evil knowledge, hath shed shame on herself and on all womankind, which shall be for ever, even on the upright."
Question: From the story Agamemnon, can you tell me how Clytemnestra is used for the purpose (theme) of the story?
Answer: Clytemnestra is no passive witness, but an agent of evil.
Question: What characteristics of Clytemnestra might explain the comment: "That woman-she vmaneuvers like a man." and what does it suggeswt about Greek attitudes toward women?
Answer: She would only need to be rational and active. Greek men preferred passive, compliant females. They did not want to compete with women.
Question: How did Clytemnestra influence the power of women in Ancient Greece?
Answer: It seems that her story was skewed so that women lost power.
Question: how is clytemnestra hypocritical?
Answer: Taking a lover when you are married is hypocrisy.
Question: How does the portrayal of Clytmenestra in Aeschylus' Agamemnon differ from the portrayal of Clytemnestra in Euripides Electra?
Answer: This is a good paper topic.
Question: how would you compare Clytemnestra and Medea
Answer: Click on the Menu Directory below and then click on Medea.
Question: How are Clytemnestra from Agememnon, Jocasta from Oedipus rex, and Medea from Medea characteristically related?
Answer: This should be wife to husband except Medea who was married to Jason.
Question: compare and contrast Jocasta and Clytemnestra
Answer: Read Oedipus Rex for Jocasta and Agamemnon for Clytemnestra. But there are other sources for Clytemnestra.
Question: Agamenon
Answer: This was the second husband of Clytemnestra, and the one she murdered (he murdered her first husband). It is also the name of the play by Aeschylus in which she has a leading role.
Question: How does Clytemnestra contradict the understood role of women in Ancient Greece?
Answer: Clytemnestra was a self-actualized active woman. Greek men wanted women to be passive and servile.
Question: who are famous litureature people of greece
Answer: Click on the Menu Directory below and click on Writing.
Question: Tell me about the Greek ancestors of king Agamenon
Answer: Agamemnon's mother was Aerope, the daughter of Catreus who in turn was the son of Minos and Pasiphae. Agamemnon's father was Atreus who was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia. Pelops is the descendent of Zeus through Tantalus. Minos is a son of Zeus and Europa so Agamemnon was a descendent of Zeus. Clytemnestra's sister Helen was the daughter of Zeus but she was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda.
Question: How do you say Clytemnestra
Answer: kli - tem - NES - tra
Question: did clytemnesra have any powers?
Answer: She was an attractive woman and a queen. She commanded the respect of many in her community and she commanded the servants in her household.
Question: I'm doing a paper on Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. I need to know how would u describe Clytemnestra and Aegisthus character?
Answer: Clytemnestra was respected but calculating. Aegisthus was effective but compliant.
Question: Why did she kill Cassandra?
Answer: This is the standard response to the new woman that your husband is cavorting with. This seems unfair because Cassandra was a slave. But Agamemnon wanted to replace Clytemnestra with Cassandra.
Question: What are the differences/alikes between Clytemnestra and Medea?
Answer: Clytemnestra had to use her influence and persuasion to get everything she wanted. Medea used potions and spells. Clytemnestra was a queen while Medea was just a princess.
Question: How did she become queen?
Answer: Her father, king Tyndareus of Sparta, betrothed her to Tantalus while she was still a virgin. Because Tantalus was the son of Thyestes and king of Mycenae, Clytemnestra became queen. She bore Tantalus a son. Agamemnon killed Tantalus because he was the son of Thyestes who had debauched his mother. He also killed the new-born son of Tantalus. Agamemnon thus obtained Clytemnestra as property from the man he defeated. Because Clytemnestra was queen of Mycenae, Agamemnon became king.
Question: how was clytemnestra a dynamic and round character in the Oresteian Trilogy?
Answer: You must read the Trilogy to answer this question.
Question: Clytemnestra's character as a masculine character towards the end of the Agememnon play
Answer: Joan of Arc was declared a witch because she seemed to have a man trapped inside. Clytemnestra's masculinity is a male nightmare, but it is an insult to her femininity to condemn her for it. Joan was sainted because of the injustice to her. Clytemnestra may deserve similar.
Question: any information about Clytemnestra and politics or legalities with her killing Agamemnon and Orestes committing matricide?
Answer: Because Agamemnon killed Clytemnestra's first husband and killed Clytemnestra's daughter Iphigenia her murder of Agamemnon can be justified. But she also killed Clytemnestra and her two children. There is no legal justification for this. Orestes killed his mother because she violated her marriage with Agamemnon and killed him. At the time he did this There was a rule of matriliniarity which made her queen and his act an illegal one. His appeal to the gods and courts depended on the undesirability of the rule of matrilinearity. He was exonerated once the patrilinarity of kings was established.
Question: I have heard that there are matriarcal tribes in Africa. They may be Bedowen tribes, I am not sure....I have a necklace that supposedly comes from that region and I have been told that they were the ones who made it. I have a big argument and a bet that this is TRUE with my coworkers. Do you know the answer? Could you tell me details?
Answer: You lose. No one has ever found an existing matriarchy. The Amazons were the only matriarchy that ever existed and we cannot prove they even existed. One group of Amazons lived in the region of modern Tunisia. But no remains have been found. There have been many matrilinial societies and the society you refer to is probably matrilineal. The closest to a matriarchy was probably the queendom of Elizabeth I of England, but most people laugh when I suggest this.
Question: how clytemnestra is model of ways for women to secure fome power in a patriarchal society?
Answer: I do not think Clytemnestra is a very good model. She lived at a time when women wielded power and she expected to wield it. Men were not secure in their patriarchy. Her son was exonerated in her death because it was felt, at the time, that she exceeded her power.
Question: KILLED CHILDREN
Answer: Medea killed her children. Clytemnestra was killed by her children.
Question: Can you give me a modern day example of Clytemnestra? I am trying to compare her to someone from the last few centuries who may have had a similar situation to Clytemnestra. I am broaching this subject in a term paper due very very soon! Thanks
Answer: Lucretia Borgia.
Question: What quality or accomplishment has Clytaemnestra left behind since she was so impressive?
Answer: She left behind a tragic example of a woman of power. She was victimized by the men of her time and as a result of her example women lost political power. She is viewed as evil by many, but this is unfair and results from a lack of careful judgment. In fact she was a woman of power who tried to take action against the forces against her and failed.
Question: In the PBS Special, The Greeks, Crucible of Civilization, a 19th century painting was shown of a scene from Agememnon. It portrays Clytemnestra with a knife in her hand. Can you identify the painting and the artist, and can you advise where a print may be obtained?
Answer: Click here
Question: In comparison to Antigone and medea what traits and themes did Clytaemnestra share with these other woman?
Answer: Clytemnestra is queen to the most powerful king in Greece at the time of the Trojan War. She shares little with the other two women who are princesses at best, and deposed at that. Compare Clytemnestra with Helen or Penelope. Even Hecuba, queen of Agamemnon's opposition does not compare with Clytemnestra.
Question: Where do I find Clytemnestra saying: "So there he lay and as he gasped, his blood spouted and splashed me with black spray - a dew of death, sweet to me as heaven's sweet raindrops"
Answer: You can find this quote in Aeschylus's "Agamemnon," after Clytemnestra has killed Agamemnon and Cassandra. The quote is part of her speech in defending her murder of Agamemnon. (Thanks to Yi Lin for this)
Question: Why has she been remembered?
Question: She is an important character in some powerful plays. Also she was a powerful woman who attempted to use politics for her own purposes.
Question: Why does Athena demannd that the case of Orestes' murder of his mother be settled in a courtroom and not by the Furies directly? What are the implications of her demand?
Answer: There was no law that applied to Orestes. The furies could only respond to the superficialities of the case. Orestes did kill his mother but he was not guilty of murder. What he did was to liberate an enslaved people from a repressive regime. But he used an unnecessarily severe method. He was swayed by the emotions of the moment to take an action which was somewhat, but not thoroughly, justified. Then he suffered enormously. When he was finally tried it was found that he had already suffered enough and he was absolved of any further punishment. And others learned not to follow in his path.
Question: What does the name Clytemnestra mean and what would be the closest English equivalent
Answer: From Greek klytos "famous, noble" and mnestria "courter, wooer". reference A better derivation might be From Indo-European 'kleu-, to hear, and 'tem-', 'to cut'. If the name means famous cutter then it is a name that applies to what she did to Agamemnon.
Question: Why did Clytemnestra kill Agamemnon?
Answer: There are several possible reasons:
Question: I've heard that there was a prophecy that Clytemnestra and her sisters would be unfaithful to their husbands. Is this true? and why was such a curse put on the sisters?
Answer: Aphrodite had doomed Helen and her sisters because their father, Tyndareus, had sacrificed to the other gods but had forgotten to offer a sacrifice to her. Aphrodite, therefore, swore to make his daughters known for adultery. The daughters of Tyndareus included the twins Helen and Clytemnestra, Philonoe, Timandra, and Phoebe. Philonoe and Phoebe died too young to be affected by the curse.
Question: does the iliad confirm or refute the guilt of clytemnestra
Answer: In the Iliad Agamemnon states that he wants to replace his wife with Chryseis. This is pretty threatening to Clytemnestra.
Question: what is the similarities and the differences between the hellenistic age and the golden age
Answer: During the Classical age of Greece life was more community oriented and politics was more democratic. During the Hellenistic age life was more individualistic and politics was authoritarian.
Question: How do Clytemnestra, Phaedra and Jocasta relate to politics and traditional values?
Answer: Somehow the lives of these ladies seem familiar to us as we read about them in the ancient Greek dramas. But as were read closer we are struck by remarkable peculiarities in their politics and values. Fortunately these quirks awaken in us questions, not only about ancient values and politics, but also our own values and politics. The reading then becomes an education of the most remarkable kind.
Question: what is an example of a modern day Clytaemnestra?
Answer: Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth Dole, or Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Question: Is Clytemnestra an annomyly in the orestia, or is her presence a key part of the cycle of vengenge?
Answer: Such a question can be debated, but not resolved, since the author is no longer available.
Question: What role does Clytemnestra represent in Greek culture
Answer: Clytemnestra was a queen during the heroic age. During this time queens possessed the realm which their husband ruled. Clytemnestra fought for this prerogative and others that gave power to women. But she lost her battle and she was one of the last women to have power from the Greek system.
Question: was clytemnestra a good mother
Answer: She had some very difficult challenges to being a mother. Her first husband was killed by her second husband who killed their oldest daughter. When she formed a liaison with a third husband she put her children in jeopardy. When she killed her second husband she angered her children who eventually killed her. But her children turned out to be very responsible and very skilled, a tribute to her mothering, no doubt.
Question: How can I compare and contrast Clytemnestra and Medea to the love and hatred towards their husbands.
Answer: You need to read materials where this might be spelled out. Medea is developed in the play 'Medea' by Euripides and in the poem 'The Voyage of of the Argo by Apollonius. Clytemnestra is developed in the plays 'Agamemnon' and 'Libation Bearers' by Aeschylus, 'Orestes' and 'Electra' by Euripides, and 'Electra' by Sophocles.
Question: Are achilles and clytemnestra similiar because they both kill as an act of revenge?
Answer: This might make an interesting paper topic, but it may be stretching things.
Question: Clytemnestra's role in the Odyssey?
Answer: When Odysseus learned that Clytemnestra had murdered her husband upon his return, he was determined to return in disguise until he had determined what threat he had to face.
Question: is clytemnestra a monster or a tragic hero?
Answer: Men like women to be sexy, compliant, and serving, so they can have sex whenever they want. To men Clytemnestra is a Monster. But after women have sex they get pregnant, have babies and have to raise them. And as they age they become less attractive. Women need some protection from their society so they can thrive. To women Clytemnestra is a tragic heroine.
Question: Her feelings to seek revenge
Answer: Her feelings must be induced from the various plays written about her.
Question: where did she rule
Answer: Argos or Mycenae. These two places are close together in the Peloponesian peninsula on the southeast coast. They are southwest of Athens. The extent of her rule is not known.
Question: What were her powers?
Answer: One power was the power to choose the king by marriage. When she killed Agamemnon and married Aegisthus she made him king. But she also seemed to command many loyal subjects.
Question: What is a brief summery of Clytemnestra's life?
Answer:
Question: How were Klytemnestra and Penelope similar? Did both hold the key to thier kingdoms?
Answer: Both Clytemnestra and Penelope were Mycenaean Queens whose husbands left for the Trojan War and they were left in charge of their children and their palace. It was the custom in those days for the consort of the queen to rule. But the queen did not exactly choose the king. Nor could she dump the king if she did not like him. It is clear from the Odyssey that Penelope did not rule either the kingdom or even the palace. She was able to dispatch her responsibilities only by trickery and deception. Fortunately she was very good at it. Clytemnestra was more in control but this was because she formed an alliance with another man.
Question: how was tantalus choosen as Clytemnestra's first husband? and what part did her father play in Tantalus' death?
Answer: The only reference to this first husband of Clytemnestra is in Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis (1149-1152). If we also assume that Tantalus was the son of Thyestes then we can make some suggestions. Thyestes was the king of Argos (Mycenae) and Tyndareus, the father of Clytemnestra, was the king of Sparta. The marriage of Clytemnestra to Tantalus would have been a marriage of politics joining the ruling families of two city-states. One can believe that the fathers arranged this marriage. But to arrange a marriage between two incompatible partners would have been patently stupid. The two kings were neighbors and peers and their families would have socialized together. The parents then had the opportunity to see if the offspring got along. In this way the daughter would have her input as well.
It is not clear how Tantalus died, but Clytemnestra said that he was killed by Agamemnon. This was a result of a family feud between Atreus, the father of Agamemnon, and Thyestes. Tyndareus was not involved. When Agamemnon killed Tantalus he obtained all of his possessions. This included all of Argos (Mycenae) and his queen Clytemnestra.
Question: Compare Clytemnestra to Homer's Homeric Code
Answer: "The heroic ideal in the Iliad is sometimes offensive to modern sensibility, but what is required here is not the reader's approval, but understanding of these heroic values." reference. Clytemnestra has no hope of honor and cannot be a hero according to Homer.
Question: who is Aerope?
Answer: Aerope was the mother-in-law of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon's mother. Agamemnon's father died young and his grandfather Atreus married Aerope. When Aerope had an adulterous affair with Thyestes, the younger brother of Atreus, she was drowned by Atreus. Aerope was the granddaughter of Minos but her father sent her away when he found one of his children would kill him. She actually was intended for slavery but got to marry Pleisthenes, the father of Agamemnon instead.
Question: I read in "Iphigeneia in Aulis" that Pollux and Castor made war on Agamemnon, who then fled to Clytemnestra's father Tyndareos for protection. I'd like to know if Pollux and Castor fought Agamemnon because their sister Clytemnestra was forced to marry Agamemnon.
The reference is from Euripides' "Iphigeneia at Aulis", in Clytemnestra's speech to Agamemnon in the scene where she's pleading him not to sacrifice their daughter. She began with all the wrongs Agamemnon has done her over the years. She says "You took me by force. You married me against my will. You killed the husband I had, Tantalos. You ripped from my breast my new-born child and smashed it on the ground. And when my brothers, twin-sons of Zeus (Pollux and Castor), brought war onto you on their shining horses, you pleaded to my father Tyndareos, and he saved you..."
Answer: Realize, first of all that the information seems only to be found in a drama. The dramatists were generally reliable but seemed often to include material that was reasonable and not necessarily factual. I do not find other references to this act. But if Castor and Pollux attacked Agamemnon that it probably was a political decision and not a simple one.
First understand the situation of women. Women were often somehow bound to the property on which they were found. To get the property you had to win the woman. If the woman was unmarried you might woo her and have her father give you the woman and the property as a dowry. Or you might simply seize her and carry her off, in which case the property was sort of a ransom. If she was married you had to fight her husband and kill him. You would only be tried for murder if there was a king to whom this man owed allegiance. But if this man was a king then you became king.
So when Agamemnon killed the husband of Clytemnestra, he took possession of her by law. Then he gained her property. This would not have been why Castor and Pollux attacked him.
Question: wouldn't Cltemnestra have already hated Agamemnon for having not only killed her 1st born to Tantalus, but also her 1st born to Agamemnon? Therefore, is it really true to say that Aegisthus 'corrupted' her?
Answer: There is the notion that women are brainless and passive slaves who only wait to perform their husband's bidding. Under this view it is true that she was corrupted by Aegisthus. But if you regard the struggles of Hera, who could hardly be regarded as brainless, as typical of what women had to do to get along, then you can understand Clytemnestra as being extremely calculating and manipulative. But you should reconsider attributing her actions to hate rather than to some intellectual calculus. The fact is that she was playing a tough game against so very tough characters and her very survival was always on the line. It is very possible that she killed Agamemnon simply to save her own life and not out of any idea of retribution for past acts.
Question: why is clytemnestra considered a heroine by euripides?
Answer: I am not sure he did.
Question: is what clytemenstra do justice?
Answer: No. In order for there to be justice the facts must be weighed against the law objectively and the punishment must fit the crime. It is unlikely that an individual will be able to administer justice in a capital crime.
Question: what was Agamemnon's husband's name
Answer: Agamemnon was the second husband of Clytemnestra.
Question: is there a picture that i can find on agamennon
Answer: Agamemnon
Question: did clytemnestra have a fourth child, Christemos by Agamemnon
Answer: Her fourth child was Chrysothemis.
Question: didn't Cltemnestra have four children by Agamemnon
Answer: Yes. Electra, Orestes, Iphigenia, and Chrysothemis.
Question: what do you think that this story suggests about ancient Greek mythic understandings of relationships between deities, heroes and mortals and where does clytemnestra fit into the wider frameworks of greek mythology?
Answer: The Greek myths were told and retold in a number of contexts and the meaning of the myth may change with each context. The story of Clytemnestra is very complex and so it is hard to do her justice in any short space. But there are a number of themes that seem worth noting:
Question: how is clytemnestra potrayed in libation bearers by aeschylus, electra by sophocles, electra by euripidies to be 'different' from men (physically, socially, mentally)? where does her power lie- and where can it lie? coes her representation in the plays tell us anything about the society of men who produced women like clytemnestra?
Answer: This is an interesting paper topic. There is also the question of the society of women and their effect.
Question: Does Clyemnestra have a name link to the present as in Ajax was a strong and powerful god and Ajax is a strong and powerful cleaning produces, is there any links?
Answer:
Question: What happened to Orestes after he murdered his own mother and step father?
Answer: Quite a bit:
Question: are there any 19th century translations of Aeschylus' Agamemnon
Answer: A research library may be able to help you with this.
Question: how does the role of clytemnesrta give insight into the theme and concerns of the drama
Answer: Read the drama to answer this.
Question: Examples of clytemnestr displaying the heart of a man?
Answer: When she murdered Agamemnon and Cassandra.
Question: Seeking help on contrasting Clytemnestra and Helen
Answer:
Question: Do you think it is possible for greek women(esp Antigone, Medea, Clytmenstra) to be both strong and successful
Answer: The terms that you use, 'strong' and 'successful' more properly apply to men. The ancient Greeks did not like applying them to women. Women could be strong, but they were not admired. Amazons and Clytemnestra were in this category. Antigone was strong- willed, but the point of her play is that even a weak girl who is strong-willed can have a powerful effect. Penelope was in fact both strong and successful, but she had to achieve this very deviously, with lots of tears shed along the way.
Question: Love turns to hate in these three stories. Analyze the relationship of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Oedipus and Jocasta, and Medea and Jason. Be sure to do outside historical research on this one to ensure that your answers are correct according to the era in which they lived. I don't want a twenty-first century analysis, and I don't want a summary. Tell me why, not what.
Answer: You cannot be serious. Love between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra? Where is it? He won her by killing her husband. He connived and her daughter died. He bedded women tribute. Sorry but I cannot find any. It is true that Medea loved Jason but he seemed more interested in the quest and she certainly was helpful. But when did he demonstrate his love? Oedipus was given Jocasta. She had no choice in the matter. But she was a simple person and she enjoyed family life. She thought her husband was acting stupid and told him so. This was not really hate. But she felt he was going to ruin everything and he did. It was not hate that drove her to suicide. It was bitter disappointment. For the rest of the material for this paper see the articles on the wives. It would not hurt to read a few plays either.
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