Clytemnestra

This piece of artwork is a krater decorated using the red-figure technique. This krater is used to illustrate the story of the purification of Orestes at Delphi. In this scene, Orestes and his sister Elektra are seeking safety in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. They’re hiding from the furies who are known for punishing wrongdoers. In the temple, the artist draws Apollo himself standing before the two temple visitors (Plaque Title). The artist doesn’t leave any of the vase unpainted. The scene…

Clytemnestra recounts how she killed her husband who was the king and justifies her actions as a retaliation for the killing of her daughter, Iphigenia by the king. The real violence occurs off-stage as was the tradition in Greece in those days (Lloyd-Jones…

Now, again, you divine god’s will for the armies, bruit it about, as fact, why the deadly Archer multiplies our pains: because I, I refused that glittering price for the young girl herself, I want her mine in my own house! I rank her higher than Clytemnestra, my wedded wife—she’s nothing less in build or breeding, in mind or works of hand (The Iliad 1. 127-134) Agamemnon is expressing his feelings and is portraying his views of women. A seer wanted to get back his prize which was, in his mind's…

Discuss how the concept of hybris is treated in Greek tragedy, with reference to at least two plays from different authors. Hybris is commonly known as ‘pride’ and ‘arrogance’. In Greek Tragedy the concept of hybris is treated most often as a flaw in a character’s personality, often leading to failure. R.P Winnington-Ingram says “Hubris is a mode of behaviour, but arises out of a state of mind.” This is evident in Sophocles’ Ajax and Aeschylus’ Oresteia. This view of the concept is agreed upon…

Because Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra plotted his death, she “has shamed not only herself/ But all women to come, even the rare good one”. This highlights how all females are seen as deceitful and troublesome, even if they have done nothing wrong. They are considered a burden to the…

Book XI: Odysseus and his men travel from Circe’s island to the house of Hades. Odysseus makes the drink and animal offerings that Circe had ordered him to. He prays to the dead, promising to make more sacrifices when he returns to Ithaca. The ghosts of the dead then begin to appear around the blood of the sacrificed animals, but, just as Circe advised him, Odysseus draws his sword and keeps all of them away until Teiresias drinks of it. Odysseus is first asked by the ghost of Elpenor, a boy…

influence her, often leading to the destruction of other men. Odysseus would never have been away from home in the first place Helen hadn’t been bewitched by a god to run away to with the prince of Troy, (23.246-49). We are told that even though Clytemnestra, wife of Agememnon, wants to remain faithful, Aegisthus strips her of her protector and she is powerless against his charms (3.303-10) which leads to Agememnon’s death. Even the lowly swineherd, Eumaeus, was once a beloved prince only…

Odysseus, a household name thanks to English class in high school. Students spend weeks analyzing his character and journey. Learning that Odysseus fits all the characteristics of the classic hero; strength, courage, nobility and his most distinguishing strait, intelligence. Many view Odysseus as the hero of the Odyssey but there is another character that has the same traits as Odysseus and that is Penelope, his wife. She is often forgotten in the shadow of her husband even though she is…

In Euripides’ play, Heracles, and in Sophocles’ play, Electra, there is constant interference from gods into human lives. By having both an understanding and a basic background of the timer period and location in Greece are key in understanding why the gods interfered with mortal lives the way they did. The divine intervention in both stories can be compared and similarities can be drawn from both. The exploitation of the deus ex machina demonstrated by Apollo in Electra and Hera in Heracles,…

on him, sadly. He told me that he had left with Menelaus and that Odysseus decided to stay back with Agamemnon. Then I asked him about Agamemnon’s fate, and he explained to me that he had returned back from Troy and found that Aegisthus married Clytemnestra, which was his wife. Aegisthus is a coward that stayed back while the Greeks fought. Then Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon, with Clytemnestra’s approval. Then he sent his son Pisistratus to come with me to Sparta. I then find out that Mentor is…