The House of Atreus, Background for the Oresteia of Aeschylus and the Thyestes of Seneca

THE HOUSE OF ATREUS was afflicted with a curse that brought evil down on its members through many generations. Atreus' father, Pelops, was the son of Tantalus. Pelops came to Greece from Asia Minor as a suitor for the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus, king of Pisa. To win the fair Hippodamia, a suitor had to win a chariot race with her father from Pisa to the Isthmus of Korinth. The suitor would set out with Hippodamia in the chariot with him and after an appropriate head start, Oenomaus would follow. When he caught the hapless charioteer, he would, naturally, kill him. The heads of the preceding twelve unlucky suitors decorated the palace of Oenomaus when Pelops decided to try. He bribed Oenomaus' charioteer, Myrtilus (son of Hermes) who removed the linchpins from Oenomaus' chariot. During the pursuit, the chariot duly failed, crashing, and throwing Hippodamia's father out and killing him. Pelops thus won his lady fair. Myrtilus expected to be rewarded by Pelops (for some apparently Greek reason) with the favors of the comely Hippodamia. Myrtilus accordingly tried to "force" her when the happy band stopped for a rest, and, discovered by Pelops, was thrown into the sea. One the way over the cliff, Myrtilus uttered a curse on Pelops and his descendants, which curse led to the misfortunes suffered by the House of Atreus.

Pelops became king of Pisa, and soon extended his rule over the islands of Southern Greece now known as the Peloponnese. An oracle had predicted that "a son of Pelops" would rule over Mycenae, so it was obediently offered to his sons Thyestes and Atreus. Mycenae was to go to the owner of a golden-fleeced ram. Artemis had given said ram to Atreus, but his wife, Aerope, had been seduced by his brother, Thyestes, and in apparent reparation for his ardor had been given said ram. Thyestes was, thus, king of Mycenae for a time, but Atreus soon drove him into exile and claimed his (more or less) rightful throne. But soon, Atreus lured his brother back promising forgiveness. At the welcoming banquet, Atreus served Thyestes a stew containing his (Thyestes') two sons...and had their little heads brought in on a platter in lieu of seconds. When Thyestes left this time, he called down another curse on the House of Atreus. During this second exile, Thyestes lay with his daughter, Pelopia, (on advice of an oracle) who bore him Aegisthus (who will turn up later ) Before falling for Thyestes, Aerope had born Atreus two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus (called the Atredai). Agamemnon and Menelaus married two sisters, Klytemnestra and Helen respectively.

Helen and Klytemnestra were the daughters of Zeus (in the guise of a swan) and Leda. This kinky union produced four offspring from two eggs. Helen and Castor came from the first and Polydeuces (Pollux) and Klytemnestra from the second, but that's another story. Helen was, of course the most beautiful woman in the world, and had been courted by all the Greek chieftains. To make a long story short, Menelaus got the nod, but during the wooing period all the suitors pledged that should Helen receive injury or her husband be injured because of her, they would all rush to the rescue.

Well, meantime the gods were having a big do to which everybody was invited - -everybody, that is, except Eris, the goddess of Strife. She showed up anyway with a golden apple inscribed "To The Fairest," which she threw into the midst of the festivities. Well, Hera, Artemis and Aphrodite all wanted the thing so they asked Zeus to decide who was "The Fairest." No dummy, Zeus passed the buck to Paris. Leaving nothing to chance, each of the goddesses offered Paris a bribe: Hera offered him royal power; Athena offered him victory in war; Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris gave Aphrodite the Apple of Discord, so Helen fell in love with Paris and was carried off to Troy. Agamemnon, as chief Greek prince, led the attack on Troy, a war lasting ten years which was chronicled in the Iliad. Agamemnon took just ten years to prepare for the war, and he and Klytemnestra had three children: Elektra, Orestes and Iphigenia. When the Greek fleet of a thousand ships was finally ready to depart, there was no wind, so Kalchas, a seer (who crops up everywhere), said Agamemnon had to give up the war or sacrifice Iphigenia. Odysseus was sent to fetch the girl under the pretense that she was to marry Achilleus...a filthy lie, but Klytemnestra sent the girl, Agamemnon sacrificed her and the fleet sailed happily into the sunset for another ten years of war. Aeschylus' Agamemnon opens at the end of the war...

The Choephori opens seven years after the Agamemnon. Klytemnestra and Aegisthus still rule Argos. Elektra has grown up and Orestes--who had been sent away before Agamemnon returned from Troy, is about to return. The Eumenides follows hard upon.