Aegisthus
mythological figure · 10 works · 16 mentions · 25 anchored passages
her husband · Aegis · bedfellow · blood-guilty one · father's murderer · foe · glorious bridegroom · man · murderer · son of Thyestes
in the texts
Orations
Lover of Clytemnestra who kills Agamemnon upon his return and is made king of Argos.
And Agamemnon plainly was despised by his wife because of the defeat, and Aegisthus attacked him and mastered him easily, and the Argives, taking up the matter, appointed Aegisthus king—which they would not have done had he killed Agamemnon coming with such repute and power, having mastered Asia.
And the children of Thyestes were cut to pieces, and the father lay with Pelopia and begot Aegisthus;
And Aegisthus killed Agamemnon "having feasted him, as one slays an ox at the manger.
Electra
Thyestes's son, Clytemnestra's lover and Agamemnon's murderer, who rules Argos and is the first target of Orestes's vengeance.
But Orestes said:
Orestes is insulted in this way while absent.
So then, for these reasons, Aegisthus devised such a scheme:
Orestes
Clytemnestra's secret lover who helped her kill Agamemnon and was killed by Orestes.
Aegisthus was her secret husband in the home;
She deserves to die even more than you, for it was she who embittered you against your mother, always carrying tales to your ear to increase your hate the more, announcing dreams from Agamemnon, and Aegisthus’ bed, may the gods in Hades loathe it!
and all the while he was darting lively glances at the friends of Aegisthus.
Electra
Clytemnestra's consort and Agamemnon's co-murderer, now occupying royal power in the house.
Electra:
Tell me, is Aegisthus nearby as you speak these words to us, or has he left the house?
And then think what manner of days I pass, when I see Aegisthus sitting on my father’s throne;
Against Alcibiades
Figure from Greek myth (the house of Atreus) invoked as a comparison for the unnatural circumstances of the birth of Alcibiades's son by a Melian captive.
that is why our old men fight our battles, while our young men make speeches— they take Alcibiades as their model, Alcibiades who carries his villainy to such unheard-of lengths that, after recommending that the people of Melos be sold into slavery, he purchased a woman from among the prisoners and has since had a son by her, a child whose birth was more unnatural than that of Aegis—thus, since he …
On the Mysteries
Mythological figure invoked as a comparison for confused kinship relations.
Oedipus, Aegisthus, or what?
On the Nature of the Gods
Mythological figure notorious for adultery with Clytemnestra and the murder of Agamemnon.
nor, when we see the lust of Aegisthus or that of Paris, do we ask a cause sent by a god, when we almost hear the voice of guilt itself;
The Rights of War and Peace
Mythological figure who murdered Agamemnon and was later honored in burial.
for we are told, in the third book of the Odyssey, that Ægisthus, who had added the crime of murder to that of adultery, was honoured with funeral ceremonies by Orestes, the son of the murdered king.
Pythian
Clytaemnestra's lover and co-conspirator, killed by Orestes alongside his mother in the final act of vengeance.
But at last, with the help of Ares, he killed his mother and laid Aegisthus low in blood.