Clytemnestra
mythological figure · 12 works · 22 mentions · 56 anchored passages
daughter of Tyndareus · mother · daughter of Leda · his wife · my mother · Clytaemnestra · Clytemnestra, the daughter of Tyndareus · Clytemnestras · Lady · child of Tyndareus
in the texts
Orations
Wife of Agamemnon, described as harsh and given to effrontery
But when she heard what manner of household Agamemnon's was, how harsh, and of Clytemnestra's cruelty and effrontery, then she came to dread the journey to Argos.
and he, together with Clytemnestra, killed Agamemnon, the shepherd of the Achaeans;
but coming to his own house after so long a time, having sacrificed to the gods and set forth his own table, he was so cruelly slain by his own wife.
Iphigenia in Aulis
Agamemnon's wife and Iphigenia's mother, who arrives at Aulis believing she is bringing her daughter to marry Achilles.
Achilles:
Achilles:
Achilles:
Odyssey
Wife of Agamemnon, courted by Aigisthos during Agamemnon's absence at Troy.
but we were over there, fighting hard [ athlos] at Troy, and Aigisthos who was taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos, cajoled Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra with incessant flattery.
but when heaven had counseled her destruction, Aigisthos led this bard off to a desert island and left him there for crows and seagulls to batten upon - after which she went willingly enough to the house of Aigisthos.
I heard Priam's daughter Cassandra scream as Clytemnestra killed her close beside me.
Electra
Agamemnon's widow, now living with Aegisthus, and the intended second target of Orestes's and Electra's revenge.
Electra:
Electra:
Electra:
Iphigenia in Tauris
Wife of Agamemnon and mother of Iphigenia, Orestes, and Electra, who murdered Agamemnon on his return from Troy and was killed in turn by Orestes.
she was killed by the son that she bore.
Yes, for he was dreadfully murdered by a woman.
Daughter of Agamemnon, and of Clytemnestra, hear a strange report from me.
Orestes
Mother of Orestes and Electra who murdered her husband Agamemnon and was in turn killed by Orestes.
Tyndareus:
Tyndareus:
Tyndareus:
Against the Stepmother for Poisoning
Mythological queen who murdered her husband Agamemnon; invoked rhetorically by the speaker as a scornful comparison for the stepmother.
Upon reflection, she decided that it would be better to give it afterwards, thereby carrying out the suggestion of this Clytemnestra here.
Andromache
Mother of Orestes, killed Agamemnon and was in turn killed by her son at Apollo's bidding.
so he slew her, aye, spilt his own mother’s blood.
The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, by name Orestes, on my way to the oracle of Zeus at Dodona.
The son of Atreus is no more, slain by the hand of his wife, and she herself hath paid the debt of blood by death, and from her children’s hands received her doom.
Hecuba
Referred to obliquely as Agamemnon's wife and the daughter of Tyndareus; prophesied by Polymestor to kill Cassandra and later to slay Agamemnon himself.
Polymestor:
Never may the daughter of Tyndareus do such a frantic deed!
The wife of Agamemnon, grim keeper of his palace, shall slay her.
Dissertations on Early Law and Custom
Mother of Orestes in the Eumenides.
This passage is parallel to a better known passage in the Eumenides of Æschylus, in which Apollo, as advocate for Orestes, argues that he was not of kin to his mother, Clytemnestra, whom he had killed.
Iliad
Agamemnon's wife, mentioned by him as a point of comparison for Chryseis.
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.