Agamemnon

Scion of the Pelopid house (son of the scion Atreus by the mortal Aerope). King of Mycenae and supreme commander of the Greek coalition at Troy — Homer's 'lord of men.' Sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia at Aulis for sailing wind; his quarrel with Achilles over Briseis drives the Iliad. Murdered at his homecoming by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus — snared in a robe and axed in the bath in Aeschylus — the killing that the Odyssey contrasts with Odysseus's safe return and that the Oresteia builds upon. Brother of Menelaus and Anaxibia; father of Iphigenia, Electra, Chrysothemis, and Orestes.

Parentage

• paternal: Atreus
• maternal: Aerope
• parent: Pleisthenes

Children

• Chrysothemis
• Electra
• Iphigenia
• Orestes

Domains

• kingship
• war
• command

Powers

• Sovereign command of the Achaean host
• Battle prowess

Epithets

• ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν — lord of men anax andronHom. Il. 1.172 and passim — his standing Homeric epithet (primary)
• εὐρὺ κρείων — wide-ruling eury kreionHom. Il. 1.102 and passim (primary)

Relations

• sibling: MenelausBrothers, the Atreidae.Hom. Il. 2.104-108; Apollod. Epit. 2.15-16 (primary)
• sibling: Anaxibia daughter of AtreusPaus. 2.29.4 (primary)
• spouse: ClytemnestraHom. Od. 11.405-434; Aesch. Ag. (primary)
• father of: IphigeniaAesch. Ag. 184-247; Apollod. Epit. 3.21-22 (primary)
• father of: ElectraAesch. Cho.; Soph. El.; Eur. El. (primary)
• father of: ChrysothemisHom. Il. 9.145; Soph. El. 157, 328-471 (primary)
• father of: OrestesHom. Od. 1.298-300; Aesch. Cho.; Apollod. Epit. 6.24 (primary)
• enemy: AegisthusAegisthus, his father's enemy's incest-son and his killer.Hom. Od. 3.262-310; Aesch. Ag. (primary)

Sources

• existence: Homer Iliad (throughout), Odyssey 11.405-434; Aeschylus Agamemnon; Apollodorus Epitome 2.15-16, 3.12-22, 6.23; Pausanias 2.16.6-7 (primary)
• parentage: Hom. Il. 2.104-108; Apollod. Epit. 2.15-16 (primary)