Clytemnestra

Mortal queen of Mycenae; daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, the mortal-fathered half-sister of Helen. Wife and killer of Agamemnon: maddened by his sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia at Aulis, she takes Aegisthus as lover and, on the king's return, snares him in a robe-net in the bath and cuts him down with the axe, killing Cassandra beside him — the deed at the centre of Aeschylus's Oresteia. Mother of Iphigenia, Electra, Chrysothemis, and Orestes; slain at last by Orestes, the matricide that looses the Erinyes. The mortal line through which her children descend.

Parentage

• paternal: Tyndareus
• maternal: Leda

Children

• Chrysothemis
• Electra
• Iphigenia
• Orestes

Domains

• queenship
• vengeance

Powers

• Snare and slay the returning king

Epithets

• Κλυταιμνήστρα Greek · Klytaimnestra · namefamed for scheming / famously wooedAeschylus, Agamemnon (primary)

Relations

• sibling: HelenHalf-sister — same mother Leda; Clytemnestra mortal-fathered, Helen Zeus-fathered.Eur. IA 49-51; Apollod. 3.10.6-7 (primary)
• sibling: CastorFull sibling — both mortal-fathered children of Tyndareus and Leda.Apollod. 3.10.7 (primary)
• spouse: AgamemnonHom. Od. 11.405-434; Aesch. Ag. (primary)
• lover: AegisthusHom. Od. 3.262-272; Aesch. Ag. 1435-1447 (primary)
• mother of: IphigeniaEur. IA; Aesch. Ag. 1412-1421 (primary)
• mother of: ElectraAesch. Cho.; Soph. El.; Eur. El. (primary)
• mother of: ChrysothemisSoph. El. 157, 328-471 (primary)
• mother of: OrestesAesch. Cho.; Hom. Od. 1.298-300 (primary)
• enemy: OrestesHer killer-son; the matricide.Aesch. Cho. 896-930 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Homer Odyssey 3.262-310, 11.405-434, 24.199-202; Aeschylus Agamemnon, Choephoroi; Sophocles Electra; Euripides Electra, Orestes, Iphigenia at Aulis; Apollodorus Epitome 2.16, 6.23-25 (primary)
• parentage: Apollod. 3.10.6-7; Eur. IA 49-51 (daughter of Tyndareus and Leda) (primary)