Atreus And thyestes
Publié le 17/01/2022
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Greek The sons of
Pelops and Hippodameia. The Pelops family, of
which they were a part, was doomed to tragedy
and bloodshed through the generations until the
fall of Mycenae and the death of their descendants,
Agamemnon and Menelaus. The stories concerning
the tragedies of the house of Pelops are sometimes
called the Atreids, after Atreus. One of the stories
tells how Atreus became king of Mycenae.
The Golden Fleece The people of Mycenae
had been advised by an Oracle to choose a ruler
from the house of Pelops. They considered Atreus
and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops and Hippodameia.
The brothers had been rivals since childhood.
Atreus laid claim to the throne, being the older
brother and also the owner of the lamb with the
Golden Fleece that had been given to the brothers
by the god Hermes. Atreus sacrificed the lamb to the
gods but kept the valuable fleece for himself.
Thyestes then persuaded Aerope, the wife of
Atreus, to steal the Golden Fleece for him. Because
he possessed the valuable fleece, the elders of Mycenae
chose Thyestes as their ruler, but Zeus revealed
to them that Thyestes had obtained the fleece by
treachery. Thyestes fled in terror of punishment,
leaving his home and children behind. The throne of
Mycenae was awarded to Atreus.
Not content with his victory, Atreus plotted
revenge on his brother. He invited his brother back
from exile, pretending forgiveness, and served him
a banquet that consisted of Thyestes' own children.
When he found out what he had eaten, Thyestes went
mad with grief. He threw a curse upon the house of
Atreus, thus compounding the one already laid upon
it by the charioteer Myrtilus, who had been tricked
by Pelops. The children of Atreus, Agamemnon and
Menelaus, would suffer greatly from these curses.
Thyestes then consulted an oracle and was advised
to beget a child upon his own daughter, Pelopia, the
only one not cooked in the stew served up by Atreus.
Thyestes, in disguise, seduced his daughter, who
managed to wrest his sword from him. Years later,
when Thyestes was a captive of Atreus, a boy of
seven appeared before him bearing a sword. Thyestes
recognized the sword as his own, and the boy,
Aegisthus, as his son with Pelopia. Aegisthus, upon
learning the truth of his ancestry, was persuaded to
acknowledge Thyestes as his true father and to turn
the sword upon Atreus.
Thyestes then reigned as king of Mycenae, with
Aegisthus as his heir. But this being the accursed
house of Pelops, Agamemnon (the eldest son of
Atreus) drove Thyestes out of Mycenae and deposed
Aegisthus. Only at the death of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra
were the Furies and Fates satisfied. They
removed the curses, stopping the atrocities of murder
and incest that had plagued the house of Pelops and
of Atreus.
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