User:Polykarpiris/Agamemnon

Agamemnon

Agamemnon, from Greek mythology, was the mighty king of Mycenae and the leader of the Greek army in the Trojan War of Homer's Illiad. While a great warrior, Agamemnon was also a selfish ruler who famously upset his best warrior Achilles, a feud that prolonged the war and the suffering of his men for years.

Agamemnon was the son of Atreus, and his mother was Aerope from Crete. He was married to his wife Clytemnestra, with whom he had three daughters: Chrysothemis, Electra and Iphigeneia. He also had a son with Clytemnestra named Orestes. Agamemnon was the brother of Menelaus, king of Sparta.

The Trojan War

Things started off badly for Agamemnon when he offended Artemis by killing one of her sacred animals. The Greek goddess made it impossible for the Greeks to set sail, and as a result the Greek soldiers were becoming more and more reluctant to fight. In the end, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis, finally making peace with the goddess. After this Agamemnon gathered his army, including the famous heroes Odysseus and Achilles, and set sail for Troy. Agamemnon started off well, leading his men and filling them with good positive morale, while fighting very bravely himself. Although it looked like the Greeks were going to win with ease, Agamemnon himself sabotaged this by selfishly taking the mistress Briseis from Achilles, after losing his own mistress Chryseis to Apollo. As a result of this conflict, Achilles withdrew himself from the battlefield as revenge, and the Greeks consequently started losing battles and losing morale, with the war being prolonged several more years. However, Achilles eventually returned to battle when his closest friend Patroclus was killed by Hector, and Agamemnon finally gave up Briseis and returned her to Achilles. Eventually, with Achilles defeating Hector and Odysseus' great plan of the Trojan horse, the Greeks managed to capture the city of Troy and win the war. Agamemnon took Cassandra, a daughter of former king Priam of Troy, as his reward and set sail back to Greece.

Death

Agamemnon was famously murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus as soon as he returned home from Troy. The main motive for Clytemnestra was her grief and fury at Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia in exchange for a wind to blow the Greek fleet to Troy.

When Agamemnon arrived home with his new lover Cassandra, Clytemnestra invited him to a bath she had prepared for him. After this, she then ensnared him in a net and butchered him with an ax by the help of Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s cousin and her lover. With Agamemnon dead, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus proceeded to make themselves the rulers of Mycenae. However, Agamemnon's death would be avenged by his children, Orestes and Electra, who successfully plotted the murder of their mother Clytemnestra.

Bibliography

Douglas, Olson S. “The Stories of Agamemnon in Homer’s Odyssey.” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974), vol. 120, 1990, pp. 57–71, www.jstor.org/stable/283978?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#page_scan_tab_contents, https://doi.org/10.2307/283978.

This is a peer-reviewed research journal, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.

Donlan, Walter. “Homer’s Agamemnon.” The Classical World, vol. 65, no. 4, 1971, pp. 109–115, www.jstor.org/stable/4347609.

This is a peer-reviewed research journal, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.

Siegel, Herbert. “Agamemnon in Euripides’ “Iphigenia at Aulis.”” Hermes, vol. 109, no. 3, 1981, pp. 257–265, www.jstor.org/stable/4476212.

This is a peer-reviewed research journal, so it should be a reliable source. It also covers the topic in some depth, so it's helpful in establishing notability.

Outline of proposed changes

These articles provide a lot of additional information on the role Agamemnon plays in Homer's Iliad, and how his characters goes through various shifts as the leader of the Greeks, his self-worth swelling and falling constantly throughout the work. The articles also delve into the various emotions at play in this seemingly tough character on the surface, exploring his concerns and insecurities, as well as his more positive and admirable qualities.