Agamemnon:Agamemnon was the leader of the Greek army, and he launched the Trojan War.
Details:
- Friends: Achilles— the greatest warrior of the Greek Coalition, an great hero who was the son of an god and a human.
- Enemies: Hector—the prince and the greatest warrior of Troy.
- Connected gods: Hera—the protector of marriage, a supporter of the Greek Coalition Athena—the protector of civilized life, handicrafts and agriculture, a supporter of the Greek Coalition.
- Connected myths: the Trojan War Agamemnon and children.
- Cultural connections: film Troy (about the Trojan War).
Trojan War:
By the Trojan horse, the Greek Coalition was able to get into Troy and finally win the Trojan War.
After the capture of Troy, Cassandra, Priam’s daughter, fell to Agamemnon’s lot in the distribution of the prizes of war. On his return he landed in Argolis, where Aegisthus, who in the interval had seduced Agamemnon’s wife, treacherously carried out the murders of Agamemnon, his comrades, and Cassandra. In Agamemnon, by the Greek poet and dramatist Aeschylus, however, Clytemnestra was made to do the killing. The murder was avenged by Orestes, who returned to slay both his mother and her paramour(from Britannica). |
Agamemnon and Children:
This tragedy, Agamemnon and Children, was caused by the Trojan War. On the way to Troy, the Greek Coalition was confused about the wind caused by Artemis because Agamemnon had killed Artemis’s deer and she was very angry. Agamemnon was forced to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigeneia, to Artemis. Because of the death of daughter, Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon, began to hate him. With the support of Aegisthus, the lover of Clytemnestra, she killed Agamemnon when arrived home. However, they couldn’t kill the son of Agamemnon, Orestes, because he had been sent to a reliable friend at that time. And they don’t want to kill another daughter of Agamemnon, Electra. After years, Orestes came back to this kingdom and found his mother and her lover. Orestes struggled to decide whether he should avenge. He asked Apollo for help, and the god implied revenge. At last, Orestes killed his mother and her lover.
However, after avenging, Orestes dropped into great pain. His eyes were fixed always on that unseen horror. (from Mythology by Edith Hamilton) He could always see terrible women which other people couldn’t see. He rushed away, alone except for those invisible companions. (from Mythology by Edith Hamilton) He had become a wanderer when he came back again after many years. He had learned that no crime was beyond atonement, that even he, defiled by a mother’s murder, could be made clean again. He traveled to Athena, sent there by Apollo to plead his case before Athena. Apollo said Orestes avenged at his command. But Orestes told Athena: “I, not Apollo, was guilty of my mother’s murder, but I have been cleansed of my guilt.” These were words never spoken before by any of the House of Atreus. Athena accepted the plea. She persuaded the avenging goddesses also to accept it, and with this new law of mercy established they themselves were changed. Orestes, went forth from Athena’s tribunal a free man. Neither he nor any descendant of his would ever again be driven into evil by the irresistible power of the past. The curse of the House of Atreus was ended.( from Mythology by Edith Hamilton)
SUMMARY:
Agamemnon may be able to be a hero because of the great victory of the Trojan War. But Orestes must indeed be a hero. It was pretty hard and tragic for him to decide whether he should avenge – his father was murdered, but the murderer was his mother. With the command of Apollo, he avenged, killed his mother, and then, he was tangled by the avenging goddesses for many years. At last, he told his plea and shoulder the responsibility in front of gods and goddesses. They forgave him. He became free and ended the curse of the House of Atreus. Orestes was virtuous, brave and responsible, and that’s why he can be a true hero.
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