Clytemnestra appears as a character in multiple ancient Greek works, including theHomeric epics and plays byAeschylus,Sophocles, andEuripides. She is infamous for murdering Agamemnon and the Trojan princessCassandra, whom Agamemnon had taken as a war prize, when they returned fromTrojan War. However, inHomer'sOdyssey andIliad, her role in Agamemnon's death is unclear and her character is significantly more subdued.
Her Greek nameKlytaimnḗstra is also sometimesLatinized asClytaemnestra.[3] It is commonly glossed as "famed for her suitors." However, this form is a later misreading motivated by an erroneous etymological connection to the verbmnáomai (μνάoμαι, "woo, court"). The original form is believed to have beenKlytaimḗstra (Κλυταιμήστρα) without the-n-. The present form of the name does not appear before the middleByzantine period.[4] Homeric poetry shows an awareness of both etymologies.[5] Aeschylus, in certainwordplays on her name, appears to assume an etymological link with the verbmḗdomai (μήδoμαι, "scheme, contrive"). Thus given the derivation from κλῠτός (klutós "celebrated") and μήδομαι (mḗdomai "to plan, be cunning"), this would result in the quite descriptive "famous plotter".[6]
Orestes slaying Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, 1654 painting byBernadino Mei
Clytemnestra was the daughter ofTyndareus andLeda, King and Queen ofSparta, making her a Spartan Princess.[7] According to myth,Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of aswan, raping and impregnating her.[8][9][10] She then laid with her husband the same night, and later gave birth to a set of two eggs: one fathered by Zeus that Helen and Pollux emerged from, and one fathered by Tyndareus that Castor and Clytemnestra emerged from.[11][12] Her other sisters werePhilonoe,Phoebe andTimandra.[9][13]
In myth, Clytemnestra is most commonly described as having two husbands:Agamemnon andAegisthus. Some sources name a third,Tantalus, whom Agamemnon slew before taking Clytemnestra as his wife.[14][15] The child Clytemenstra had with her first husband was killed too.[16] Another myth says both Agamemnon and his brotherMenelaus, king ofSparta, competed assuitors for Clytemnestra and Helen's hands, with Agamemnon marrying Clytemnestra and Menelaus marrying Helen.[17] Clytemnestra became queen of Mycenae through the marriage and bore Agamemnon four children:Orestes,Electra,Iphigenia, andChrysothemis. Some time after Agamemnon left for Troy, Clytemnestra began an affair withAegisthus, son ofThyestes and her husband's cousin.[18] After murdering Agamemnon, they ruled Mycenae as king and queen consort.[19] Together they had a son,Aletes, and two daughters:Erigone and Helen.[20][21]
AfterHelen was taken byParis toTroy, her husband,Menelaus, asked all Helen's suitors, including Agamemnon, to help retrieve her.[22][23] Greek forces gathered at the port city ofAulis, but consistently weak winds prevented the fleet from sailing to Troy. The priestCalchas prophesized that the winds would be favorable if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughterIphigenia to the goddessArtemis to atone for killing her sacred deer.[24] Agamemnon persuaded Clytemnestra to send Iphigenia to him, telling her he was going to marry her to the heroAchilles.[25][26] When Iphigenia arrived at Aulis, she was sacrificed, the winds turned, and the troops set sail for Troy.
TheTrojan War lasted ten years. During this period of Agamemnon's long absence, Clytemnestra began a love affair withAegisthus, her husband's cousin and the son ofThyestes.[27] Whether Clytemnestra was seduced into the affair[28] or entered into it independently[29] differs between authors and versions of the myth. Together, the pair began plotting Agamemnon's demise. Depending on the version of the myth, different reasons have been given for Clytemnestra's decision to murder her husband. These include being angered by the sacrifice of Iphigenia,[26][30] being seduced into the idea by Aegisthus so that he could take the throne and avenge his father,[31] and being insulted by Agamemnon takingCassandra as aconcubine and giving her preferential treatment.[32][33][34]
After defeating the Trojans, Agamemnon returned to Mycenae. He brought with him a war prize: Cassandra, a seer cursed byApollo so that her prophecies would never be believed.[35] Upon his return, Agamemnon was murdered either by Aegisthus, Clytemnestra, or they acted together. The character who strikes the killing blow and Clytemnestra's characterization differs between authors and versions of the myth.
In Aeschylus'Agamemnon, one of the more well-known versions of the story, Clytemnestra is portrayed as a conniving, bloodthirsty woman whose desires were encouraged by Aegisthus, wanting to avenge his father.[36] In the play, Clytemnestra welcomes her husband home and helps him down from hischariot before escorting him inside the palace. Cassandra remains outside in the chariot, where she receives a premonition and prophesizes that Clytemnestra will murder Agamemnon; a crowd watches and listens, but is unable to comprehend what she says.[37] In this version of the story, Clytemnestra waits until Agamemnon has gotten into the bath before she entangles him in a net and stabs him three times with a blade.[38] Cassandra, accepting her fate, walks into the palace and is killed as well. When Clytemnestra's act is discovered by the crowd, she revels in the deed and defends her actions: announcing that she has finally avenged Iphigenia's murder.[39]
In Euripides'Electra, Electra claims that, while her mother was involved in the plot, Aegisthus was the one who struck the killing blow.[19] Alternately, Homer has the pair acting together. In theOdyssey, Agamemnon'sshade claims that Aegisthus and Clytemnestra hosted a feast, during which the pair launched a surprise attack and murdered him alongside a number of his soldiers. In this version, Clytemnestra killed Cassandra alone.[40]
After the murders, Aegisthus took the throne and ruled Mycenae with Clytemnestra as his queen. During this time, they had three children: a son,Aletes, and a daughters,Erigone and Helen.[20][41] After seven years, Orestes returned home to Mycenae, intent on taking revenge for the death of his father. With Electra's help, he murdered Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, and their children. However, Clytemnestra cursed Orestes with her dying breath, and he was haunted by theErinyes, the goddesses of vengeance.[42]
After being freed from the Erinyes' torment, Orestes took the throne of Mycenae. In some versions of the myth, he took his half-sister, Erigone as a wife.[43] Together they had two children:Tisamenus[44] andPenthilus.[45]
Clytemnestra trying to awake theErinyes while her son is being purified byApollo,Apulian red-figurekrater, 480–470 BC,Louvre (Cp 710)
Clytemnestra appears in numerous works from ancient to modern times, sometimes as avillain and sometimes as a sympatheticantihero.[46][47] Author and classicistMadeline Miller wrote "[a]fterMedea, Queen Clytemnestra is probably the most notorious woman in Greek mythology".[48]
Clytemnestra is one of the main characters inAeschylus'sOresteia, and is central to the plot of all three parts. She murders Agamemnon in the first play, and is murdered herself in the second. Her death then leads to the trial of Orestes by a jury composed ofAthena and 12 Athenians in the final play. Her role is the largest in any surviving Greek tragedy.[49]
John Eaton composed anopera in one act entitledThe Cry of Clytemnestra recounting the events leading up to and including Clytemnestra's murder of Agamemnon.
In the 1977 film adaptationIphigenia, Clytemnestra is portrayed by the Greek actressIrene Papas.[50]
In the 2003 miniseriesHelen of Troy, Clytemnestra is played by Katie Blake.
The 2017 novelHouse of Names byColm Tóibín is a retelling of the Oresteia, with divine elements largely removed. There are three narrators: Clytemnestra, Orestes, and Electra.
Clytemnestra is one of several narrators ofA Thousand Ships (2019) byNatalie Haynes, which retells the Trojan War from the perspective of the women involved.
Clytemnestra is the protagonist of the eponymous novelClytemnestra (2023) by Costanza Casati.
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