Final Exam Notes from Module 13 - 22
Module 15
Pelops
- Atreus Tantalus and Pelops, Pelops son of Tantalus, and cooked by his father
- Tantalus invited gods to a banquet, and prepares his son
- Demeter eats a piece of his shoulder, and repulses
- she is a civilizing goddess, some say bring an end to cannibalism
- Pelops is restored to life with a marble shoulder
- some say he is taken awya by Poseidon as his lover
- links house of Atreus to the gods, and exemplifies hubris and curse for the family
Restoration
- Pelops leaves Asia Minor to go to Elis in the Peloponnese to win Hippodamia, daughter of king Oenomaus
- he must win a chariot race, and thirteen suitors failed, the king kills suitors he caught
- it is said he may have got help from Poseidon, or bribed Myrtilus to take linchpins from the wheels of Oenomaus’ chariot
- King Oenomaus crashes and dies in pursuit
Curse of the House of Atreus
- Pelops is not given Hippodamia as a prize, and Myrtilus tries to rape her, but Pelops discovers it and throws Myrtilus off a cliff
- Myrtilus curses Pelops and his descendants
- in mythology qualities of good and bad run in families
- Pelops becomes king and has sons with Hippodamia, Atreus and Thyestes
- the brothers fight for the kingdom, which was fortold by a oracle
- it is said whoever gets a ram with golden fleece will get the city
- Pan brings the fleece to Atreus, but Thyestes steals it by sleeping with Atreus’ wife Aerope, who gives it to Thyestes
Thyestes and Atreus
- Thyestes became the first king at Mycenae
- Atreus later returns and banishes Thestes
- Atreus takes further revenge, pretends to reconcile, invites Thyestes to a banquet and kills Thyestes’ sons, except for Aegisthus
- feeds them to Thyestes
- Thyestes does not notice until he has eaten, and curses Atreus
- motif of cannibalism as well as curse on family
Agamemnon and the Trojan War
- Agamemnon, son of Atreus
- Agamemnon becomes king of Mycenae and married to Clytemnestra, two daughters, Iphigenis and Electra, son Orestes
- Agamemnon and Greeks go to war in order to revenger the fact Helen, wife of Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus was taken away by Paris to Troy
- troops father at Aulis but winds too strong to sail
- winds caused by Artemis, because two of Agamemnon’s hawks attacked and ate a pregnant hare
- to appease he will sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia
- he chooses to kill Iphigenia for the army and sake of revenge
- Clytemnestra is furious with her husband
Agamemnon’s Return Home
- return home is play by Athenian playwright Aeschylus
- Clytemnestra plotted with one remaining son of Thyestes named Aegisthus to murder Agamemnon upon returning home
- they welcome him, then throw a net over him while he is in the bath and stab him, other versions at a banquet
- Clytemnestra also mad he Agamemnon brings home Trojan prophetess Cassandra, who she also kills
- is Clytemnestra’s actions understandable when she killed her husband when her husband killed their daughter?
- curse of previous generations is present as the son of Thyestes, Aegisthus helps Clytemnestra get revenge on the son of Atreus, Agamemnon
- is Agamemnon entirely at fault, he sacrificed his daughter to not be ashamed in front of the Greeks and one must follow the divine Artemis or the curse will be on all
Orestes and Electra
- Clyemnestra and Aegisthus gain control of Mycenae
- Orestes who was away, learns of his fathers fate, and returns to take revenge
- with the help of Electra, he murders Aegisthus and his own mother Clytemnestra
- cycle of family revenge
- avenges the honour of his father
- Orestes is pursued by Furies who avenge parricide
- he seeks purification at the temple of Apollo in Delphi
- some versions, purification does exculpate him from guilt, Aeschylus’ version Athena only grants absolution when he casts the final vote when the Athenian jury is deadlocked
- Athenian courts in justice and divine punishment and absolution
- Electra becomes major character in later fifth-century tragedy, two plays written about her in Sophocles and Euripides