THE HOUSE OF ATREUS

The House of Atreus

• They were one of the most famous families

in Mythology.
• Ill-fated house
• Misfortune caused by King Tantalus
• Family was cursed
Tantalus and Niobe
• Tantalus was Zeus’s Son
• Had his son Pelops killed and served to the gods.
• The gods figured out what he had done.
• They set him in a pool in Hades.
• Whenever he went to take a drink, the water disappeared
• Over the pool was a fruit tree.
• When he would try to grab a fruit, the wind would blow them
higher.
• Forever hungry and thirsty
• Niobe, his daughter, suffered a worse fate.
• Married to Amphion. Has 14 children.
• Seven daughters and Seven sons
• Built a wall around Thebes, where both ruled.
• Mistakenly thought she could deceive the gods.
• Told the people of Thebes to worship her
• Niobe said she has more children than Leto (mother of Apollo and
Artemis)
• Apollo and Artemis heard and killed seven sons and seven daughters
• Her tears never stopped flowing.
• Turned into stone, to match her heart
• Stone was forever wet with tears.
Pelops’s sons
Atreus and Thyestes

• Thyestes fell in love with Atreus’s wife.

• Convinced her into making false marriage vows
• Atreus found out, killed Thyestes’ 2 sons and
fed them to him.
• Thyestes realized this after he ate them.
• Thyestes was exiled and swore vengeance.
Agamemnon and his Children
• After the fall of Troy
• Menelaus and Helen lived happily ever after
• Clytemnestra had taken Aegisthus as her lover while
Agamemnon was gone.
(Aegisthus, her lover and son of Thyestes)
• Agamemnon came back after 10 years, with Cassandra
• Crowd greeted him with thanksgiving.
• She welcomed him.
• She and her lover had killed Agamemnon.
Orestes
• Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, knew he must kill his mother and

Aegisthus to avenge his father.

• Electra waited patiently for her brother to come.

• Orestes went to Delphi and Apollo spoke to him

“Slay the two who slew.

Atone for death by death.

Shed blood for old blood shed.”

• He went home land with his cousin and a friend, Pylades

• Orestes and Pylades tricked Clytemnestra into letting

them into the palace.

• Once in, they would attack.

• Orestes killed Aegisthus first.

• For a moment, he doubted killing his mother, but knew he

must obey Apollo, who told him to carry out the deed.

• He killed Clytemnestra.
• After, he thought he mother had sent shaped of
women to follow him wherever he went.
• He became a wanderer, constantly surrounded by
these shapes of women.
• When next he came to his country, years had
passed.
• He learned that no crime was beyond atonement.
• He was sent to Athens by Apollo to plead his case to
Athena.
• Orestes told Athena he was guilty of the murder, by the
felt no guilt.
• These words were never spoken by any family members
of the House of Atreus before.
• Athena accepted his plea.
• Orestes was acquitted. (find innocent)
• With this, the evil that surrounded the house vanished.
• Orestes left a free man.
The curse on the house had ended.
IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS
• A man came running to Clytemnestra, saying Iphigenia
had not been killed.
• No one knows exactly what happened.
• At the altar, the priest was about to sentence her when
anguish came over every man in the room.
• Suddenly, Iphigenia vanished.
• On the ground was a dear with its throat cut.
• It was thought to be the work of Artemis.
• She would not have human blood on her altar.
• Artemis took her to the land of the Taurians.
• She made sure Iphigenia would be safe.
• She was made priestess of Artemis’s temple.
• Orestes and Pylades came to the country.
• They were told by Apollo’s oracle to go.
• When they reached the temple, they realized
they couldn’t do anything until the night.
• Iphigenia met the men and questioned them.
• She did not realized that one of the men was
Orestes.
• She gave Pylades a letter to deliver.
• When asked who is was for, she told them Orestes.
• The message was that she was alive.<br />She
wanted Orestes to free her.
• Pylades handed the letter to Orestes right there.
• At first she did not believe it, but he convinced her
that he was her brother.
• She came up with a plan to escape the country.
• She told the King that the two men were tainted, and
she was going to take them to the shore to purify
them.
• Once on the beach the three would get on a ship.
• It was almost as if the plan was going to work when
a wind came and blew their ship back to land.
•
• The King was furious and rushed to put the three
to death.
• Athena appeared overhead and told him to let
the ship go.
• The king agreed.
• Poseidon calmed the waters.
• From the shore, people watched as the wind and
waves stopped and the ship sailed into the sea.
QUIZ
1. Who is the founder of the curse in the House?
2. What was Tantalus punished for?
3. What is the name of Tantalus' son?
4. Who was stoned and was forever wet with tears.
5. Who sacrifices his own daughter?
6. who is the lover of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife
7. Who is the god that commanded Orestes to kill his
mother Clythemnestra and her lover?
8. Who is the goddess that lifted the curse?
9. In what land did Iphigenia end up?
10. Who accompanied Orestes in his journey?