Who Was Agamemnon?

 

   Who Was Agamemnon?

Simply stated, Agamemnon was the King of Mycenae and leader of the Greek forces during the Trojan War. Homer refers to him as anax andron, king of men, high king, or king of kings. The term signified a ruler who had dominion over other local chiefs and kings. The term is an ancient one of the Bronze Age Mycenaean period and pre-dates Classical Greece. Originally the spelling was wanax and this archaic term was used to designate the one who controlled lower level kings called basileis. This latter word itself came to signify the rank of king in later times. There is no doubt that Agamemnon was the absolute supreme ruler of the Greek invasion army and Homer paints him as such, with all the strengths and flaws that one might expect to find in someone in such a position.

King Agamemnon of Mycenae and his brother Menelaus, the king of nearby Sparta, are many times referred to by Homer as the sons of Atreus. It is important to understand the background of the Greek leader in order to be able to fully appreciate all the events that took place before, during and after the Trojan War. Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of King Atreus of Mycenae and Aerope, the daughter of the king of Crete. The family background was filled with murders, intrigue, treachery and incest. The House of Atreus had been cursed as a result, and many of the catastrophes that were visited upon the family were viewed as being a consequence of that curse.

The two sons of Atreus married two sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra, daughters of the Spartan king Tyndareus. Menelaus succeeded his father-in-law and then assisted his brother in retaking the throne of Mycenae. Agamemnon was a great conqueror and soon became the most powerful king in Greece, the wanax. Helen was a most beautiful woman and there had been many suitors for her. Menelaus was the chosen one and he married Helen, only after a pact was signed by all the suitors that they would respect the choice and would take up arms if anyone attempted to destroy the marriage. The peace treaty had been negotiated by King Odysseus of Ithaca.

Of course we know the story of the famous beauty contest, the Judgement of Paris and the promise of the delivery of the most beautiful woman in the world to the Trojan prince. While on a diplomatic mission to Sparta, Paris spirited Helen and her wealth away and it is uncertain whether she went willingly or was kidnapped. In any case, the peace treaty was invoked and King Agamemnon ordered an invasion of Troy, in an attempt to assist his brother Menelaus in getting his wife and treasure back. Modern scholars believe that the Trojan invasion had little to do with settling the score over a stolen wife and more to do with economics. Troy was highly considered as a very wealthy nation and was situated in a strategic location for controlling trade. Agamemnon the conqueror likely adopted any excuse he could to justify a full-scale invasion of this land of plenty across the Aegean. Helen’s was the face that launched 1,000 ships, or 1,186 to be more precise.

We get some insight into the character of Agamemnon and his arrogance and ruthlessness. The local leaders and lesser kings reluctantly consented to the mission to Troy and did so, more because of the treaty that they had agreed to rather than for the somewhat ignoble purpose of the invasion. Odysseus, however, made it plain that he had no intention of going to Troy. He feigned madness in an attempt to avoid service and Agamemnon had his ambassador Palamedes threaten to kill Telemachus, the infant son of Odysseus, if he did not comply. In the epic, Agamemnon is pictured alternatively as impetuous, thoughtless, foolish, rash, arrogant, imperious, irreverent, insulting, inept and unconvincing. Despite all this, he remained the king of kings and a warrior with great physical prowess.

But there was another problem right from the start. The fleet was gathered at Aulis in Boeotia and was prepared to set sail for Troy. They languished there for weeks and perhaps a month waiting for favourable winds that did not come. Finally it was determined that the goddess Artemis was angry and kept back the winds because Agamemnon had killed one of her sacred stags. In order to appease the goddess and to see the return of the winds, Agamemnon had to agree to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. She and her mother Clytemnestra were lured to Aulis under the pretext that the princess was to be married to the warrior Achilles. Instead, the girl was led to the altar and sacrificed and the favourable winds came. Clytemnestra would not forget this outrage.

Once the Greek fleet had arrived in Troy, the army set about the task of taking the citadel and accomplishing their stated goal. Things did not go exactly as planned and they were still at it almost ten years later. Well-fortified Troy seemed impregnable and the action and killing had gone on for years on the battlefield plains between the sea coast and the fortress. Of course the Greek army had to be fed in the meantime and this was accomplished by conducting raids on all the cities and towns that were in the region. Fields and stockyards were emptied, local men were slain and their wives and children were either killed or taken into slavery. The pretty young maidens of the neighbourhood were brought back to the Greek camp for the sexual pleasure of their conquerors.

One of these young girls was called Chryseis and she was the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. Chryses approached Agamemnon and plead with him for the return of his daughter, offering a great ransom as compensation. The king’s response was an indication of his brutish arrogance and irreverence.

Then indeed all the rest of the Achaeans shouted their agreement to show reverence to the priest and to accept the shining ransom, but their decision was not pleasing to the heart of Agamemnon, son of Atreus. He ordered Chryses off with harsh words and laid a stern command on him. “Old man, do not let me find you again near the hollow ships, neither now nor later. Your staff and the wreaths of the god will not protect you.  I will not set her free and before I did so, she would sooner grow old in our home in Argos, far from her homeland, working away at the loom and pleasuring me in my bed. So depart now and do not anger me so that you may leave in safety.”

            After Chryses called down a horrendous plague on the Greeks, Homer tells us that finally Agamemnon agreed to return the girl but that he was filled with black thoughts and his eyes blazed with fire and that evil threats emanated from him. Contrary to standard practice and fair play, he made the petty decision to confiscate the war prize Briseis who had been awarded to Achilles. The slighted hero’s responses were condemnations of the king of kings and once again gave further insight into his character.

Looking sternly at him, the swift-footed Achilles replied, “Ah me, you greedy one garbed in shamefulness, how could any one of the Achaeans now obey you readily or go on a voyage for you or willingly fight for you with force?”

But the son of Peleus again attacked the son of Atreus with hateful words and in no way diminished his spite towards him. “You drunken cowardly son of a bitch, never have you had courage enough to dress for battle or to go forth to fight along with the chiefs of the Achaeans. You are so afraid of dying you sluggard. You prefer to wander through the sprawling camp of the Achaeans and to just confiscate the prizes of anyone who has the temerity to speak against you. You are a king who devours his own people.”

            From the mouth of Thersites the troublemaker came another condemnation of the leader Agamemnon, and in his words we can assume that he spoke for the common people. One would think from his remarks that the king’s rule was tenuous, but this was not the case. He continued to lead and the Greeks continued to follow him. Thus he spoke and no one disobeyed Agamemnon the lord of men.

“Son of Atreus, what are you craving now and casting blame about? Your tents are full of bronze and likewise your tents house many women whom we Achaeans have given you when we have sacked a citadel. Are you in want of gold, for many horse-taming Trojans bear ransoms to you for their captured sons whom we Achaeans have bound and held? Or is it a new young girl you want for you to dally with and keep separate for yourself? Truly it is not fitting for you as a ruler to be bringing evil upon the sons of the Achaeans.”

One of the reasons for Agamemnon’s enduring leadership was his prowess in battle and his stature on the battlefield. The king of kings was considered one of the most formidable warriors among the Greeks.

And among them strode great King Agamemnon with eyes and head like Zeus the lover of lightning, girdled like Ares and with the chest of Poseidon. Like a great bull stands distinguished among a herd of bulls and cows, so also did Zeus place the son of Atreus that day in a position superior to all the other heroes present there.

These sent a hundred ships under the command of powerful King Agamemnon, son of Atreus. His force was the finest and the largest among all the peoples. In their midst stood the king himself, flashing gloriously in his armor of gleaming bronze. He was the leader among all the heroes because he was the best warrior and he led the greatest number of men.

King Priam of Troy and Helen of Sparta met on the walls of Troy and the old king asked his new daughter-in-law about the Greek troops that were massed on the plains below them.

“Tell me the name of that huge warrior of the Achaeans, that most handsome and great one. He is taller by a head than all the others and the most majestic man that I believe I have ever seen. To a man he appears to be a king.”

“But I have an answer to the question that you are asking. That man indeed is King Agamemnon, the son of Atreus. He is a good king as well as being strong, mighty and a great warrior. He was my husband’s brother, whore that I was.”

Thus she spoke and the old man gazed on him with wonderment and answered. “O blessed son of Atreus, born of good fortune with a happy fate. Truly many sons of the Achaeans bear homage to you.”

            But we also see Agamemnon as a loving brother who shuddered and grieved when his brother Menelaus was wounded in battle. He swore a solemn oath that if his brother died, his death would be avenged by him personally.

“O my dear brother, have I now made an oath which will be the death of you, having set you alone to battle for the Achaeans with the Trojans, and the Trojans shot at you and trampled on the sacred oath? Indeed, that oath shall not become fruitless, nor the blood of the lambs and pure libations offered, nor the right hands extended by us. For even if the great Olympian has not yet brought it about, they will indeed be forced to pay a great price with their heads, their women and their children. I know this to be true in both my heart and my soul. The day will come when the sacred city of Ilium will be destroyed and Priam and the people of Priam, so good with the ashen spear, will likewise die.”

            Agamemnon called for the doctors to treat his brother and returned to the fighting,

While they were occupied treating Menelaus, along came the shield-bearing Trojans with a great battle cry and the Achaeans once more armed themselves and rose up eager for war. But even then you did not see the divine Agamemnon sleeping or cowering in fear or holding back from fighting, but rather he was quickly speeding toward the battle which brings men glory.

We know from Homer’s narrative that the Greeks were ultimately successful and that King Agamemnon led them on to victory, despite being wounded himself along the way. He and Achilles managed the differences between them and the great hero from Phthia returned to the battlefield where he ultimately triumphed over Hector. Agamemnon continued to lead his army and slaughtered scores on the field of battle. Homer describes Agamemnon’s own personal day of glory in battle in Book XI of the Iliad. It is safe to say that the king’s character was flawed and that at times his leadership was questionable but he does demonstrate personal growth as the narrative progresses and he learns how to become a better leader.

            After Troy had fallen and most of its royal family had been slaughtered, Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam, was awarded to Agamemnon as a war prize. She accompanied him back to his home in Mycenae and we learn from the account in the Odyssey and from legend what happened next. As indicated previously, Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra never forgot the horror and the outrage that the king caused in offering their daughter Iphigenia as a human sacrifice to the goddess Artemis on the shores of Aulis some ten years beforehand. During his absence, Clytemnestra had taken on Aegisthus as a lover. When Agamemnon returned to Mycenae, weary and soiled from the war and his journey home, his wife suggested that he take a soothing bath to relax. The story goes that Clytemnestra and Aegisthus took this opportunity to slay Agamemnon in his bathtub and to likewise dispose of Cassandra. The curse of the House of Atreus was fulfilled once again but was in no way finished, for ultimately Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, with the help of his sister Electra, kills his mother and Aegisthus. The two murdering children are then driven into insanity by the Furies.

            Agamemnon was a complicated person and over the ages, from ancient times to modern, his character has been explored in literature and the arts. As many as six ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Agamemnon. He was a man of power and was also somewhat corrupted by that power. He was a leader but he made questionable leadership decisions. He was a family man but the curse on his family led to all sorts of tragedies, including ultimately his own demise. He was the king of kings, but used that power for his own selfish purposes at times. He was physically strong but many times showed mental weakness. In the final analysis, he was something of a bully who met his end at the hands of a woman who was driven by hatred and revenge.