the house of atreus

THE HOUSEOF ATREUS

Report by:

Antonio Delgado

BSEd II

HOUSE (architecture)dwelling place, construct

ed as a home for one or more persons.

(history)a royal family

Queen Elizabeth II

HOUSE OF WINDSOR

HOUSE OF ATREUS The royal family of Mycenea

TANTALUS son of Zeus Feeds the gods

his own son, Pelops

Gods get mad Send him to

underworld Cannot reach

food or water

PELOPS son of

Tantalus Returned to

form by the gods

Tries to woo Hippodamia

Has to race her father by chariot Wins and marries Hippodamia Hyppodamia’s father kills charioteer

(Myrtilus) for taking bribe

NIOBE Ruled Thebes with

Amphion (a son of Zeus)

Had 14 children, 7 boys and 7 girls

Tried to get the people of Thebes to worship her over Leto

Niobe’s children are killed by the gods and she is turned to stone

ATREUS AND THYESTES exiled by their

father for murdering their half-brother Chrysippus

took refuge in Mycenae

Atreus ascended to the throne in the absence of King Eurystheus

ATREUS AND THYESTES Thyestes falls in love with brother’s

wife (Aerope)• Makes her false to her vows• Thyestes has 2 children

Atreus finds out • Has his brother’s 2 children

killed• Boils them and feeds them to

Thyestes The gods punish Atreus and curse

his family

THE SONS OF ATREUS Menelaus and Agamemnon

King of Sparta Husband of Helen

MENELAUS

AGAMEMNON One of the sons of

Atreus Commander of the

Greek forces at Troy His wife is

Clytemnestra Children were:

Iphigenia, Orestes, and Electra

THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGENIA

Before the war, Agamemnon sacrifices Iphigenia in order to get good winds to sail to Troy (not willingly; believed to be a part of the curse over the House of Atreus)

Clytemnestra becomes outraged and takes a lover named Aegisthus

Aegisthus is the son of Thestyes

AGAMEMNON AND CLYTEMNESTRA

When Agamemnon comes back, he brings a prophetess named Cassandra with him

The prophetess makes a prediction that 2 family members will die, including herself

AGAMEMNON AND CLYTEMNESTRA

Clytemnestra then comes out admitting that she killed Agamemnon

AGAMEMNON AND CLYTEMNESTRA

ELECTRA Aeigisthus refused to kill Electra Orestes was away Electra patiently waited for Orestes’

return

ORESTES Orestes faces a

conflict: avenging his father’s death was his duty, but killing his mother was abhorrent to the gods

He kills his mother after asking for Apollo’s help

He is assisted by Pylades

A CYCLE OF MURDERClytemnestra &

Aegisthuskill Agamemnon

Orestes killsClytemnestra & Aegisthus

Furies hound Orestes

ORESTES AND THE FURIES

Walks around with Furies hovering over him for years (payment for sin)

ORESTES PLEADS BEFORE ATHENA

Pleas before Athena

Since no one in the House of Atreus had ever paid for their sins, Athena spares Orestes and lifts curse on House of Atreus

THE EUMENIDES The Furies

were transformed into the Eumenides

IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS

Slightly different version of previous story Right before Iphigenia is sacrificed,

Artemis rescues her• Artemis takes her to a temple in

the land of the Taurians and makes her a priestess of her own temple

• The Taurians were a fierce people who sacrificed to Artemis any Greed found in their country

IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS

“Would a god command such things?”“It is the men of this land who are

bloodthirsty and they lay their own guilt on thegods.”

At the temple of Artemis, she conducts the temple sacrifices with great displeasure

While she does her duties, the Taurians find and capture two Greeks; Orestes and Pylades

IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS

IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS They are searching

for the image of Artemis, so that Orestes can lift the curse on his family

They are taken to Iphigenia, to be sacrificed for Artemis

IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS

She asks them where they are from

She is willing to free Pylades, if he sends word to her long lost brother, Orestes, that she is alive and needs him to rescue her

IPHIGENIA AMONG THE TAURIANS Orestes reveals himself to his older

sister They quickly escape with the image of

Artemis King Thoas tries to stop them from

escaping, but Athena tells him to stop because they are fated to escape

GAARA LEE BRITANNIA

Prepared by:“Live to express, not to impress.”