Agamemnon Calchas Achilles Iphigenia

Retaliation demanded against Trojan theft

Some time later, Menelaus learned, while he was in Crete, that the Trojan seducer Paris had stolen his wife Helen and many treasures besides. As soon as he could, Menelaus met his brother Agamemnon at Mycenae, and together they decided to raise an army against Troy. Heralds then were sent to all kings of Hellas reminding them of "The Oath of Tyndareus" they had sworn, which bound them to support Menelaus if ever his marriage with Helen were threatened. This is how Agamemnon, who at the time was the most powerful ruler in Hellas, became the commander in chief of a large coalition, whose war ships gathered in Aulis—a Boeotian harbor opposite the island of Euboea—in order to sail to Troy and have Helen and the property restored, either through negotiation or by force.

Calchas' remedy against bad weather

However, the mighty fleet could not sail because of the winds, and as impatience grew in the army, the seer Calchas found the remedy to this inconvenience. He declared that they would be able to sail only if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis, and if he did, they would also take the city of Troy, but if he did not, they would neither sail nor sack the city. The seer assumed that Artemis wasArtemis was assumed to be angry at Agamemnon because he had said, on shooting a deer, that the goddess herself could not have done it better, and also because Agamemnon's father Atreus had not sacrificed to her a certain golden lamb (see Pelopides).

02121: Sacrifice of Iphigenia. "Just as Iphigenia was standing before the altar ready to shed her innocent blood, the goddess was moved to pity and spread a cloud before their eyes.." (Ov. Met. 12.30). Guillaume T. de Villenave, Les Métamorphoses d'Ovide (Paris, Didot 1806–07). Engravings after originals by Jean-Jacques François Le Barbier (1739–1826), Nicolas André Monsiau (1754–1837), and Jean-Michel Moreau (1741–1814).

Deceitful letter

Agamemnon is said to have thought of disbanding the army, for even if the ruler could accept the price, the father could not. But Menelaus, eager to be avenged and to have his own wife and property restored, persuaded his brother to become the murderer of his own daughter. So Agamemnon sent a deceitful letter to Clytaemnestra and their own child, asking them to come and join him in Aulis, where Iphigenia, he said, was going to be given in marriage to Achilles. Achilles himself was not aware of the way the king was using his name, for the lie was only known by Agamemnon, Menelaus, Calchas and Odysseus.

Agamemnon's raison d'état

Lured by the master of their own house, Clytaemnestra and Iphigenia came to Aulis, where murder, disguised as wedding, awaited the young girl. Some have said that this was a very serious dilemma that Agamemnon had to solve, for it is never easy to commit great crimes. Nevertheless the king prevailed over the father:

"Awful it is, my wife, to dare this deed, yet awful to forbear. I must do this!" (Agamemnon to Clytaemnestra. Iphigenia in Aulis 1255)

The ships sail, but the crime is remembered

Iphigenia was sacrificed and, if Calchas the seer is to be believed, the fleet could sail from Aulis to Troy thanks to that deed. But Clytaemnestra never forgave the loss of her daughter, and many years later, having killed her husband, she remembered the crime which justified her own:

"… for what Agamemnon did to my sweet flower, shoot sprung from him, Iphigenia, let him make no great boasts in the halls of Hades, since with death dealt him by the sword he has paid for what he first began." (Clytaemnestra. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1525).

Iphigenia said to have survived the sacrifice

Yet it is also told that when Iphigenia was about to be sacrificed in Aulis, she vanished, being saved by Artemis, who substituted for her a deer at the altar and transported her to Tauris. Later, while being a priestess of Artemis in Tauris, Iphigenia saved her brother Orestes ₂'s life. Iphigenia, who has also been said to have been made immortal by the goddess, was not, according to some, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, but of Theseus and Helen. They assert that, when Helen was restored to Sparta by the DIOSCURI, she took with her Iphigenia and gave her to Clytaemnestra to be brought up as the latter's daughter.

Humiliation of a pious man

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, Agamemnon captured Chryseis ₃, daughter of Chryses ₃, a priest of Apollo, and intended to keep the girl as a prize, take her home, and turn her into both a slave and a concubine. Chryses ₃, a loving father if compared to the king, came then to see Agamemnon and, having blessed the whole army, offered a generous ransom for her daughter's freedom. The troops applauded the priest, but Agamemnon was not a man inclined to let his will be curbed. So he denied Chryses ₃'s request and, in an arrogant display of authority, threatened the old man, who left the Achaean camp humiliated.

Apollo's wrath

The best time to address the gods is when humans refuse to listen, so Chryses ₃ prayed to Apollo as soon as he found himself alone. He asked the god to let the Achaeans pay through his golden arrows the tears he was shedding. That is why Apollo, who otherwise is known as the bright one, on hearing the prayer and learning the outrage his priest had suffered, came down from Olympus, as they say, darker than night, letting his arrows rain on the Achaean camp, which means that an epidemic spread in the army, taking many lives.

Calchas insulted and yet obeyed

As the plague was out of control, an assembly was called, in the course of which the seer Calchas declared that the reason for the pestilence was to be found in Apollo's anger, in turn caused by Agamemnon's insults. These were bad news for the king, who first called Calchas prophet of evil. Nevertheless he accepted to give up his beautiful prize, provided another fresh one was found to replace Chryseis ₃. And if it couldn't be found, he said, he would help himself to someone else's prize.

Achilles raises his voice

Achilles considers killing the throned Agamemnon, who has just declared that he would take the former's sweetheart Briseis for himself. But while Achilles ponders, Athena comes from heaven and, invisible to the others, seizes him by his hair and stays his anger. To the left old Nestor watches the scene. 3926: Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon. Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640: Achilles vertoornd op Agamemnon. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

Because of this threat, Achilles called the king shameless schemer, and accused him of always taking the lion's share and using others to pile wealth and luxuries for himself. Then the king answered by letting Achilles know that, in the same way that Apollo was robbing him of the beautiful Chryseis ₃, he was now going to pay a visit to Achilles' tent and, by taking away his sweetheart Briseis, teach him a lesson in power and kingship.

Agamemnon's art of ruling

Agamemnon kept his word: he gave up Chryseis ₃ and took instead Achilles' sweetheart Briseis. Thereby he caused the best of his warriors to nurse a wrath which, keeping him away from the battlefield, caused the Achaean army as many losses as those caused by Apollo's plague. That's what Agamemnon's art of ruling achieved.

Offspring of Chryseis ₃

When Chryseis ₃ was set free, she gave birth to a son Chryses ₄, who some say was son of Apollo but others call son of Agamemnon. On a later occasion, Chryses ₄, as son of Agamemnon, saved the lives of Orestes ₂ and Iphigenia in Tauris on account of their family ties, for these two were also children of Agamemnon.

Agamemnon at odds with Heaven

The conflict with Achilles put Agamemnon at odds with heaven, for the former was the son of a goddess, who obtained of Zeus the promise to teach Agamemnon and the Achaeans a lesson for the outrage her sweet son had suffered, by letting them, if only for a while, be routed by the Trojans. Agamemnon was also deceived by Zeus, who sent him false dreams carrying the message that victory was at hand and he should prepare to attack (see Oniros at Hypnos).

Agamemnon's appeasing gifts

It was not before the military situation had considerably deteriorated, that Agamemnon tried to appease Achilles' wrath so that he would fight again, by offering him the seven tripods, the seven women, the seven cities, and many other gifts which included Achilles' sweetheart Briseis, whom Agamemnon swore he had not touched—an oath that has never been openly questioned. But Achilles' considered these gifts hateful, for Menelaus' brother had done to him what Paris had done to Menelaus, and it was precisely this kind of outrage the Achaeans had come to avenge:

"Why has he gathered and led here his host, this son of Atreus? Was it not for Helen's sake? Do they then alone of mortal men love their wives, these sons of Atreus? No, for he who is a true man loves his own and cherishes her, as I too loved Briseis with all my heart." (Achilles to Agamemnon's envoys. Homer, Iliad 9.340).

War without Achilles

The fight then had to be done without Achilles. Agamemnon, himself a brave man, killed many Trojans. However, in spite of all efforts, the Achaeans got the worst part, and the king himself was wounded in battle by Coon, the eldest son of Antenor ₁. But when the fire reached the ships, Achilles, fearing complete defeat, sent Patroclus ₁ with a force of Myrmidons to fight. And when Hector ₁ killed Patroclus ₁ in battle, then Achilles came to life again.

Achilles puts his wrath aside

Achilles called an assembly of all Achaeans, and in it declared that his wrath was over. As a way of expressing how much he regretted his feud with Agamemnon, he even said that he wished Briseis to have been shot down by Artemis the day he chose her when he sacked Lyrnessus, the city east of Mount Ida. For he felt that because of his refusal to fight, Patroclus ₁, whom he loved far more than Briseis, had been killed by Hector ₁.

Agamemnon blames the gods for his blindness

On hearing this, Agamemnon declared that it had been wrong to confiscate Achilles' sweetheart, but he was not to blame, for surely it was Ate who had blinded his judgement, and every man knows that she is capable of deluding Zeus himself (see PERSONIFICATIONS). In any case, he acknowledged that since it was him who had been blinded, he was willing to make amends and pay compensation, referring again to the seven tripods, the seven women, the seven cities, and all other gifts that he formerly had offered Achilles.

Troy sacked

So ended the feud between Agamemnon and Achilles. Some have argued that Achilles is to blame, because his duty was to fight against the Trojans, not to spend a nice time in the company of sweet girls. Achilles never received Agamemnon's gifts, which meant nothing to him, for soon after he killed Hector ₁, he was himself mortally wounded by Paris, who in turn was killed by the posioned arrow which Philoctetes discharged against him. It was the tenth year of the war, the bow and arrows of Heracles ₁ were fighting on the Achaean side, Neoptolemus had arrived, and all other conditions to take the city had been fulfilled- So the WOODEN HORSE was conceived, and Troy was sacked.

Agamemnon and his concubine murdered

When Troy was taken, many Trojan women were made captives, and Cassandra was awarded to Agamemnon, who brought her as a concubine to Mycenae. But on his return, he and her new concubine were murdered by Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra, who had become lovers. Aegisthus became then king of Mycenae.