1. Mycenaean Saga

2. Range of myths Stories of Elis, Olympia, and Pisa
Stories of Mycenae proper

3. The Peloponnese

4. Tantalus and Pelops The crime and punishment of Tantalus
Fed his children to the gods
in Hades tantalized by food and water just out of his reach
The gods re-member Pelops
Demeter distracted by the loss of Persephone
Ate his shoulder
Replaced with an ivory shoulder

5. Pelops and Oinomaüs Oenomaüs, king of Pisa Pelops won the race
Held a chariot contest for his daughter Hippodameia
("horse tamer")
Contest for the bride
Pelops won the race
bribed the father's charioteer, Myrtilus with ius primae noctis
Oenomaüs was killed when he fell from the chariot.
Pelops did not reward Myrtilus
instead threw him off a cliff into the sea
Myrtilus cursed the descendants of Pelops
Pelops became king of Pisa

6. The Peloponnese

7. Slides from temple of Zeus at Olympia, with Apollo and Hippodameia

8. Hippodamia abducted by Pelops
Attic red-figure amphora, ca. 415 BC. Arezzo, Museo Archeologico

9. Pelops and Oenomaus
Attic red figure bell krater (ca. 380 BCE). Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Perseus Project)

10. Hippodamia abducted by Pelops
Attic red-figure amphora, ca. 415 BC. Arezzo, Museo Archeologico

11. Atreus and Thyestes The sons of Pelops, Atreus and Thyestes
Quarrelled over the kingship of Mycenae,
It had been offered to a "son of Pelops" through an oracle
To the one who owned a golden-fleeced ram
Pan brought the ram to Atreus
Thyestes seduced Aerope, Atreus' wife, and took the ram
Atreus was exiled, but returned and exiled Thyestes
Atreus pretended to be reconciled to Thyestes and recalled him
murdered Thyestes' sons, and fed them to him
Thyestes went into exile again

12. Leda and the Swan Leda married Tyndareos
Zeus in the form of a swan visited Leda
She laid an egg
2 mortal children
Clytemnestra and
2 immortal children
Helen and

13. Leda and the Swan
Marble stele from Brauron, Attica (late Classical). Athens, Archaeological Museum

14. Leda and the Swan
Apulian red figure leutrophoros ( BCE). Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum

15. Leda and the Swan
Greek Stone cameo (Hellenistic period). Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

16. Leda and the Egg
Attic red figure cup ( BCE). Boston, Museum of Fine Arts.

17. Polydeukes, Leda, Kastor with his horse, a serving boy with a stool, and Tyndareos
Drawing of side A of an Attic black figure amphora from Vulci, signed by Exekias
(ca. 540 BCE), Vatican Museum.

18. Dioskouroi (Sons of Zeus, Kastor and Polydeukes)
Attic black-figured neck amphora (ca BCE). Univ. of Mississippi Museum
(Perseus Project).

19. Dioskouroi (sons of Zeus, Kastor and Polydeukes)
Attic black-figured amphora (Archaic period). Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum
(Perseus Project).

20. Aegisthus, Agamemnon, and Menelaus
Thyestes had another son
Aegisthus, by his own daughter Pelopia.
Atreus had two sons (called Atreides)
Agamemnon
Menelaus
Agamemnon married Clytemnestra
Ruled Mycenae
Menelaus married Helen
Ruled Sparta

21. Agamemnon Led the expedition to Troy Before sailing:
Sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia
To Artemis
At Aulis
So the winds would blow
Two plays by Euripides
Iphigeneia at Aulis
Iphigeneia in Tauris

22. Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Apulian red figure volute krater ( BCE). British Museum (Perseus Project).

23. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon
hated him for sacrificing of their daughter
Aegisthus, son of Thyestes
Sought revenge against sons of Atreus
Seduced Clytemnestra
While Agamemnon was on the Trojan expedition
They plotted to kill him on his return

24. Return of Agamemnon After the Trojan war
Agamemnon returned with Cassandra
Daughter of Priam, sister of Hektor
Prophetess
Fated not to be believed
Aegisthus and Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon
Alone or together, depending on version
Odyssey, book 11
Aeschylus’ Agamemnon

25. Clytemnestra and slain Agamemnon.
(ca. 490 BCE). New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

27. Clytemnestra kills Cassandra
Red Figure, c. 430 BCE

28. Orestes and Elektra Orestes grew up to avenge the death of Agamemnon
Elektra loved her father, hated her mother
Opposite of Oedipus
Plotted to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
All wrote plays on the subject

29. Orestes and Elektra
Roman, ca. 25 BCE

30. Orestes stabbing Clytemnestra while Electra looks on and Aegisthus attempts to flee
Bronze sheet, Greek, c. 570 BCE Olympia Museum. Credits: Barbara McManus, 1980

31. Death of Aegisthus at the hands of Orestes
Attic red figure calyx krater (c. 470 BCE). J. Paul Getty Museum.
(Perseus Project)

32. Orestes slaying Aegisthus as Clytemnestra flees
Attic red figure pelike (ca. 480 BCE). Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
(Perseus Project).

33. Death of Aegisthus
Drawing of previous vase

34. Talthybius restrains Clytemnestra
Drawing of side B of previous vase

35. Orestes, Clytemnestra, Erinye
Red figure amphora from Campania (340 BCE).

36. Madness of Orestes
The Furies, or Erinyes avenge crimes against the family
Drove Orestes mad
Acquitted of his crime in Athens,
a new type of justice replaces blood vengeance
Aeschylus’ Eumenides
In Homer, Aeschylus, and Sophocles
Orestes (and Elektra) is an avenger of his father’s murder
Euripides shows them to be real murderers.
After he is purified, Orestes eventually marries Hermione,
daughter of Helen and Menelaus.
She had been married to Neoptolemos, son of Achilles.
Neoptolemos was killed at Delphi.

37. Orestes at Delphi
Erinyes on the left, Apollo on the right. Lucanian red figure (c BCE).
Harvard Univ. Art Museums (Perseus Project).

39. Orestes and Furies (Bourguereau, 1862)