Introduction
Agamemnon was the son of Atreus, king of Mycenae, and supreme commander of the combined Achaean forces during the Trojan War — a position he held partly through his own power and partly as brother to the wronged Menelaus.
Family
- Father: Atreus
- Spouse: Clytemnestra (married)
- Children: Iphigenia, Orestes
- Siblings: Menelaus
Sacrifice and Homecoming
When the Achaean fleet was becalmed at Aulis, the seer Calchas declared that only the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia would appease the offended goddess Artemis and free the winds; Agamemnon complied, an act that permanently poisoned his marriage to Clytemnestra. After ten years of leading the Achaeans, often clashing with Achilles over the division of spoils (an early quarrel that drives much of the Iliad), Agamemnon returned home victorious, only to be murdered in his bath by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus in revenge for Iphigenia's death.
As with all figures of Greek heroic legend, sources diverge on many particulars; the account above follows the most widely transmitted classical tradition.