the house of atreus
TRANSCRIPT
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.”