Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra was a daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, a sister of Helen, and the wife of Agamemnon in Greek myth. Traditions place her at the centre of the violence of the House of Atreus. Agamemnon’s sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia and his return from Troy with Cassandra provide motives for Clytemnestra’s alliance with Aegisthus and the murder of her husband.

Her death at the hands of Orestes and Electra continues the family’s cycle of revenge. Greek dramatists portray her variously as an adulterous usurper, a mother avenging her child and a ruler defending the authority she exercised during Agamemnon’s absence. Modern retellings often emphasise the political and gendered constraints behind her actions.