The House of Atreus

1. The House of Atreus By: Nilah Rojas

2. House of Atreus • One of the most famous families of mythology. • It belonged to Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra. • Agamemnon had three children, Iphigenia, Orestes, and Electra. • Although it wasn’t such a happy and fortunate house to live in because after the King of Lydia, Tantalus had died, his evil that he had before was still there.

3. Tantalus and Niobe • Tantalus was Zeus’ son. He was highly respected by the gods. He hated the gods with a passion. • He had his only son killed, boiled in a cauldron. His son, Pelops, was then served to the gods. • The gods had knew about what he was doing and they didn’t eat the food. So they brought him back to life, but he was missing his left shoulder because goddess had accidently eaten the food. • Tantalus was then punished severely for his actions.

4. Tantalus and Niobe (cont.) • He were to stand in the river surrounded with food and water. But when Tantalus reached for the food, it became out of reach. • Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, she gave birth to 7 girls and 7 boys. She suffered the most. • She thought she was better than Leto because she had more children, Leto found out and punished Niobe. • All 14 of her children were shot down with their bow and arrows. • Niobe turned to stone that was always wet because of her eternal sadness. • Allusion:Tanatlus Media created shows including Spongebob because the media taunts us into watching it.

5. Agamemnon and His Children • Agamemnon killed Tantalus and Clytemnestra’s child. • He later had to sacrifice his own child, Iphigenia, in order to sail to Troy. He did it unwillingly. • Agamemnon was later killed by Clytemnestra’s lover, Aegisthus. • If Orestes had been there, Aegisthus would have killed him. • As Orestes grew older, he realized how bad the situation was and wanted to kill his fathers murderers.

6. Agamemnon and His Children (cont.) • Clytemnestra and her son fought. She knew she had lost. He took her into the house and came out to the courtyard where everyone was waiting. • He had killed his mother because she was unpleasant and she had killed his father. • Orestes had been relieved from the charge of crime and the evil spirit had been banished. • Allusions:

7. Iphigenia Among the Taurians • Iphigenia wasn’t sacrificed at Aulis. • Goddess Artemis moved her quickly to Tauris. • She had a dream that her house in Argos was falling apart with only one column standing. It meant that Orestes had came to an end, and that their were no more heirs left in her family. • She heard that two young Greek men were to be sacrificed. She felt so much horror again. • Orestes had told Iphigenia not to worry about them.

8. Iphigenia and the Taurians (cont.) • She asked about Agamemnon and Orestes had told her that he was killed by his wife. • Iphigenia didn’t know she was talking to Orestes. He convinced her and she was sobbed. • She had a plan, although it seemed as if it wouldn’t fail, it did. • King Thoas was furious. He hurried to catch them and put them to death along with Iphigenia. • Athena asked the king to let them go and he did. They saw the Greek ship leave and sail away. • Allusions: Aulis is the location where troops gathered in order to wage war.

9. The Royal House of Thebes

10. Cadmus and His Children • He had 4 daughters and 1 son. All of the daughters had bad luck. • Ino had a husband that was angry and killed their son, Melicertes. • Agave was driven mad and believed her son was a lion, so she killed him with her own hands. • Autonoe’s son was running and the dogs were chasing him and his own hounds killed him. • Semele had misfortune but at the end she had good fortune.

11. Oedipus • Oedipus had great intelligence and courage. • He was a homeless, friendless man. Life meant little to him. • No one suffered more than Oedipus. • Oedipus wildly searched for his mother, she was found in a chamber. She was dead. • He changed his light to darkness because he thought it was better to see than with shamed eyes.

12. Antigone • The daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. • Through all of his misfortunes, she was always faithful to him. • He was driven out of the city by Antigone because of his blindness. • Ismene stayed in Thebes. • Both of his sons wanted to be king. Eteocles was the youngest and he succeeded. • He expelled his brother from Thebes.

13. Antigone (cont.) • Eteocles and his brother were fighting for Thebes and the two sisters couldn’t pick between two brothers. • Polyneices won her by bribing her with a necklace. • Eteocles defended the gate that Polyneices had attacked. • Neither of them won. They killed each other. • Ismene disappears. There are no stories or poems about her.

14. The Seven Against Thebes • They were the seven champions to attack the seven gates. • The sons of the seven champions has succeeded where their fathers hadn’t and failed. • The sons were called “the After-Born”, after all the good things they had did. • Diomedes was the well known one of the most glorious warriors.

15. Higher Level Questions • How are the House of Atreus and House of Thebes similar? • Would you have killed your mother if she killed you father? Why or why not? • Why was Oedipus try to kill his father? Explain.