Aerope

Overview

Aerope is the wife of Atreus and mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus in the familiar tradition. Her relationship with Thyestes becomes a crucial cause of the feud that devastates the House of Atreus.

Generation

Heroic Age

Symbols

Royal house of Mycenae, golden lamb, dynastic betrayal

Notes

Aerope occupies an important position near the beginning of the central House of Atreus conflict.

She is a daughter of Catreus of Crete and becomes the wife of Atreus in the familiar genealogy.

Through Atreus she is traditionally the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus, the two brothers who later become central commanders in the Trojan War.

Aerope also enters into a relationship with Thyestes, the brother and rival of Atreus.

In an important strand of the story, Aerope secretly gives Thyestes a golden lamb or fleece associated with Atreus' claim to the throne of Mycenae.

The betrayal intensifies the struggle between the brothers and becomes part of the sequence leading toward Atreus' terrible revenge at the Feast of Thyestes.

Aerope therefore connects two major cycles of Greek mythology. Through her sons she belongs to the background of the Trojan War; through her relationship with Thyestes she belongs to the family violence that eventually destroys Agamemnon's household.

Ancient sources vary over details of Aerope's life, genealogy and fate, but her role in the rivalry between Atreus and Thyestes remains one of her most important mythological associations.