Dynasty, vengeance and justice
One of Greek mythology's darkest family histories: a cycle of betrayal, murder and revenge stretching from Atreus and Thyestes to Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes and the final judgment at Athens.
The House of Atreus is the royal family associated with Mycenae whose story connects some of the most famous events in Greek tragedy and the Trojan War. Its ancestry reaches back through Pelops to Tantalus, while its central dynastic conflict erupts between the brothers Atreus and Thyestes. The consequences continue through their children and grandchildren.
The family becomes trapped in a pattern where one murder creates the obligation for another. The terrible Feast of Thyestes leads to the birth of Aegisthus; Agamemnon's decisions lead to the anger of Clytemnestra; Agamemnon's murder leads to the revenge of Orestes; and Orestes' revenge produces a new crime when he kills his own mother.
In the most influential surviving dramatic version, Aeschylus' Oresteia, the cycle finally moves away from private vengeance when Athena establishes a court to judge Orestes.
The dynasty stretches back beyond Atreus himself. Tantalus and Pelops belong to the earlier generations whose stories form the background to the later curse of the royal house of Mycenae.
Follow the cycle
The individual myths below form a connected sequence. Each event creates the conditions for the next.
The brothers Atreus and Thyestes struggle for the throne of Mycenae, turning adultery, rivalry and disputed kingship into one of the darkest family feuds in Greek mythology.
Read this part of the story →Atreus takes horrifying revenge on his brother Thyestes during their struggle for the throne of Mycenae.
Read this part of the story →Thyestes fathers Aegisthus through his daughter Pelopia, creating the next generation of the feud that will eventually destroy Atreus and Agamemnon.
Read this part of the story →Aegisthus discovers that Thyestes is his father and turns against Atreus, killing the king and returning power to Thyestes.
Read this part of the story →Artemis prevents the Greek fleet from sailing at Aulis after Agamemnon offends her, forcing him to confront the demand that his daughter Iphigenia be sacrificed before the expedition can continue.
Read this part of the story →Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan War only to be killed by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. His murder continues the curse of the House of Atreus and gives Orestes a duty to avenge his father.
Read this part of the story →Orestes avenges the murder of his father Agamemnon by killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. The revenge fulfils one duty but makes Orestes guilty of matricide and brings the Erinyes against him.
Read this part of the story →After killing Clytemnestra to avenge Agamemnon, Orestes is pursued by the Erinyes for the blood crime of murdering his own mother.
Read this part of the story →After killing Clytemnestra to avenge Agamemnon, Orestes is pursued by the Erinyes and brought to judgment at Athens. Athena establishes a court whose verdict brings the House of Atreus revenge cycle toward an end.
Read this part of the story →The phrase curse of the House of Atreus describes the way violence and vengeance pass from one generation of the family to another. No single episode explains the whole tradition. Instead, each generation inherits the consequences of earlier crimes.
The feud between Atreus and Thyestes becomes especially destructive when Atreus murders Thyestes' sons and serves them to their father at a banquet. Thyestes seeks revenge, and Aegisthus eventually becomes the instrument through which Atreus is killed.
The violence continues with Agamemnon. His sacrifice of Iphigenia helps motivate Clytemnestra's hatred, while Aegisthus carries his own inherited grievance against the descendants of Atreus.
Agamemnon's murder then creates the obligation that drives Orestes. But when Orestes kills Clytemnestra to avenge his father, the cycle produces another crime rather than a simple resolution.
The story therefore becomes a mythology of inherited consequence: revenge appears necessary, yet every act of revenge creates another claim for vengeance.
Mythic king punished eternally in the Underworld and ancestor of the cursed House of Atreus.
Explore Tantalus →Son of Tantalus and legendary ruler whose name was associated with the Peloponnese.
Explore Pelops →Wife of Pelops, won after the famous chariot race against her father Oenomaus.
Explore Hippodamia →Atreus is the king of Mycenae whose feud with his brother Thyestes creates the central curse of the House of Atreus. His revenge at the Feast of Thyestes sets in motion the violence that later reaches Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Clytemnestra and Orestes.
Explore Atreus →Thyestes is the brother and rival of Atreus whose struggle for the throne of Mycenae culminates in the horrific Feast of Thyestes. His later pursuit of revenge produces Aegisthus and carries the family feud into the generation of Agamemnon.
Explore Thyestes →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.
Explore Aerope →Daughter of Thyestes and mother of Aegisthus. Her story connects the revenge of Thyestes directly to the next generation of the House of Atreus and ultimately to the murders of Atreus and Agamemnon.
Explore Pelopia →Son of Thyestes and Pelopia who later becomes the lover of Clytemnestra and helps murder Agamemnon.
Explore Aegisthus →Agamemnon is the king of Mycenae and commander of the Greek coalition in the Trojan War. A son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus, he stands at the centre of the House of Atreus, the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the fall of Troy and the cycle of revenge that ends in his murder by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.
Explore Agamemnon →King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon and husband of Helen.
Explore Menelaus →Clytemnestra is the queen of Mycenae, wife of Agamemnon and mother of Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes. After Agamemnon's return from Troy, she and Aegisthus kill him, leading directly to Orestes' revenge and the final crisis of the House of Atreus.
Explore Clytemnestra →Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, associated with the sacrifice at Aulis.
Explore Iphigenia →Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who aids Orestes in avenging their father.
Explore Electra of Mycenae →Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.
Explore Chrysothemis →Orestes is the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra who returns to avenge his father's murder by killing Aegisthus and his own mother. His revenge brings the Erinyes against him and leads to the famous trial at Athens that brings the House of Atreus cycle toward resolution.
Explore Orestes →