Source Verification: Agamemnon
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Why did Agamemnon take Achilles's war prize Briseis?
A plague sent by Apollo forces Agamemnon to give up his own captive, Chryseis, to end it, and he compensates himself by seizing Briseis, the woman awarded to Achilles as a prize of war. The insult is public and deliberate, and it drives Achilles to withdraw from the fighting entirely, setting the whole plot of the Iliad in motion.
Source: Homer, Iliad, Book 1
What did Agamemnon propose after a disastrous night of fighting, and how did Diomedes respond?
Convinced that Zeus has doomed the expedition, Agamemnon tells the assembled Greeks to load the ships and sail home, giving up on ever taking Troy. Diomedes answers first and refuses outright, reminding Agamemnon that he once mocked Diomedes's courage and telling him to leave alone if he wishes: Diomedes and his companion Sthenelus will stay and fight until the city falls.
Source: Homer, Iliad 9.32-49
How large was Agamemnon's own contingent at Troy?
Homer's catalogue of the Greek forces gives Agamemnon a hundred ships from Mycenae and the surrounding towns of the Argolid, more than any other leader brings, and names him as the noblest and most numerous of all the contingents gathered against Troy.
Source: Homer, Iliad 2.559-568
How did Agamemnon actually die?
According to his own shade, speaking to Odysseus in the underworld, Agamemnon was invited to a feast at the house of Aegisthus, his wife Clytemnestra's lover, and was cut down there like an ox at a stall, with Clytemnestra's aid. Cassandra, the Trojan captive he had brought home with him, was killed at his side in the same attack.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 11.409-434
Does Apollodorus tell Agamemnon's murder the same way Homer does?
Mostly, but with an added detail and a shift in emphasis. Apollodorus's Epitome credits the killing jointly to Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, rather than naming Aegisthus as the one who struck the blow, and adds that Clytemnestra gave Agamemnon a shirt with no opening for the head or arms, cutting him down while he struggled to put it on.
Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 6.23
Was anyone else killed alongside Agamemnon when he returned home?
Yes. Cassandra, the captive Trojan princess Agamemnon had brought back from Troy as part of his spoils, was murdered in the same attack that killed him, cut down by Clytemnestra according to Apollodorus's account of the episode, though other ancient writers split the blame between Clytemnestra and Aegisthus together.
Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 6.23
Where Accounts Differ
- agamemnon-murder-aegisthus-vs-clytemnestra
- Homer's Odyssey has Agamemnon's own shade name Aegisthus as the one who struck the fatal blow, with Clytemnestra's help; Apollodorus's later Epitome instead credits the killing to both jointly and adds the detail of a robe sewn shut at the neck and sleeves. This entry records both versions rather than picking one.
Sources
- Homer, Iliad, Book 1
- Homer, Iliad 2.559-568
- Homer, Iliad 9.32-49
- Homer, Odyssey 11.409-434
- Apollodorus, Epitome 6.23-6.25
- Apollodorus, Epitome 5.7
- Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 87-110
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)