Source Verification: Atreus

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

What was Atreus the god of?

He was not a god of anything. No source checked here makes Atreus divine. Euripides makes him the son of Pelops and a daughter of Oenomaus, and Homer calls him the shepherd of the host and a holder of the sceptre. The gods act around him: Hermes brings Zeus's offer about the sun, and Pan or Hermes supplies the golden lamb in different poets. Atreus remains a mortal king.

Source: Homer, Iliad 2.100-108

Who is the son of Atreus in The Odyssey?

The Odyssey's patronymic points to Agamemnon. In Zeus's opening speech Aegisthus kills the son of Atreus on his return, and Orestes will avenge him. Menelaus is the other son of Atreus, per Euripides, and he appears in the poem as the king of Sparta whom Telemachus visits. Orestes is Atreus's grandson, not his son, since Agamemnon is his father.

Source: Homer, Odyssey 1.29-43

What was the curse of Atreus?

In Aeschylus the curse is first spoken by Thyestes, not by Atreus. After eating his children Thyestes overturns the table and calls down ruin on the whole house of Pelops. Later in the play Clytemnestra blames the ancient spirit of Atreus for Agamemnon's death, so the grudge of the banquet is made to explain the killing a generation on.

Source: Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1583-1611

How did Atreus die?

Apollodorus says Aegisthus killed him. Thyestes had asked an oracle how to take revenge and was told to father a son by his own daughter, and that son, once grown and aware of his birth, killed Atreus and gave the kingdom back to Thyestes. Aeschylus's Aegisthus describes his own return differently, saying justice brought him home as a grown man.

Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 2.14

Where Accounts Differ

source of the golden lamb
how Atreus's rule ended: Aegisthus or exile

The golden lamb has no single giver. Apollodorus, Epitome 2.10-11, has it appear in Atreus's flock. Euripides, Electra 699-746, brings it from Pan, and Euripides, Orestes 982-1000, says it was sent by Hermes, the son of Maia.
Who ended Atreus's rule is told two ways. Apollodorus, Epitome 2.14, has Aegisthus kill him. Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1583-1611, has Aegisthus say he was an infant when Atreus drove Thyestes out and that justice brought him home grown.

Sources

Primary sources

Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1-41
Homer, Iliad 2.100-108
Homer, Odyssey 1.29-43
Apollodorus, Epitome 2.10
Apollodorus, Epitome 2.11
Apollodorus, Epitome 2.12
Apollodorus, Epitome 2.13
Apollodorus, Epitome 2.14
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1497-1504
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1583-1611
Euripides, Electra 699-746
Euripides, Orestes 982-1000