BY: Halle Smith, Allissa Valenzuela, & Terin Perla
The House of Atreus
& The House of Thebes
THE HOUSE OF ATREUS
Tantalus and Niobe
• Tantalus was a highly honored son of Zeus.• He had his son, Pelops, killed and served to the gods.• The gods knew what he did and punished him by sendinghim to a pool in Hades. The pool was filled with water thatdisappeared whenever he stopped to drink and fruit treesthat would toss the fruit too high for him to reach it.
ALLUSION: The word tantalize, meaning to torment with,or as if with, the sight of something desired but out of reach;tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedlydisappointed (definition from dictionary.com), comes fromTantalus.
• Pelops was brought back to life by the gods.• Pelops decided he wanted to marry the Princess Hippodamia.• The King required her suitors to win a chariot race against him to marry
her, but he had special horses Ares had given him.• Pelops won the race because Hippodamia got her father’s charioteer,
Myrtilus, to pull out the bolts of the wheels of her father’s chariot.• Pelops later killed Myrtilus, and some writers say this is what doomed
the family, but most say it was because of Tantalus’s actions.• Niobe was Tantalus’s daughter.• She married a son of Zeus named Amphion.• Niobe believed that she was superior to the gods and got the people
of Thebes to worship her.• Apollo and Artemis shot down her seven sons and seven daughters.• Niobe was turned into a stone that was always wet with tears.• Pelops had two sons, Atreus and Thyestes.• Thyestes had an affair with his brother’s wife.• Atreus killed his brother’s two children and served them to Thyestes.• Atreus was not punished, but his descendants were.
Agamemnon and his Children
• The sons of Atreus were Agamemnon, the commander of the Greeks at
Troy and Menelaus, the husband of Helen.• Agamemnon was the only one of the Greek chieftains that got home
right after the fall of Troy.• One version says that Agamemnon was killed by his wife, Clytemnestra,
killed him with the help of her lover, Aegisthus.• Another version says that his wife killed him because she was mad at
him for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia.• Agamemnon had two other children. A daughter, Electra, and a son,
Orestes.• Orestes had been sent away to a friend, but Electra lived with her
mother and stepfather who treated her poorly.• Orestes goes the Oracle at Delphi to ask if he should kill his mother in
revenge for his father’s death.• Apollo tells him to kill his mother and her lover.
• When he gets back home he finds his sister and his childhood
friend, Pylades.• Orestes and Pylades go to the palace as messengers claiming to
be bringing the news of Orestes’s death.• They killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.• The Furies chased Orestes through many countries.• Apollo sent him to Athens to ask Athena for help.
• Athena decided to help Orestes and she turned the Furies into
the Eumenides, “protectors of the suppliant.”
• The curse on the House of Atreus ends.
Iphigenia among the Taurians
• Iphigenia was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.
•According to an old Greek legend, she was sacrificed to Artemis, thehunting goddess, because a hunter killed one of Artemis’s favoriteanimals. The only way the hunter would be forgiven is if he offered ayoung girl (Iphigenia) to be sacrificed.
• But later Greeks disapproved of this story because it made Artemisseem barbaric and out of character, so another ending was given tothe story:
• Just as Iphigenia was about to be slain, she disappeared and aslaughtered deer was put in her place on the altar.
• She was said to be rescued by Artemis herself and taken to the landof the Taurians where she was made the priestess of Artemis’stemple.
• After many years of Iphigenia being in the temple, Orestes,Iphigenia’s brother, and his friend, Pylades, sailed to the land of theTaurians to go to Artemis’s temple to steal her sacred image to clearOrestes’s guilt.
• They were taken prisoner to Iphigenia to be sacrificed, but beforethey were, Iphigenia stared asking them questions of who they were.When they told her they were from Mycenae, she agreed to save oneof them if he brought a letter to Orestes.
• Once Iphigenia gave Pylades the letter explaining what hadhappened to her, Orestes knew she was his sister and reunited withher.
• They agreed they had to leave the Taurians to save Orestes withoutkilling the king. Iphigenia went to the king and tricked him into lettingher use a boat for them to sail away on.
• As soon as they started to sail off a wind began to push them back toTaurians where the king was aware he had been tricked. He orderedIphigenia and the two men to be killed, but Athena ordered him to letthem go.
THE HOUSE OF THEBES
Cadmus and his children
ALLUSION: The continent of Europe was named afterEuropa.
• When Europa was carried away by a bull, her father sent herbrothers to find her.
• One of the sons, Cadmus, went to Delphi to ask Apollo whereshe was.
• Apollo told him to follow a heifer and build a city where itstopped to lay down. This was how the city of Thebes began.
• Before the city could be built, Cadmus had to slay a dragon inhis path and sow the earth with the dragon’s teeth. After he didso, an army of men sprung from the ground and started killingone another. Afterwards, only five were left and they were tohelp Cadmus build Thebes.
• Cadmus marries Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares,and have four daughters and one son. As a marriage present,Aphrodite gives Harmonia a necklace from Olympus that was tobring misfortune to their children and other later generations:
- Semele perished in the glory of Zeus.
- Ino’s son was killed by her husband.
- Agave believed her son was a lion and killed him.
- Autonoe had to watch her son die as punishment foraccidently coming upon Artemis bathing in a stream where hewas hunting. Artemis automatically thought he meant to insulther and turned him into a deer.
• Cadmus and Harmonia try to leave their curse by fleeingThebes, but their misfortune stays with them. The gods turnthem into serpents to prove that the innocent suffer just asmuch as the guilty.
Oedipus
• Son of King Laibus of Thebes, raised by King Polybus of Corinth.
• When Oedipus was born Laibus left him on a mountain to diebecause Apollo told Laibus that there was prophecy that declaredhe was to be murdered by his son.
• But Oedipus was found by a servant of Laibus and given to amessenger from Corinth who gave him to King Polybus.
• When Oedipus was grown he traveled to Thebes, never to returnto Corinth so he could not kill his “father” (King Polybus).
• There, he saved the citizens of Thebes by answering the Sphinx’sriddle. The Sphinx killed herself and the Thebans where saved fromher rath and Oedipus was made their king.
• Apollo told Oedipus of the prophecy; that he was to kill his father,marry his mother, and have children who were to be cursed.
• He married Jocasta (his mother) and had two sons. When theywere grown, a plague hit Thebes. Jocasta’s brother, Creon, went toApollo to ask how the plague could be stopped and Apollo said theperson who murdered King Laius had to be punished.
• Oedipus went to Teiresias, an old prophet, to ask who killed Laius.Teiresias told him that he, Oedipus killed Laius, his own father, andthat the prophecy was true.
• Oedipus did not believe him, but he remembered a time when hedid kill someone that could possibly be Laius. He said, “…he struckme with his stick. Angered, I fell upon them and I killed them. Couldit be the leader was Laius?”
• When came the messenger of Corinth, he confirmed that Oedipuswas not the son of Polybus, but the son of Laius and that theprophecy was true. Oedipus didn’t believe him, but when theservant of King Laius confirmed it as well, it was clear that theprophecy had come true and Oedipus and all of his descendantswere cursed.
• After Jocasta’s death, Oedipus continued to live on in Thebes while his childrengrew up.
He had two sons Polyneices, Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone andIsmene.
An oracle told Oedpius, “they were very unfortunate young people, but theywere far from being monsters all would shudder to look at.”
• Oedpius resigned the throne, as did his eldest son Polyneices. So theyaccepted Creon, Jocasta’s brother as regent.
•For many years, they treated Oedipus with nothing but kindness, butunexpectedly decided to expel him from the city. It is not known why, but Creoninsisted it and the two brothers consented. The only two people who stayedloyal to Oedipus were his two daughters.
•When Oedipus was kicked out of the city, Antigone went with him to care forhim and guide him in his blindness, Ismene stayed behind to look out for hisinterests and keep him informed on anything that touched him.
•After he had gone, both brothers tried to assert themselves as king, Etocles,the younger brother, succeeded and expelled Polyneices from Thebes.
Antigone
• Polyneices took refuge in the city of Argo, and did everything he could to forman army to march against Thebes.
• Oedipus and Antigone eventually settled in Colonus, a spot near Athens. Theyfelt safe there, and that was where Oedipus shortly after, died. As he was dying,the oracle who once spoken terrible words about him, comforted him and aftera long life of suffering, he was finally happy and at peace.
• Ismene came to tell Oedipus the good news of the oracle, Apollo promisedthat he who was, the disgraced, homeless wanderer, would bring a mysteriousblessing to the gods at his grave and Theseus, the king of Athens, received himwith all honor.
• After Oedipus had died, Ismene and Antigone were sent safely back to Thebesby Theseus, where they discovered Polyneices marching against the city, he hadsix chieftains, one of them the King of Argos, Adrastus, and Adrastus’ brother inlaw, Amphiaraus. Ampharous joined unwillingly because he was a prophet andknew only, Adrastus would come back alive. But was forced by his wife whowas bribed by Polyneices with a wonderful necklace a wedding gift of hisancestress Harmonia.
• There were 7 champions to attack the seven gates of Thebes, and sevenothers to defend it.
•Teiresias, the prophet who brought some many other distressful propheciesto the royal family, had come and brought another one, he told Creon thatThebes would only be safe if Menoeceus, his son, was killed.
•Creon refused to slay his own son, he told his son to flee Thebes at once,Menoecous agreed, but when his father walked away, got angry and did notwant to cower away when he could free his country in battle. He went andjoined the battle and unskilled in warfare, was killed immediately.
•The battle decided nothing, they all died except for Adratus, just as theprophet had seen. And he had fled.
•Polyneices and Eteocles went against each other in battle and killed eachother. And as they lay dying, Polyneices had asked one thing, to at least beburied in his homeland of Thebes. But Creon, who then took control ofThebes, claimed that everyone who had fought against the city would not begiven burial and be left out for beasts and birds to devour. And anyone whoburied them would be put to death.
•Antigone and Ismene were horrified by this, they were utterly alone. Ismenehad accepted this with great grief, but Antigone could not, instead she set outto bury Polyneices.
•Ismene came weeping to stand with her sister, claiming thatshe too, had helped. But Antigone denied it taking fullresponsibility, and was led away to death.
• Ismene disappeared, there was no story or poems writtenabout her, that was the last of the royal family of Thebes.
•Antigone and Ismene were horrified by this, they were utterly alone.Ismene had accepted this with great grief, but Antigone could not,instead she set out to bury Polyneices.
•Some hours later, Creon’s palace was startled by news by his guards,that against his orders Polyneices had been buried, and brought outAntigone explaining how she had snuck out during a thick duststorm, and when the dust cleared the body had been buried and shehad been making an offering to the dead.
The Seven Against Thebes
•Although Polyneices had been given burial and his soul was free to beferried across the river and find a home among the dead, 5 of the otherchieftains lay unburied.
•Adratus, the only one who survived came to Theseus, King of Athensbringing along the 5 mothers and sons of the chieftain’s to ask to allowthe bodies to be buried. Theseus answered, saying that he will not behis ally, since he had led his people against Thebes, but his mother,Aethra interrupted to speak with him, then they came back revealinggood news that the assembly had voted to tell the Theban’s thatAthens wished to be a good neighbor, but could not stand by and see agreat wrong done, and if they do not yield to their request then theywill be choosing war.
• Before Theasus had finished, a herald came in asking for the master ofAthens, to which Theasus replied explaining there wasn’t one, thatAthens was ruled by the people. The herald cried, how can the ignorantcrowd wisely direct a nations course? Theasus explained that in Athens,they wrote their own laws, they aren’t ruled by a hateful tyrant.
•He told the herald to go back to Thebes and tell her we know howmuch better peace is for men than war.
• Creon would not listen to Theasus’s plea and the Atheniansmarched against Thebes, they conquered. Thebes panic strickenpeople thought that they would be enslaved or killed and their citywould be ruined. But Theasus reassured them otherwise, that theyhad only come to reclaim the dead.
•Theasus himself made “ready for the grave of those five poorbodies, washed them and covered them and set them on a bier.”
•Peace came to the mothers, but not so much with the sons whopromised to bring vengeance upon Thebes. All that was left of oldThebes was Harmonias necklace, which was taken to Delphi and forhundreds of years shown to pilgrims there. The sons of the sevenchampions succeeded where their fathers had not, were called theEpigoni, “The After Born”, as if they came into the world too late,after all the good deeds had been done.
•Thebes fell, but the Greek ships had not yet sailed to the Trojanland, and the son of Tydeus, Diomedes, was famed as one the mostglorious of warriors who fought before the walls of Troy.
HIGHER LEVEL QUESTIONS
1. Do you think Orestes should have killed hismother in revenge of her killing his father?
2. Why do you think the gods punished theinnocent just as often as the guilty? What does thissay about the gods?
3. If you were in Antigone’s position what wouldyou have done differently in order to get away withgoing against the King’s decree by buryingPolyneices?