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Clytemnestra

In Greek mythology, Clytemnestra was the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, king and queen of Sparta*. She married Agamemnon*, king of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War. In Homer's Iliad, Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis (Diana)* in order to get a favorable wind to sail to Troy and attack the city. This act causes Clytemnestra to swear revenge against her husband. She takes his cousin Aegisthus as her lover and plots with him to kill Agamemnon when he returns. Agamemnon eventually returns with Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam of Troy, whom he has taken as a prize of war. Clytemnestra greets Agamemnon when he arrives home and prepares a bath for him. When he steps out of the bath, she snares him in a net, and Aegisthus stabs him. Clytemnestra then kills Cassandra. In some versions, Clytemnestra herself slays Agamemnon with an ax. Agamemnon's death is later avenged when his son Orestes kills both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

See also AGAMEMNON; CASSANDRA; ILIAD, THE; IPHIGENIA; ORESTES; TROJAN WAR.