1 00:00:04,820 --> 00:00:09,376 In contemporary culture is the idea of the family tends to be one of those things 2 00:00:09,376 --> 00:00:13,266 that everyone just embraces. A family has that kind of core of support, 3 00:00:13,266 --> 00:00:17,545 and great values, and nurturing, and all these things that produce the next 4 00:00:17,545 --> 00:00:22,102 generation with good values and all the other things that go attached to families 5 00:00:22,102 --> 00:00:26,158 in contemporary culture discourses. In the Greek material, sometimes those 6 00:00:26,158 --> 00:00:30,492 kind of things show up around the idea of family. But, more often, what shows up, 7 00:00:30,492 --> 00:00:34,327 and especially shows up in tragedy, is something completely different. 8 00:00:34,327 --> 00:00:39,533 The family structure is something where people are just, kind of on top of one 9 00:00:39,533 --> 00:00:43,831 another. It's a highly claustrophobic space in the plays that we're going to be 10 00:00:43,831 --> 00:00:46,359 looking at. There's just too much connectedness. 11 00:00:46,359 --> 00:00:50,717 They're, they can't quite find space in the world to settle themselves and all 12 00:00:50,717 --> 00:00:53,700 these, All this family stuff is stuck on top of 13 00:00:53,700 --> 00:00:56,295 them. It's typically not thought of as a 14 00:00:56,295 --> 00:00:59,020 supportive, generative, helpful environment. 15 00:00:59,020 --> 00:01:02,200 It's thought of as an entangling and a nasty one. 16 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,520 Quite a contrast, interestingly, with the possibility of families that we saw built 17 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,868 into Hesiods's Theogony. Where genealogical structures were seen as 18 00:01:11,868 --> 00:01:16,994 possibly ordering the whole universe. So, a large family tree was a way to bring 19 00:01:16,994 --> 00:01:20,562 order out of chaos. And then, a very different thing also, yet 20 00:01:20,562 --> 00:01:25,704 another different thing in Homer, where we saw the connection between Penelope and 21 00:01:25,704 --> 00:01:28,923 Odysseus as being incredible powerful, supportive, and nurturing. 22 00:01:28,923 --> 00:01:32,602 When we get to Greek tragedy, though, we're going to see a very different 23 00:01:32,602 --> 00:01:36,640 approach to the whole concept of family. Something quite different is happening. 24 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:41,830 Now, getting to this story of Agamemnon, which is going to be the first play that 25 00:01:41,830 --> 00:01:45,852 we read, looking at Aeschylus's wonderful trilogy, the Oresteia. 26 00:01:45,852 --> 00:01:48,901 We're going to read the story of the Agamemnon. 27 00:01:48,901 --> 00:01:54,286 This is the first installment of a group of three plays that went together in this 28 00:01:54,286 --> 00:01:57,400 trilogy form. All of ancient tragedy was, in fact, 29 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,668 originally performed this way. We only have one trilogy to survive from 30 00:02:01,668 --> 00:02:06,083 antiquity in tact where all three players come together. And this is the Oresteia 31 00:02:06,083 --> 00:02:10,155 that we'll be reading all that we'll be reading for our course. 32 00:02:10,340 --> 00:02:14,845 The Agamemnon starts off in a story that tells about the house of Atreus. 33 00:02:14,845 --> 00:02:19,905 Atreus's house located here, eventually, at Mycenae and I'm going to tell the story 34 00:02:20,090 --> 00:02:23,977 of, of the broader story that leads up to this particular point. 35 00:02:23,977 --> 00:02:28,544 We know that Agamemnon is from Mycenae, We hear that in Homer's narratives. 36 00:02:28,729 --> 00:02:33,603 We have this strong connection of this hero with this grand, great citadel back 37 00:02:33,603 --> 00:02:36,195 then. We've made mention of it up till' now. 38 00:02:36,380 --> 00:02:40,058 The family, though, that inhabits this great citadel, is not quite 39 00:02:40,058 --> 00:02:44,686 architecturally sound, the way that their monuments are and the way that their walls 40 00:02:44,686 --> 00:02:46,670 are. You'll notice, as you're reading 41 00:02:46,670 --> 00:02:49,259 Aeschylus's play that he refers to it as Argos. 42 00:02:49,259 --> 00:02:53,061 There is another city called Argos. Argos can also refer, in a broader 43 00:02:53,061 --> 00:02:57,634 geographical sense, to the whole region in which both the city of Argos and Mycenae 44 00:02:57,634 --> 00:03:00,554 are located. It's likely that what Aeschylus is doing 45 00:03:00,554 --> 00:03:03,474 with the term Argos is referring to the whole region. 46 00:03:03,474 --> 00:03:08,427 So, not changing a tradition so much is giving a slightly different term to a long 47 00:03:08,427 --> 00:03:11,716 standing tradition. Now, hearing the story of the House of 48 00:03:11,716 --> 00:03:14,236 Atreus, we have to hear the background story. 49 00:03:14,236 --> 00:03:18,704 We know that there's Agamemnon, we know that there are troubles that Agamemnon 50 00:03:18,704 --> 00:03:21,167 faces. We learn this in, in Homer's Odyssey. But, 51 00:03:21,167 --> 00:03:25,176 we don't quite yet know the full dimension of what these troubles are. 52 00:03:25,176 --> 00:03:29,013 The Oresteia are going to, is going to help us zero in on what this is all about. 53 00:03:29,013 --> 00:03:33,195 We're going to, especially, look at that scene that Agamemnon kept telling us about 54 00:03:33,195 --> 00:03:36,803 in the Odyssey, my wife kills me. Spoiler alert, that's coming up. 55 00:03:36,803 --> 00:03:40,870 We're also going to see that there's a very rich and complex tradition that lies 56 00:03:40,870 --> 00:03:44,681 behind that and I wanted to take some time at the beginning here of our treatment of 57 00:03:44,681 --> 00:03:47,241 the, Of Aeschylus's Agamemnon to talk about the 58 00:03:47,241 --> 00:03:51,192 oldest parts of this very complex story. It all starts with a figure called 59 00:03:51,192 --> 00:03:53,774 Tantalus. You'll recall from the Odyssey, remember 60 00:03:53,774 --> 00:03:57,515 Tantalus in the underworld is being punished for all eternity for some 61 00:03:57,515 --> 00:04:00,150 horrible crime. We talked about it as a food crime. 62 00:04:00,150 --> 00:04:04,576 One of the versions of this awful crime of Tantalus comes out and is connected with 63 00:04:04,576 --> 00:04:07,783 the House of Atreus. Tantalus thought it was one day a good 64 00:04:07,783 --> 00:04:11,650 idea to take his own son, Pelops, carve him up and turn him into a stew. 65 00:04:11,650 --> 00:04:16,068 So, he made a stew out of his own son. The next brilliant idea was that he should 66 00:04:16,068 --> 00:04:20,597 invite the gods to have a special dinner with him, ladling out the stew of his own 67 00:04:20,597 --> 00:04:23,414 son into the bowls that the gods were going to eat. 68 00:04:23,414 --> 00:04:27,887 The gods, right away catch wind of what's happening and they're just disgusted. So, 69 00:04:27,887 --> 00:04:32,752 they take Tantalus and hurl him into the underworld to be severely punished forever 70 00:04:32,752 --> 00:04:36,191 and ever and ever. And they peel back out, take back out the 71 00:04:36,191 --> 00:04:39,766 little pieces of Pelops. Get them all sewn back together so this 72 00:04:39,766 --> 00:04:43,684 kid can go on with his life. It just so happens that one piece of the 73 00:04:43,684 --> 00:04:48,092 shoulder was swallowed by one the gods by accident, so they replaced that with an 74 00:04:48,092 --> 00:04:50,323 ivory shoulder. As if to say, you know, sorry Pelops. 75 00:04:50,486 --> 00:04:52,879 Pelops then, Goes on with his life. 76 00:04:52,879 --> 00:04:59,071 He takes off for an area of the world goes to this land called Pisa. And, at that 77 00:04:59,071 --> 00:05:04,385 point, he finds this a young princess that catches his eye, Hippodamia. 78 00:05:04,385 --> 00:05:10,275 He wants to try to find a way to get this princess, but it turns out that the father 79 00:05:10,275 --> 00:05:16,235 of the princess will only give her away in marriage to someone who can beat him in a 80 00:05:16,235 --> 00:05:19,461 chariot race. So, Pelops saddles up to this man, 81 00:05:19,461 --> 00:05:24,719 Myrtilus, who is a supporter, is one of helpers of the king, the king named 82 00:05:24,719 --> 00:05:28,155 Oenomaus. And tricks Myrtilus, says to Myrtilus, if 83 00:05:28,155 --> 00:05:33,311 you can only help me and replace the cutter pins of the axle that are holding 84 00:05:33,311 --> 00:05:36,122 the wheels of the king's chariot on with wax, 85 00:05:36,310 --> 00:05:40,433 Then I'll be very good to you and you can have great gifts from me. 86 00:05:40,433 --> 00:05:45,368 Well, Myrtilus goes ahead and does this. And, when Oenomaus and Pelops have their 87 00:05:45,368 --> 00:05:50,704 chariot race to determine if Pelops can get can take his daughter Hippodamia in 88 00:05:50,704 --> 00:05:53,962 the marriage, Of course, the wax melts and the cutter 89 00:05:53,962 --> 00:05:58,757 pins fall out and the wheels fall off while Oenomaus goes head over heels and 90 00:05:58,757 --> 00:06:01,954 loses the race. At that point, Pelops now gets to win 91 00:06:01,954 --> 00:06:04,904 Hippodamia. He betrays Myrtilus. He doesn't give him 92 00:06:04,904 --> 00:06:09,761 any of the things he promised, takes the kingdom and renames it Peloponnesea. And 93 00:06:09,761 --> 00:06:13,142 this is, indeed, where the name, Peloponnesian comes from. 94 00:06:13,142 --> 00:06:17,629 It's the mythic background gives us a story connected to where the name comes. 95 00:06:17,629 --> 00:06:22,280 So now that he's won, he's got his kingdom, he's got his girl, he has some 96 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:28,504 children, Thyestes and Atrius. Nearby, there's a kingdom, Mycennae. And, at that 97 00:06:28,504 --> 00:06:31,198 point, the king, there's a king there that dies. 98 00:06:31,198 --> 00:06:35,650 And, there's an oracle that a son of Pelops is going to take over the kingdom. 99 00:06:35,650 --> 00:06:40,277 They then figure that, well, a son of Pelops we should go with the oldest son so 100 00:06:40,277 --> 00:06:43,909 this should really belong to Atreus who's older than Thyestes. 101 00:06:43,909 --> 00:06:48,712 But, Thyestes proposes and says, you know, we're always talking about how the oldest 102 00:06:48,712 --> 00:06:52,930 son is supposed to be getting the, the background here. But, why don't we just 103 00:06:52,930 --> 00:06:56,972 have a different kind of context that, contest that at least gives me a chance? 104 00:06:56,972 --> 00:07:01,274 And, Thyestes then proposes that, whoever can produce the nicest sheep should be the 105 00:07:01,274 --> 00:07:04,747 one that takes the kingdom. Well, Atreus thinks this contest is just 106 00:07:04,747 --> 00:07:08,375 fine because he himself has taken a sheep and he knows it's beautiful. 107 00:07:08,375 --> 00:07:11,484 It's a golden sheep. It's something that he knows he's got, 108 00:07:11,484 --> 00:07:15,009 he's got a kind of ace in the hole. He's definitely going to win this contest. 109 00:07:15,009 --> 00:07:18,585 This is one that he promised to give to Artemis but kept for himself. 110 00:07:18,585 --> 00:07:21,436 So he says, sure Thyestes. Let's see who can produce, produce the 111 00:07:21,436 --> 00:07:24,183 nicest sheep. Next morning comes round and guess what? 112 00:07:24,183 --> 00:07:26,930 Thyestes has this golden sheep, Atreus can't find his. 113 00:07:26,930 --> 00:07:30,382 At which point, Atreus smells foul. Something's happened. 114 00:07:30,382 --> 00:07:34,526 Thyestes, where did you get this thing? Thyestes kind of fudges, fudges the 115 00:07:34,526 --> 00:07:37,602 question. Well, Thyestes had taken up with Atreus's 116 00:07:37,602 --> 00:07:42,373 own wife, Aerope, and Aerope helping him, helped him sneak away the sheep from 117 00:07:42,373 --> 00:07:47,081 Atreus so Thyestes could produce it. So now, Thyestes has won the contest. He 118 00:07:47,081 --> 00:07:50,408 should be the one that takes over as king of Mycenae. 119 00:07:50,408 --> 00:07:53,055 But, The Atreus enters in and says, wait a 120 00:07:53,055 --> 00:07:56,847 minute. I smell, something has gone wrong here let me propose another contest. 121 00:07:56,847 --> 00:08:00,540 If the sun should rise in the west tomorrow, then I should be the rightful 122 00:08:00,540 --> 00:08:03,618 king of Mycenae. Thyestes thinks this is ridiculous. 123 00:08:03,618 --> 00:08:06,899 This could never happen. So, he goes out and agrees to that. 124 00:08:06,899 --> 00:08:11,142 Well, Zeus, it just took, so happens overhears what's going on. Thinks Atreus 125 00:08:11,142 --> 00:08:14,763 should get the kingdom, So Zeus does, indeed, make the sun come up 126 00:08:14,763 --> 00:08:17,591 in the West. When it does, it's obvious that Atreus 127 00:08:17,591 --> 00:08:20,194 should have this kingdom. He goes and takes it. 128 00:08:20,194 --> 00:08:23,079 Thyestes then slinks away. Not the end of the story. 129 00:08:23,079 --> 00:08:27,605 Atreus finds out that Thyestes and his wife Aerope have been having this affair. 130 00:08:27,775 --> 00:08:32,413 So he's not only upset that Thyestes had stole his golden sheep through Aerope as, 131 00:08:32,583 --> 00:08:36,530 as, as an intermediary, But he's also livid with his own brother 132 00:08:36,530 --> 00:08:41,170 for having an affair with his own wife. So, he invites Thyestes to dinner. 133 00:08:41,170 --> 00:08:45,649 Now, if someone in this family invites you to dinner, you should be careful. 134 00:08:45,649 --> 00:08:50,432 And, indeed, that's what's happening here when Atreus invites Thyestes to dinner. 135 00:08:50,432 --> 00:08:55,215 He carves up Thyestes's own sons, turns them into a stew and Thyestes, unlike the 136 00:08:55,215 --> 00:08:58,968 gods, goes ahead and eats. Thyestes then devours his own son by 137 00:08:58,968 --> 00:09:03,751 accident in a cannibalistic stew that his own brother made for him, feeding his 138 00:09:03,751 --> 00:09:05,739 children to him. Oh, poor Thyestes. 139 00:09:05,739 --> 00:09:09,157 Thyestes, at that point, runs away screaming mad to Delphi. 140 00:09:09,157 --> 00:09:13,355 He tries to figure out a way, how can I get revenge against my brother? 141 00:09:13,355 --> 00:09:18,332 Delphi, at that point, tells him, the only way you'll be able to revenge against your 142 00:09:18,332 --> 00:09:22,950 daughter, or against your brother is if you have a child by your own daughter. 143 00:09:22,950 --> 00:09:27,692 At which point Thy, Thyestes thinks, oh, my God, Delphi. This is an awful kind of 144 00:09:27,692 --> 00:09:30,538 omen to give me. What a terrible thing to say. 145 00:09:30,538 --> 00:09:34,866 He goes and, and makes a, goes away. He sets up a camp site, gets very drunk 146 00:09:34,866 --> 00:09:38,186 around a camp fire. Well, it just so happens that a young 147 00:09:38,186 --> 00:09:41,387 girls stumble past, Young enough to be Thyestes's own 148 00:09:41,387 --> 00:09:44,292 daughter. He's so drunk, he doesn't realize what's 149 00:09:44,292 --> 00:09:47,435 happening. He had sex with the girl not realizing who 150 00:09:47,435 --> 00:09:49,569 it is. It's Pelopia, his own daughter. 151 00:09:49,569 --> 00:09:53,692 So, he has sex with his own daughter. He, then stumbles away the next day, 152 00:09:53,692 --> 00:09:58,509 leaving behind in his drunken stumbling his hangover the next day, leaving behind 153 00:09:58,509 --> 00:10:01,777 his own familial sword. At that point, the poor young girl, 154 00:10:01,777 --> 00:10:06,651 Pelopia, who's now been made pregnant in this in, in being forced having been 155 00:10:06,651 --> 00:10:11,124 forced upon by her own father, finds the sword there, takes that with her, is 156 00:10:11,124 --> 00:10:14,449 wandering around. At that point, Atreus sees this beautiful 157 00:10:14,449 --> 00:10:18,348 young woman wandering around. Just so happens that nine months later, 158 00:10:18,348 --> 00:10:21,886 she gives births to a little child. At that point, Atreus thinks, 159 00:10:21,886 --> 00:10:26,280 Well, this must have been my child. The child is Aegisthus. 160 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:31,973 Yes, indeed, poor Aegisthus is the product of incest, rivalry, family betrayal, all 161 00:10:31,973 --> 00:10:37,521 the worst possible, cannibalism, all of this leads up to this figure Aegisthus. 162 00:10:37,521 --> 00:10:41,268 He's one that we get to know very well in the story. 163 00:10:41,268 --> 00:10:45,015 Poor Aegisthus. I mean, talk about a messed up family 164 00:10:45,015 --> 00:10:48,835 background. Some of us can bemoan our own but nothing 165 00:10:48,835 --> 00:10:52,564 like Aegisthus's. Now, as time goes by Atreus keeps looking 166 00:10:52,564 --> 00:10:55,801 for Thyestes. He wants to make sure that this revenge 167 00:10:55,801 --> 00:11:00,321 against his brother is complete and realizes that Thyestes must be pretty 168 00:11:00,321 --> 00:11:04,535 upset with him at this point. He then sends Agamemnon, his own son, and 169 00:11:04,535 --> 00:11:09,055 Menelaus, his other son, see here. Atreus has given birth in the meantime to 170 00:11:09,055 --> 00:11:12,964 Agamemnon and Menelaus. They've grown up, along with Aegisthus, as 171 00:11:12,964 --> 00:11:17,448 if they're all in the same family. He sends Menelaus and Agamemnon off to 172 00:11:17,448 --> 00:11:22,245 Delphi to figure out what they're supposed to do to find Thyestes. 173 00:11:22,245 --> 00:11:27,666 As they get there, they actually see him. Thyestes is hanging around Delphi trying 174 00:11:27,666 --> 00:11:32,036 to figure out what to do. Agamemnon and Menelaus drag him back home. 175 00:11:32,036 --> 00:11:36,732 At that point, we have Atreus who takes his other son, Aegisthus, and says, 176 00:11:36,732 --> 00:11:41,364 Thyestes, we will now kill you. My own brother Thyestes, we will now kill 177 00:11:41,364 --> 00:11:44,299 you. Aegisthus, here take the family sword and 178 00:11:44,299 --> 00:11:47,299 go off and kill this awful miscreant, Thyestes. 179 00:11:47,299 --> 00:11:50,169 At that point, Aegisthus drags Thyestes away. 180 00:11:50,169 --> 00:11:53,039 He takes the sword and is about to kill him. 181 00:11:53,039 --> 00:11:55,910 At that point, Thyestes recognizes the sword. 182 00:11:55,910 --> 00:11:58,364 Oh, my gosh. Where did you get that? 183 00:11:58,364 --> 00:12:01,396 That's my own sword. And Aegisthus says, no. 184 00:12:01,396 --> 00:12:04,500 It's mine. At that point, they call away for 185 00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:09,049 Aegisthus's mother to figure out what's the deal with the sword. 186 00:12:09,049 --> 00:12:13,597 At that point, poor Pelopia comes back. She hears the full story. 187 00:12:13,597 --> 00:12:20,527 You, Thyestes, you're my father and you're my own son's the whole family awfulness 188 00:12:20,527 --> 00:12:23,848 comes back. The father and husband, Thyestes, of 189 00:12:23,848 --> 00:12:28,003 Pelopea is facing her. She's obviously a little upset, she takes 190 00:12:28,003 --> 00:12:31,965 her own life with the sword. Aegisthus and Thyestes are trying to 191 00:12:31,965 --> 00:12:36,232 figure out what's happening. They've got a bloody sword now right next 192 00:12:36,232 --> 00:12:40,620 to them, they realize what's happened and they reunite as father and son. 193 00:12:40,620 --> 00:12:43,668 And, Aegisthus goes back to and says to Agamem, says to Atreus, yes. 194 00:12:43,668 --> 00:12:47,508 I've killed Thyestes and here's blood on the sword to prove it. 195 00:12:47,508 --> 00:12:52,384 At that point, Atreus thinks all is done and all is well and is getting ready to 196 00:12:52,384 --> 00:12:57,078 wash out the stain in the family. Clean up and purify from all this nasty, nastiness 197 00:12:57,078 --> 00:13:01,845 that goes on. and, the reunited Aegisthus and Thyestes return. And, during the 198 00:13:01,845 --> 00:13:07,362 rejoicing of, of purification that Atreus is doing, they come in and kill Atreus. 199 00:13:07,362 --> 00:13:11,399 Now, with Atreus gone away, Thyestes can take over the throne. 200 00:13:11,399 --> 00:13:16,244 Aegisthus sits at his right hand. Menalaus and, and Agamemnon are off in 201 00:13:16,244 --> 00:13:20,281 their own they get banished, and they're off on their own. 202 00:13:20,281 --> 00:13:25,704 Well, at that point in their banishment link up with Helen and Clytemnestra. 203 00:13:25,903 --> 00:13:31,080 And then come back later to take over the kingdom from Thyestes and Aegisthus. 204 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:36,587 When Menelaus and Agamemnon take it over, then Agamemnon, now, becomes the true king 205 00:13:36,587 --> 00:13:43,269 of the House of Atreus. He owns the palace at Mycenae Argos, and becomes the, the 206 00:13:43,269 --> 00:13:48,260 obvious, and now rightful, and clear, and concise ruler of this whole wonderful 207 00:13:48,260 --> 00:13:51,254 kingdom. Well, just so happens that there is this 208 00:13:51,254 --> 00:13:55,808 Aegisthus figure out there and he's orbiting around in the background in 209 00:13:55,808 --> 00:14:00,300 Agamemnon's tale, waiting to find a moment where he can come to roost. 210 00:14:00,300 --> 00:14:05,291 The awfulness of this family of in the House of Atreus leads to all kinds of 211 00:14:05,291 --> 00:14:08,847 terrible things. These failed con, failed relationships 212 00:14:08,847 --> 00:14:14,212 have horrific consequences not least all the things we're learning about in the 213 00:14:14,212 --> 00:14:17,368 Oresteia and the horrible things that happened to them. 214 00:14:17,368 --> 00:14:22,671 The Trojan War itself emerges out of the nasty dynamics of this family Helen and 215 00:14:22,671 --> 00:14:26,300 Menelaus and Agemennon, and his relationship with his brother. 216 00:14:26,300 --> 00:14:31,761 At this home in Argos, Mycenae the next story in this heartwarming tale of this 217 00:14:31,761 --> 00:14:36,689 family, it's going to lead us right into the core of the story of Aeschylus's 218 00:14:36,689 --> 00:14:39,220 Oresteia beginning with the Agamemnon.