Aërope

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aërope ( Greek  Ἀερόπη , the one with the fog-white face ) is in Greek mythology the daughter of the king of Crete , Katreus ; the sister of Klymene , Apemosyne and Althaimenes ; the wife of King Atreus of Mycenae ; the mistress of his brother Thyestes ; the mother of Pleisthenes or Agamemnon , Menelaus and Anaxibia .

Since her father had been prophesied that he would die at the hand of one of his children, he banished her and her sister Clymene from Crete; pushed them into the sea; or sold it into slavery, so that it was eventually bought by Atreus, son of Pelops .

Atreus once vowed to sacrifice the most beautiful lamb of his flock to the goddess Artemis . Now, as a descendant of Pelops, a Pelopid , lay upon him the curse of Myrtilos , a son of the messenger of the gods Hermes . Determined to avenge his son, he brought a horned, golden lamb into the flock of Atreus, knowing full well that the latter could not withstand the temptation - and so Atreus probably offered the meat of the sacrificial animal to the goddess, but kept its fur to himself .

Aërope was to keep it, but gave it to her lover Thyestes; or the latter agreed to become her lover if she handed him this " Golden Fleece ". After Eurystheus' death , a new king was to be elected in Mycenae and an oracle had advised the Mycenae to choose one of the Pelopids. Atreus claimed the throne as the firstborn and the owner of the fleece - and this was what Thyestes had been waiting for. He led Atreus to make the public statement that the owner of the fleece should become king - and was now able to show it himself.

However, Atreus got the throne back after Zeus preferred him to Thyestes. He sent the messenger of the gods Hermes to Atreus and had him ask Thyestes if he would let him have the throne in case the sun moved backwards. Sensing no evil, Thyestes agreed - whereupon Zeus made the stars in the sky turn back on their already chosen path. Atreus got the throne back and banished his brother, but continued to seek revenge.

When Atreus learned of his wife's adultery, he drove his brother Thyestes out of jealousy. He had his wife Aërope thrown into the sea.

swell

literature