Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus whose wife Helen was the cause of the Trojan war, needed to sail to Troy to join the fighting. Unable to leave because there was no favourable wind, he sacrificed his daughter Iphegenia to the gods. The wind changed and the ships sailed.
Many years later, a victorious Agamemnon returned to Mycenae. His wife Clytemnestra made him welcome, but she had secretly planned to avenge Iphegenia's death. When he went to take a bath, Clytemnestra and her lover murdered him, catching him in a net and killing him with an axe. This story is told by the dramatist Aeschylus (525-456 BC) in a trilogy of plays which also tells how their son, Orestes, then in turn murdered Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. He was pursued by Furies to punish him for this, but eventually it was decided that he had a right to avenge his father, and the blood feud ended.
Many years later, a victorious Agamemnon returned to Mycenae. His wife Clytemnestra made him welcome, but she had secretly planned to avenge Iphegenia's death. When he went to take a bath, Clytemnestra and her lover murdered him, catching him in a net and killing him with an axe. This story is told by the dramatist Aeschylus (525-456 BC) in a trilogy of plays which also tells how their son, Orestes, then in turn murdered Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. He was pursued by Furies to punish him for this, but eventually it was decided that he had a right to avenge his father, and the blood feud ended.