So, Thyestes loses the throne and is banished by his brother for good measure. By this point, Atreus has figured out that his wife must've been up to some hanky-panky with his brother, and he starts to plot some serious revenge.
Pretending like he wants to be friends again, Atreus invites Thyestes back to Mycenae for a banquet. Of course, what's on the menu is anything but friendly. Thyestes is chomping away, when all of a sudden his brother brings out the heads and the feet of Thyestes' sons, and he tells Thyestes that he's sitting there eating the rest of them.
This crime is so horrible that even Helios , the sun, looks away in horror. At this point, Thyestes is looking for some serious revenge. He goes to an oracle who tells him that if he has a son by his own daughter, that son will one day kill Atreus. So, Thyestes sleeps with his daughter, Pelopia, and leaves her with a sword to give their son when he is born. In some versions, Thyestes rapes Pelopia not knowing she's his daughter and accidentally loses the sword while doing so.
Thyestes leaves his pregnant daughter in the care of a guy named King Thesprotus and heads to Delphi to take refuge. In the meantime, things are going pretty craptastically in Mycenae. Ever since Atreus pulled his awful trick on his brother, the land has been stricken with disease and famine. An oracle tells Atreus that if he brings his brother back to Mycenae, the curse will be lifted.
So, Atreus goes looking for Thyestes. He's heard that Thyestes was hanging around with King Thesprotus, so he goes check it out. Instead of finding his brother, though, he finds his niece, Pelopia. Assuming that the girl is King Thesprotus's daughter, Atreus asks Thesprotus for the girl's hand in marriage.
But Atreus slew Pleisthenes, not knowing that he was his son. Atreus replied by bringing back Thyestes and his family from exile, and serving up to Thyestes at table the limbs of his own sons.
Thyestes fled away; the land was visited with barrenness and famine. In obedience to an oracle, Atreus goes forth to seek him, but only finds his daughter Pelopia, whom he takes to wife. Egisthus, her son by her father Thyestes, who is destined to avenge him, Atreus adopts and rears as his own child.
Thyestes is afterwards found by Agamemnon and Menelaus, who bring him to Mycenae. Most of the Greek chieftains had been among the suitors of Helen, for she was renowned to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
They had made a pact to accept without protest her choice of a husband and to come to his aid if anyone attempted to steal Helen from him. He seduced Helen and carried her back with him to Troy. Faithful to their oaths, the chieftains rallied with their armies to the call of Menelaus. A great force was mobilized to capture Troy and restore Helen to her rightful husband.
Agamemnon, as leader of the largest contingent, was made commander. The expedition assembled at Aulis, on the eastern coast of Greece, but was unable to sail for Troy because of adverse winds. Calchas, a soothsayer who accompanied the army, declared that the goddess Artemis was responsible and could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia.
Agamemnon was appalled by this command and refused to obey, but finally gave in to the pressure put on him by the other chieftains. He induced Clytaemestra to send Iphigenia to Aulis by claiming that the maiden was to be married to Achilles, the greatest of the Greek heroes. When the young girl arrived at the camp, however, she was sacrificed to the goddess.
After this the wind changed. The army boarded its ships and set sail for Troy. Meanwhile, Aegisthus returned to Argos in the absence of Agamemnon. He began to plot against his cousin in the hope of regaining what he considered to be his rightful place on the throne, and of avenging the treatment his father and brothers received at the hands of Atreus.
Aegisthus discovered that Clytaemestra had developed a bitter hatred for Agamemnon because of the sacrifice of her daughter. For the Ancient Greeks as well as Ancient Hebrews: see all humans punished for Adam and Eve's transgressions , the sins of the father are visited on the sons Thus, Agamemnon's fate is tied both to his own actions killing Iphigenia and his father's murder of Thyestes' children. This holds true for most of the players in the Oresteia.
So, traditionally , for the Ancient Greeks, everything happens due to some cause, but that original cause may have occurred generations before our birth. Our fates are wrapped up in a complex web that is mysterious and divine, and the fate of humans may be because of the folly or weakness of a god -- so in this case the House of Atreus is punished for Zeus ' lust and adultery, by Zeus' jealous wife, Hera.
Because of all this, our fates are often inherently tragic and, well, fated, which is to say: beyond our control. Classical Greeks like Aeschylus in his Oresteia are questioning this traditional belief.
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